Category: Photography

  • Some Thoughts on Parenting

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    Yesterday Cassidy turned four.
    It hardly seems possible.
    My darling girl, my wild child. Trouble incarnate.
    As nearly opposite to myself as seems humanly possible,
    Cass is perpetually filled with such joy and laughter
    that she can hardly keep it contained.

    It bubbles forth
    and touches everyone around her.

    She makes me believe that perhaps,
    I am doing something right.

    So today, some thoughts on parenting.

    “My mother had a great deal of trouble with me,

    but I think she enjoyed it.”
    -Mark Twain

    “Sylvia thought how all parents

    wanted an impossible life for their children-

    happy beginning, happy middle, happy ending.

    No plot of any kind.

    What uninteresting people would result

    if parents got in their way.”
    Karen Joy Fowler

    “A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful,
    full of wonder and excitement.

    It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision,
    that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring,
    is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.
    If I had influence with the good fairy
    who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children
    I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be
    a sense of wonder
    so indestructible that it would last throughout life,

    as an unfailing antidote
    against the boredom and disenchantments of later years,
    the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial,
    the alienation from the sources
    of our strength.”

    -Rachel Carson

    Have a good Wednesday!

  • The Bliss of Solitude

    …flash upon that inward eye
    Which is the bliss of solitude…

    -from “The Daffodils”
    William Wordsworth

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    Two of my favorite lines of poetry.

    “The bliss of solitude”.

    This is what we miss in the noise, the hurley-burley, the sound and fury.

    Take some time for bliss today; may your “heart with gladness fill”.

    Incidentally, this is the oddest flower I’ve ever seen. I wish I could be there when it unfurls. Does anyone know what it is, or what it will become?

  • Maverick Elton, Backyard Naturalist (by Maverick) — Butterfly and Moth Edition


    Great Spangled Fritillary
    We saw this butterfly at my pop-pop’s farm, which is still in Pennsylvania but at the top. It is about 3 inches across, and you can see them from mid-May to October in moist open woods and meadows.

    Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
    This was in our backyard and it can be 4-6 inches from wingtip to wingtip. It can be seen from spring to October in forests and in open areas, even in cities.

    Red Admiral
    This was in our vegetable garden. It was about 2 inches across. You can see them spring to mid-summer at forest edges and meadows.

    Tiger Moth
    This is some sort of tiger moth, there are many different kinds. Most have hind wings that are reddish-orange and are about 1-1 1/2 inches across. They are attracted to bright lights, which is probably why this one was dead on our deck. You can see them spring to summer in fields and roadsides.

    Butterflies and moths are some of my favorites. I like their looks.

    I tried to videotape them, maybe I can show my video next week!

    What is your favorite type of butterfly?

    What plants do you have that get lots of butterflies?