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Yesterday I managed to get out for a short while to one of my favorite nearby parks in search of butterflies to photograph.

In only minutes I spotted a swallowtail, and Immediately I photographed it.

After taking just a few photos, it flew off.  I waited around as swallowtails tend to return to the same general area several times before taking off entirely.  But it did not return. As I looked at the butterfly bush, I saw something fuzzy.

When I got closer, I realized it was a frightened looking baby bird!

After taking a couple photos, I left it alone hoping that its mama would find him.  I was glad to see the little guy fly off.  I walked around a bit more, but I couldn’t find any more butterflies to photograph.

Instead I photographed some flowers.

I like the lighting in this one.

This afternoon I went out for an hour to another place in the area that has some large gardens.  I had a bit more luck for a short while.While there were no swallowtails, there were some monarchs.

Yes, I know some of them are same old, same old, but it was fun and I am glad to get a few more photos today than yesterday.  I’ll probably go out again during the week as I’m determined to get more swallowtails in good lighting.

Anyway … I have a some good, new books that I want to talk about in the coming days, and I’m going to have some give-aways. But, more importantly, I need to return to making art.  I’ve been sidetracked with huge clean-outs, dyeing watercolor paper and digitally printing some for journals, and too much playing with my ipad.  While I was beating myself up for not bothering to enter anything into the Schweinfurth show and not having anything ready to enter into Quilt National, I decided to stop stressing over it.  I’ve had some good accomplishments over the years, and I can enjoy knowing that I finally have something in this year’s Visions show.  Plus I’ll be visiting San Jose to see the International Techstyle Art Biennial at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles and the Zer01  Festival.  Here’s where you can find more info on the ITAB show, where I have a piece being exhibited, and Zer01.  Otherwise, I’m going to finish my tech column for The Prof Quilter and finish an article that I’m writing for The Quilt Life.  Then I’m going to *try to relax and enjoy my “wet” work area where I now have a new sink and my “dry” work area which is now newly cleaned-out and better organized than it ever has been.  Now to finish that column!

Lately it seems I cannot get myself focused on doing any of my work personal artwork. I’m getting the business work done, but not my own work.  I always get crabby and punchy when that happens, and I am currently quite a bit of both.  It seems I can’t even get a blog post up.  The deadline for Quilt National is looming, and it’s becoming very clear that I will not have anything finished to enter.  I’m trying not to beat myself up over it, yet I find myself beating myself up over it.  Dumb, I know.  Focus, focus.  What happened to my focus?

The only personal thing I’ve managed to do in the past 10 days was take some butterfly pictures.  Generally by this time of year I have hundreds that I like.  Not this year.  I’ve just a hand full.  Here is the most recent handful:

This was one of those rare times that while focusing on one butterfly another came fluttering along and for a brief moment landed.  Amazing I actually got this shot in focus before it quickly took off.

Yes, I know, after a while they all start to look the same.  Sometimes I find myself more intrigued with how the backgrounds look.

Over the weekend, Rich saw a little blurb in the newspaper that the “Environmental Education Center at the NJ Audubon Society” was presenting a talk on butterflies. Huh? He kept reading and announced that it was in Plainsboro. We’ve lived in this area for a long time, and neither of us had any idea that place existed.  And, it’s not even 7 miles from where we live!  We didn’t get there until about 4:45, and the talk concluded at 5, so we missed it.  Even so, I was hungry to photograph some butterflies. Initially I saw one that was fluttering about a plant on the path to the Center, and I immediately started taking pictures.

After only snapping off some 6 shots, the butterfly flew away.  We then went into the Center.  Nice place.  A person working there told me they had “zillions” of swallowtails and monarchs in the back area of the Center.  She also explained that the Reserve was made up of over 1,000 acres and had  over five miles of trails. She told us to stay on the trails and not venture through the trees to get to what we learned was one of the largest lakes in the area. Apparently many people were hurt doing so. Rather, she told us the trail that would eventually get there. We also learned about all of the wildflowers, the rare, and even endangered species of plants.  I was eager to get outside to look for butterflies.  The first thing we did was go behind the Center.  We admired some of the wildflowers, but, darn, there were no butterflies to be found.

After a lot of walking, it was becoming apparent that the few butterfly photos I took earlier would be it.

When we eventually got to  the lake, the lighting was very pretty and produced mirror reflections.

It was extremely peaceful.  We sat at a bench on the lakes edge for some time just admiring it and enjoying the peace (and resting from the walk).  We only passed one other person walking with two children during our entire walk.  I suspect we’ll return again, and hopefully the next time we’ll see more of the “zillion” butterflies.

Every year I tend to look for and photograph a lot of butterflies.  I feel a sense of peace while watching them, observing their flight patterns, and ultimately photographing them.  This year I’m behind and only got out recently.  There were only a couple butterflies, but they were perched on a some flowers long enough for me to take several photos.  I’m happy to start getting into the butterfly groove.

I can’t resist playing in Photoshop.  I like this one.

There are a couple small tweaks that I’m making to it, then I plan on
printing the image  both on fabric and paper.  Watch for it.  :)

An update:  I did even more playing in Photoshop with the above design and came up with several variations, including something larger and hopefully more visually interesting.  Stay tuned.  You may see it in the future.

After taking photos at the southern-most point, we walked onto Duvall Street and headed to the Key West Butterfly Conservatory.  We had such a good time there.  We headed in, watched a quick movie, and went right into the conservatory.  They had a good variety of butterflies.  While none of the photographs are particularly good, it was fun photographing them.  We also sat and just observed them.

They had a couple butterfly chairs.  While I was sitting on one, Rich was taking some pictures.  I am absolutely amazed that he managed to get a photo of me when a butterfly landed on my right shoulder.  I could not get that type of butterfly photographed in a fully opened position.  Yet he managed to get it not only with its wings open, but sitting on my shoulder!

After we finished in the conservatory, we headed into the gift shop and gallery.  While in the gallery, we perused the walls that were covered with gorgeous collections of butterflies housed within clear acrylic boxes several inches in depth.  Each piece has butterflies individually mounted on a narrow acrylic pedestal of a particular height to form a specific design.  They were all created by Key West artist Samuel J. Trophia.   After a bit of time, we purchased a square piece holding a circular design of many butterflies.  Also, each butterfly lives out its full adult life cycle.  Thus, nothing is done

The case is air tight.  However, there is a small hole on the side of the unit designed to be uncovered if the piece is transported in an airplane.  Removing the cover would then equalize the air pressure so that the piece would not break.  After we bought it, the nib was removed for transport, and the piece was covered and taped up within layers of bubble wrap.  The piece fit in a large shopping bag.  Since each person is allowed two carry on items, and Rich only had only one, I knew I could take it on.  It was almost funny when I was pulled over by airport security.   “You cannot bring bottles of liquid of any kind. What is in that plastic?  Is it liquid?  You cannot have large containers of liquid.”  It’s not liquid.  It’s butterflies.  Butterflies?  Yes, butterflies.  And there is was: A smile from the otherwise somewhat grumpy security person.

Rich enjoying the ocean breeze!

After a meeting on Monday, I went to a nearby park to look for more butterflies.  Being the weather was in the low 90s, and it was sunny, I suspected I’d find a few.  Unfortunately, I only had an hour to spend photographing them.  I love the zen-feel of watching them circle, land, take off, and circle again.  I’ve learned to watch their flight paths and can pretty much can tell where they will land next.  I also know that photographing them prior to 5 p.m. means they will be far more active, bouncing from flower to flower.  After 5 they tend to stay put longer.  Alas, I only had an hour prior to five and then needed to head back to work.  Even so, it was a lovely break.  Tomorrow I head to England for a week.  When I get back, I look forward to spending a couple afternoons photographing more.

It’s August, and I’ve only had a couple opportunities to look for butterflies to photograph.  Normally by this time of year I have hundreds of pictures (granted, not hundreds of good pictures).  This year I went out a couple times but didn’t find many.  Yesterday evening, I went out and found a couple.  I need to go to England this coming week, and I certainly won’t find any there.  But hopefully when I get home I can continue on.

What do you do when the evil dark shade of the dreaded kernel panic descends down your monitor? When upon restarting you get various symbols from question marks to warning circles? When utility programs don’t work? Lateral thinking is a flop? When even Derry says “hmmm .. not good”? You get out the box from the rafters in the garage, pack up the less than one-year old computer, bungie cord it onto a trolley, and head over to the nearest Apple store.

Never had a kernel panic? Consider yourself lucky. I’ve had them in the past, but generally a restart and a run through of a utility program saved the day. This was the first time it didn’t work. In fact, this is the first time in some 18 years that I had to box up and return a Macintosh. What is a kernel panic, you wonder? It’s a punch-you-in-the-gut Macintosh operating system crash (well, Unix) — kind of like the blue screen of death — that generally indicates a fatal internal error. Nice, huh?

Not two months ago one external 500 gig back up died. Now this. Sad, sad, sad. Luckily, I did have many important things backed up. But, unluckily, not all. I was planning to. Really. Because I work from more than one computer, I tend to back up stuff from one computer to another and then eventually put things onto DVD and remove them from one place or the other. Lesson learned? It’s time to stop making backups of various important things by dragging them from one computer to another and instead just start using Time Machine. Once I return from England, I will begin using it. Heck, as soon as I pick up my computer from the Apple store, hopefully before I leave, I’ll buy a Terabye drive. Promise.

But, today is a new day. While I should be finishing my Quilt National entry (which will be rejected as it always is), it was another absolutely glorious day. The type where I keep exclaiming, “What a beautiful day.” Rather than dwelling on the time I spent at the Apple store listening to my very well-trained and polite Apple genius tell me that my drive died (as in no kidding), me nearly fainting when I realized what client artwork on that machine wasn’t yet delivered, it seemed better to go look for butterflies. Sure, I’ll use any excuse. But, it was a beautiful day.

As I was sitting in my office, promising myself that I would get some work done,  I started looking out the window at the very blue skies.  I drifted into thinking about those two pretty Swallowtails from earlier in the day. Next I’m noticing the late-afternoon angle of light which I know from experience will bounce off the pond and back light the butterflies, should they be there.  Before you know it, I started flirting with the idea of returning.  The voices  in my head started shouting: Go, the lighting is great and they might still be there.  Stay, you have work to do.  You were already there today.  Get a jump on Monday’s work.  Go.  Look at the lighting.  No!  Stay.  You have things to do.

While my brain was mulling over these things, I hopped onto video with Derry, telling him my dilemma of  do I stay or do I go. And, here’s one of the many reasons why he is the best partner:  He says, “Go!”

I returned to my favorite spot, and nothing.  I waited, and nothing.  I walked around to a few other spots, and nothing. I returned to my favorite spot, sat on the grass for a while when finally one Swallowtail swooped in.  But that’s all I needed.  Once again I was climbing around some rocks, trying not to fall into the water, just so I could photograph the bugger.  There are a couple low bushes that I am always mentally willing butterflies to land on (like they’ll listen).  In that area, the light reflects off of the nearby pond which tends to make interesting backgrounds.   It’s a hard place to photograph as I don’t want to trample on any part of the bushes to get the angle I want. I patiently waited as my butterfly was fluttering from one flower to the next and then taking off into the sky to make its huge loop before returning.  He didn’t stay in my preferred area long, and I was only able to get 6 shots there.  In total, I only took about 40 pictures  before he took off and didn’t return.  While I like the ones from earlier better, they aren’t bad.    And, tomorrow, work!

What can I say, I’m always looking for butterflies!  Today’s weather is gorgeous, and I couldn’t resist visiting a nearby garden to see if there were any butterflies about.  I spotted an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a Monarch, and a Spicebush Swallowtail.  These are a few of my favorites of the day.

I mentioned in an earlier post that some years back my husband and I happened upon a park that had a zillion butterflies, that I didn’t have my camera, and I nearly cried. Yesterday evening, we took another long ride in search of butterflies.  We stumbled upon a park, and there they were.  It was like monarch city, and I had my camera with me.  I took several hundred pictures.  Okay.  Really more.  But, what the heck.  It’s fun.  It’s easy.  It’s digital.  If you have the cards and the battery juice, and there’s sometime good to photograph, I snap away!  Ahhh … now it feels like summer!

Rich found a bench and drifted off to sleep.  He said it was amazingly comfortable, the air was fresh and clean, and he had a nice nap!  I kept hoping a butterfly would land on him.

By the way, I really am working on my quilt for entry to Quilt National.  I’ve yet to get accepted to that show, and have tried for more than a decade.  Even so, I continue trying and now consider my entry fee as a  contribution to the organization (otherwise I’d feel like a total loser).

Yesterday I went to three of my favorite places to find and photograph butterflies —  Sayen Gardens,  Davidson Pond, and Farrington Lake — in Mercer and Middlesex Counties.  I was extremely surprised that I didn’t find one monarch.  It was the strangest thing.  One year there were literally hundreds of monarch butterflies at Davidson Pond, but I didn’t have my camera with me (yes, I nearly cried).  In years past, at the very least there were six to ten.  This year, nothing.  Maybe it’s the extreme heat and humidity.  It certainly looks prime, with many butterflies bushes in full bloom, blue skies, sunny.

This morning I got up earlier and went out again.  This time I found one, just one, Eastern swallowtail butterfly.  I was able to snap off some pictures, but not many.

There were several of these little guys.

And many of these moths.

But this was the lone “star.”.

I did speak with a woman who was also stunned by the lack of butterflies.

She seemed to think it was a ominous sign.  I hope not!

I waited, sitting under a large pine tree to keep out of the direct sun.

Click the link to the right to see the rest of the photos … (more…)