Under the Shagbark Hickory Tree

A provincial park near me has a wonderful tree that I love to sit under.

It's a huge, mature Shagbark Hickory that takes a while each spring to fill out... but when it does... it's glorious!

Lush, thick leaves tower toward the sky, providing welcome shade on hot summer days.  It has a nice amount of space under it where there are no branches - more than 8 feet of clearance.

I take a chair, blanket, snacks, book and camera and can happily spend a day there.
Some lovely sights within a few feet of my chair:

This is the sunny St. John's/Joan's Wort, the plant that helps keep my mood balanced without side effects since I've become sensitive to pharmaceuticals. It works best for mild to moderate depression but I have found that it does help lessen my severe depression and SAD, especially now that I've discovered some other supplements that help including (but not limited to :) folic acid, selenium, B12, vitamin D and 5HTP.

One of these days I'd love to grow and harvest it myself instead of buying it.

(please consult health care provider before using anything I mention :)

Does anyone know what kind of butterfly that is? 

P.S.

Just for fun... here's a photo of my cat sitting on a box... why not!?  ☺☺☺  He loves boxes and was a bit put out that 'his box' had been turned on it's side so he could no longer do his fancy leap into it.  But he made it work for him this way too ;-)

Doodle: Don't Wait! Do Something You Love Today

Much to my excitement, I sold my first drawing recently.
It's on it's way, all across the ocean, to Finland!  How awesome is that!?
I have 2 more copies of it in the Etsy shop I just created and more can be made if there's a demand.

This inspired me to draw more - something I really love but hadn't done for a while.  'Kiitos' Michelle! ☺

Here is one of the things I drew in the last week.  At 2.75" x 3.25"  it's not exactly the right size to be a wallet card... or an ATC... it's just a cute little reminder.  The size was dictated by some cardstock scraps I had.
I laminated it when done to protect from moisture.  My opinion on self laminating sheets is not high after trying them.  I used the kind that does not require heat to bond - it's a simple adhesive.  It was relatively easy to use but not nearly as durable as I would have liked.  The bonus was no fumes.  :-)

Apropos of nothing I'd like to say that ♥♥♥ I love, love, love my Micron pens. ♥♥♥  Wonderfully crisp lines that, once dry, most markers will not smear when colouring.

Front and back before colouring:

After colouring (unfortunately I really can't capture how vibrant the colours are in real life):

If you have a keen eye, you may notice that more detail got added after colouring.  I always want to add more and more.  Hard to know when to stop!
I will be taking my camera in to 'repair'.  Which usually means they just give me a new, upgraded one :-)
Maybe I will be able to take better photos soon!  Yay!