Another day of death and destruction in the Don. The first, and worst, discovery of the day was a mink that had been killed on Pottery Road. What a perfect, sleek thing a mink is! It was chocolate brown with a lush tail and just a few white hairs under its chin. I wish I'd examined it more carefully but all I could see was the shocking crimson blood from its mouth and nose. I couldn't bear to think what it would look like once a few more cars had connected with it, so I walked on until I found a plastic bag (sadly, that doesn't take long) which I used to lift the body into some grass by the side of the road.

As for the destruction, that was just the usual assortment of tansy, thistles, and Queen Anne's Lace. There's a reason QAL is also known as wild carrot:

Amongst the alien intruders is some white yarrow, which is a native plant. Thank goodness.

A closer look at the flowers:

The leaves are very fancy too:

A cabbage white butterfly:

A damselfly (they hold their wings parallel to their sides when they're resting, unlike a dragonfly):

They eat mosquite larvae. Keep up the good work!!!

Another look at that mystery flower:

And another one I don't know:

That one grows on a tall stalk. It's not in my field guides so I've turned to the internet, but it may take me a while to get an I.D.

Oh, and a coincidence: I got home today and discovered I'd taken ninety-nine pictures again! Clearly I'm channeling Wayne Gretzky.