Tag Archives: butterflies

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Wings

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“If I had wings no one would ask me should I fly
The bird sings, no one asks why
I can see in myself wings as I feel them
If you see something else, keep your thoughts to yourself
I’ll fly free then” – song by Peter, Paul, and Mary

“Hold fast to dreams 
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.” – Langston Hughes

Wings – a symbol of freedom, of dreams soaring, of hope rising – have been assigned to so many types of animals: insects, birds, mammals (my last photo is a little bat asleep in a tree in Death Valley), and even some reptiles and fish. But each and every one of these wing-bearers return to a resting state at some point, fold their wings, and save their energy. I wonder at the moment when they know it’s time to soar. What propels them, emotionally? Fear? Purpose? Exhilaration?

“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops – at all” – Emily Dickinson

I had a dream about flying recently. I have those dreams periodically. But I never have physical wings in those dreams. What I have is a secret knowledge that I can lift off the ground and glide around…and that others cannot. I’m never completely certain of it, but while it’s working, it feels miraculous and special and effortless. I wake from those dreams with a sense of wonder and joy.

Thanks to Beth of Wandering Dawgs for this week’s challenge.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: What’s Bugging You?

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I’m beginning to think that maybe Donna of Wind Kisses might be a secret sister to me. I love her challenge to us this week! Last week it was bilingual 3rd graders, this week it was Kindergarteners (70 in all) who sang this song with me:

“Head, thorax, abdomen, abdomen
Head, thorax abdomen, abdomen
Two antennae, four wings and six legs
And don’t forget the exoskeleton!”
OR
“Cabeza, tórax, abdomen, abdomen
Cabeza, tórax, abdomen, abdomen
Dos antenas, cuatro alas y seis patas
Y tambien el exoesqueleto!”

So, which of you Lens-Artists have a dung beetle in your photo archives? This specimen was living on the prairies of South Dakota. Could be elk or buffalo dung it was rolling around into a perfect sphere. I wish I had video to show you how he rolled it with his back legs until the slope’s gravity pulled him up over the top, facing skyward. Fascinating!

Another beetle. Ladybugs feature in nursery rhymes and seem pretty harmless, but my middle daughter discovered at Girl Scout camp that they bite, and so grew to be somewhat afraid of them, especially when some meaner girls threatened to fill her sleeping bag with them.

Okay, I’ll post some of the more glamorous bugs that everyone loves.

…and I’ll post some things that aren’t bugs just to see if you’ll jump.

I think it’s always good to meet the neighbors who sit on other branches of the Tree of Life, get acquainted, and learn to appreciate them. Most of them were here long before we were! I think they make great teachers.

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Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Detail

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Patti poses an interesting challenge this week: when the scope of a scene is visually overwhelming, choose to focus on a detail that hints at the grandeur of the whole.
For me, that sense of overwhelming wonder is always present when I am outside in Nature. I love the Earth. I work for a Conservation Foundation, and I am often dazzled by the beauty of the land while I am also stunned by the complexity of biological interactions and the enormity of the task of preserving ecosystems that are under constant threats of degradation. I believe that showing people the accessible beauty of the world around them can engender the kind of affection for Place that will motivate them to protect it, to safeguard it for the future.
Have you ever looked at a common plant up close? Or gazed into the intelligent eyes of an animal?  There are details all around you capable of blowing your mind with the immense and intricate magnificence of Life. I invite you to become a Lover of Life — a Biophile, if you will.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Ooh, Shiny!

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“Hey, look! A plastic castle!”

No thank you. Plastic? Yuck. Man made? Not interested. 

My favorite diversions, distractions, and delightful detours are definitely of the flowers-and-butterflies variety.

Polygonia comma

Gray treefrog

Blue vervain

But to tell you the truth, these things are not merely beautiful bagatelles. These are the elements of a grand eco-system, the intrinsic parts of a working Universe. And so I am trying to be that disciplined, working person that focuses on protecting these habitats. They are not my distraction, then, they are my day plan. 

Ooh, Shiny!