Photo Journal

Chasing Butterflies

We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.

Carl Sagan

Chasing Butterflies

Butterflies flitting nervously

over the sandy ground -

landing flying, landing flying

my heart can’t rest

as my eyes follow

the erratic movements

of their bodies

landing flying, landing flying

here on a stone,

there a stretch of sand-

then it’s another butterfly

that they can land by,

but that one won’t stay

and neither can I

when I can only catch up

in time to see them fly-

my heart can’t rest.

So we'll live, And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh at gilded butterflies.

William Shakespeare

The pictures were taken on Lake Michigan earlier this month on a warm sunny day. The butterflies are Tiger Swallowtails. Such beautiful creatures. They are in the same family of butterflies as the Monarch. They are called swallowtails because their forked tails resemble the tails of swallows (the birds). I wondered why I saw them on the beach instead of near a field or flowers. One explanation I saw was that male swallowtails do something called “puddling” - it’s one of the only times they gather in groups; they do it to sip water and obtain some necessary minerals.

I love butterflies, but I noticed when I was chasing after them to take pictures, I felt anxious. They usually move so quickly, barely resting on a spot before lifting off again. Just as you get them into the frame, they’re out of it. It reminded me of how my mind races sometimes when I have a lot of things to do. It races so much at times that I actually can’t do anything. I just run around starting things. Maybe the next time I feel that way, I will remember the butterflies and I will decide to land on just one task.

Thank you so much for being here! See you next week!

Last Dance of Spring

And since all this loveliness can not be Heaven, I know in my heart it is June.

Abba Louisa Goold Woolson

These little gifts of spring

green leaf and flower gold

 

Purple spikes and tall grass

I often pass -

until today

when my feet were slow,

and white blossoms

filled my quiet heart

with the grace of a season;

departing.

What an unusual spring we had. Fires in the north making the skies hazy and defusing the sunlight, very little rain, a mix of really hot and surprisingly cold days, and, at least where I live, an unusual abundance of wildlife.

I’ve had a little running injury this spring (now nearly healed) that slowed me down a bit and, in a way, I’m grateful. It gave me a chance to go on longer walks with my camera and take closeups of flowering and budding things. Even with the drier conditions, spring did not disappoint. I was especially drawn to the wild growing things, like the vine twisting over the road at the beginning of this post, the tall grass flowering in an empty lot, or the black-eyed susan and daisy, growing by the guardrails. I think I love them for their tenacity; their beauty rising even in unfavorable conditions.

I hope you had a wonderful week and had a chance to mark the summer solstice in some way on Wednesday, even if just in an acknowledgement that it happened. As I’m writing this, I just realized that there are a couple of you that actually are on the other side of the planet, heading into winter. Either way, seasons are changing. I’m happy you’re here with me! Thank you for your time and attention.

See you next week!

An Abundance of Seagulls

Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.

Wallace Stevens

Seagulls flying over the lake, circling and calling.

Video of Seagulls circling over the lake in the early morning of June 9, 2023

Seagulls landing and fighting on the big flat rock where they all want to stand.

So many seagulls, more than I’ve ever seen here.

Why are they here? Why are they circling?

Last week I was certain they were escaping poor air in other places caused by the wildfires in Canada.

Seagulls floating on the water on a calm day, a pinkish haze in the air. I watch them, take pictures and muse.

This morning I walked down to the beach and found that hundreds of dead alewives* washed up overnight. Is this why the seagulls are here in abundance this year? Have they been tracking the alewives all this time? Or is it the wildfires? I’m not sure now. I was convinced when I took the first photos of the gulls that they were escaping bad air in other places, but today I realized there could be more to it.

I’m constantly amazed at what is happening all around me every day, under the surface. The things that birds and other animals know instinctively for their survival, that I can only guess at. Amazed by the world underneath the water, teeming with so much life that I can’t see. It fills me with curiosity and wonder. I hope it does the same for you!

*Thanks to my friend, Kat Needham, for identifying the fish for me. If you want to know more about alewives, click here.

We still do not know one thousandth of one percent of what nature has revealed to us.

Albert Einstein

Thank you so much for being here! See you next Friday.