Well here's an unexpected visitor for us. We never cut our thistle when it is blooming, because it is a favorite food for butterflies and birds. However, we rarely see the migrating monarch butterflies, so this lady was a pleasant surprise. Don't know if she was blown off course, or whether their flight patterns are changing due to so much loss of habitat closer to the Potomac.
Danaus plexippus [monarch butterfly] feeding on Cirsium carolinianum [soft thistle]
Here's a nice buckeye butterfly sunning itself.
Junonia coenia...
And here's our latest artefact from our dig site. It's a nice milky white glass jar with a tin lid, circa 1896-1906, with the words: "The Yucca Co Regst'd Mentholatum Trademark Wichita, Kan". Mentholatum is an old remedy for cough and chest cold, still available for sale in 2010.
Your butterflies seem positively exotic compared to ours. Nice pics, Asy.
Thanks Eccles. Your butterflies seem very exotic to us. Works both ways.
Thingummie Major took the photos, and we've seen a few monarchs in the last couple of days. I keep telling them they're welcome to come every year. 
Butterflies! wonderful. Clever T Major to make one pose on the pwetty thistle! 
I love the pictures from the Dig Site. Please, please keep them coming! What a lovely jar, and how lucky to find it intact. A real beauty. Mentholatum sounds like our 'Vick' which you rub on chests and under nostrils for a good blast of vaporising fumes.