““The mullein had finished blooming, and stood up out of the pastures like dusty candelabra. The flowers of Queen Anne's lace had curled up into birds' nests, and the bee balm was covered with little crown-shaped pods. In another month -- no, two, maybe -- would come the season of the skeletons, when all that was left of the weeds was their brittle architecture. But the time was not yet. The air was warm and bright, the grass was green, and the leaves, and the lazy monarch butterflies were everywhere.””
![“At night on land migrating monarchs slumber on certain trees, hung in festoons with wings folded together, thick on the trees and shaggy as bearskin. [p. 244]” quote by Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/165/annie-dillard-509_sleep_at-night-on-land-migrating-monarchs-slum_2929171.jpg)
![“To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall … [p.218 ff.]” quote by Ann Patchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f72/ann-patchett-670_beautiful_to-say-it-was-a-beautiful-day-would-not_306547.jpg)
