The Life and Times of Butterflies

We visited the Chaa Creek Museum last January, booking a private Morpho tour during our stay in San Ignacio, Belize. (the private part being a happy accident) It was the perfect rainy day activity. I mean, who doesn't love butterflies? Well, some weirdos are probably disgusted by an insect that digests its own body while manifesting from caterpillar to larvae. The life and times of butterflies sounds like a first-rate sci-fi movie. The end of their luminous trajectory, however, is a breezy, summer romance. Follow their wings...

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
-Nathaniel Hawthorne

A special vintage. 

Alas, butterflies have a short lifespan. Beautiful Blue Morphos only live for three weeks. 

A Green Malachite.

A Blue Morpho. (there weren't many flitting around during our visit)

An Owl Butterfly.

"The butterfly is a flying flower,
The flower a tethered butterfly."
-Ponce Denis Ecouchard Lebrun

The Awesome Links:

Wild Bird Wednesday

Our World Tuesday

Sky Watch Friday

My Corner of the World Wednesday

Mosaic Monday

Travel Tuesdays

Pictorial Tuesday

I'd Rather be Birding

 

 

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Duluth, Minnesota: Part 1

“The foreman was a short, iron-jawed man. He had once made a trip as far as Duluth. Duluth was far across the blue waters of the lake in the hills of Minnesota. A wonderful thing had happened to him there.”

— Ernest Hemingway

A wonderful thing happened to us too: road trip nirvana. Duluth is enticingly different from the rest of Minnesota. You'll see ancient lava flows wallpapering the hillside; mossy forests with miles of trails; (perfectly suited for a family of vampires) pebble beaches littered with agates and driftwood; wild rivers swirling with leaves, and a great lake that always sits just beyond your peripheral vision. (depending on your trajectory)

Follow my feet... 

Do you see the dragonfly helicoptering over the crow? There were thousands.

Park Point.

My husband took some surprise photos!

Enger tower shadows.

In the distance, you'll see the longest sand spit in the world.

The iconic lift bridge.

Monarchs feasting in dazzling sunlight.

The Awesome Links:

Wild Bird Wednesday

Our World Tuesday

Sky Watch Friday

My Corner of the World Wednesday

Mosaic Monday

Travel Tuesdays

Pictorial Tuesday

I'd Rather be Birding

 

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Trail Cam Critters: 2020

 

Our task must be to free ourselves… by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. ~Albert Einstein

A Wiley Coyote on the run. 

We picked up our trail cam footage during a late-season, blueberry run in the wilds of Wisconsin.  

Cain's Orchard. 

Grape, late-season Elliot blueberries and apple picking on a bucolic hillside.

Bonus forest shot: giant mushroom installation. Nature's artwork.

It's always fun to see what's out there: critters creeping around, darting about, hunting and gathering, slinking and slithering. Big Foot, as always, remains elusive and unseen. Sometimes, we see signs of native Sasquatch activity in the Minneapolis parks system: stick teepees, wind-blown aspen trees, ubiquitous rubbish piles. You know, the usual stuff. Compelling and scary. But never in Wisconsin. What gives? I think the woods of my childhood would be the perfect place for Squatch activity. Still, nothing.

This week, follow their tracks...

A hawk.

Hawk. Right hand corner.

Raccoon ghost.

Squirrel nap.

Bear lair.

A bobcat!

Coyote crawl.

Turkey time.

Daytime Bobcat!

Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. ~Frank Lloyd Wright

The Awesome Links:

Wild Bird Wednesday

Our World Tuesday

Sky Watch Friday

My Corner of the World Wednesday

Mosaic Monday

Travel Tuesdays

Pictorial Tuesday

I'd Rather be Birding

 

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Miami Mix Tape: Part two

“I suspect that most people in the world will travel through or at least wish to travel through Miami in their lifetimes. I think it is on the same level as seeing the pyramids in Giza for many people. But, Miami is slippery: It is a place that is always that distant orgiastic green light while also being a hot, tropical, and very real place.” – Jim Drain

I didn't see the pyramids of Giza. Instead, I saw massive stacked rectangles. Miami is a mix of happy colors and bright sunlight, even though most of the fun happens after dark. The food is spicy and the streets are stinky. It's a salty stew of bikini bottoms and birds, masterpieces and misfits, glorious art and garbage, beauty and beasts, yin and yang. Follow my feet...

Who parked this? Sandman?

Peek-a-boo. 

"Miami Beach is where neon goes to die.” – Lenny Bruce

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