Sullivan County

We arrived at Ten Mile River yesterday morning when it was still spring.
After unpacking the car,  R noticed a scarlet tanager in a pine tree.

A red spotted purple butterfly basked in the bright noonday sun among the impatiens waiting to be planted.  At first, from underneath, with the orange
and white and black markings, I thought it was an admiral.  No, its first
cousin.  The butterfly looked brand new, no bird had taken a bite out of
him yet.  His wings shimmered as if still wet from birth.
 

Took a walk up the steep hill just to stretch my legs.  Ran into a large cluster of
mountain laurel, some pink, some white. 

laurel

rhododendron

Can't believe I ever confused rhododendron with laurel.
Must be the similarity of the leaves.  Laurel looks more
like ballooning petticoats in the shape of a ten
pointed star.  Each part of the flower petal has
a tiny vertical line almost like a border between
one part and the next.

Lest all of this sound like Eden, in order to get here, we drove
up the Palisades, then onto 6 and 17 west, and passed
at least five deer who had been struck and killed by speeding cars.