Butterflies

I think we all agree that a long weekend is a great idea, so I began mine on Thursday last week, enjoying breakfast with fellow blogger John (https://photobyjohnbo.com/) and his lovely wife. As I was already far from home, I decided to stop at the Desert Botanical Garden where Donna (https://windkisses.com/) had assured me there were wildflowers in bloom. How could I pass that up?

As gorgeous as the wildflowers were (yes, there will be pictures), the Butterfly Pavilion captured me. As I headed to the entrance, one of my favorites things, an insect house/hotel, greeted me. Lots of apartments in this small space, but then insects don’t take up much room.

Entering the Pavilion is a bit like going through a space lock: enter, but don’t open the door to enter until the heavy plastic strips have closed behind you. Or perhaps the two are the other way ’round. I can’t remember exactly. Either way, don’t let the butterflies escape, especially as I got there not long after the release of hundreds of them. That must have been spectacular to see.

“Butterflies are self propelled flowers.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

There were lots of people inside and we were all warned to be careful where we stepped. There were lots of oohs and ahs as the colorful beauties were spotted. Although many pressed against the mesh that forms the “walls” of the pavilion, many more perched everywhere or floated past as we walked or crouched to take photos.

“A power of Butterfly must be –
The Aptitude to fly
Meadows of Majesty concedes
And easy Sweeps of Sky -”
― Emily Dickinson

“Butterflies can’t see their wings. They can’t see how truly beautiful they are, but everyone else can. People are like that as well.”― Naya Rivera

“A fallen blossom
returning to the bough, I thought —
But no, a butterfly.”
― Arakida Moritake, Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology

Although its wings are a bit ragged, this one is still lovely.

Full disclosure: this is NOT an April Fool’s joke!! 🙂

Easter

Friday flowers…duo

Thursday Doors…surfin’ doors

Walking along the Strand most mornings while in Hermosa Beach, I came up this power box with its decorated doors. Here’s Mom looking like a surfing babe.

This guy looks more like someone who’s up to no good, but who am I to say for sure?

Yo, dude, can’t imagine that ‘do will last long in the water!

I didn’t notice it at the time, but Dad appears to have a door knob rather close to his eye. Maybe a surgery should be in order. Looks pretty painful.

That’s it for this addition of Thursday Doors, hosted by Dan, on the east coast about as far away from California as possible. You might find him surfing the hills of Pittsburgh, though, if there’s a lot of snow. Thanks for hosting, Dan.

Wordless Wednesday…still lives on sidewalk

California street art

While in Southern California, I prefer walking along The Strand so I can see the ocean. But walking one street over brings me closer to a variety of street art. Both my husband and I love this trumpet, which really looks as though it’s reaching out from the wall.

Martha’s is a restaurant with great food and street art that catches your eyes.

Finally, this mural is along The Strand. Very quintessential Southern California, don’t you think? Thanks for walking along with me and enjoying the street art. Do you have a favorite?

Lens-Artists #292 – People Here, There & Everywhere

People
People who need people
Are the luckiest people in the world

Written by: Jule Styne, Bob Merrill Sung by Barbra Streisand

When I saw the challenge Tina set for us this week, I almost didn’t participate. As most of you know, I don’t take many pictures of people, even those who interest me, as I feel I’m invading their privacy, that they’ll get annoyed if they see me taking a photo, and, as a hangover from years ago, I always felt I should have a release form to use the photo of a person.

But I went dumpster archive diving and manged to come up with some I like and that I hope you like as well. Children are often irresistible and this munchkin kept peering over the top of his airline seat so what was I supposed to do?

Ice skating in downtown Chicago. Hearty people.

Boy meets dog. ❤

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.”
― Groucho Marx

My brother-in-law (left) participated in a vertical mile on a ski run in France one year while I was visiting. The participants walked/ran/struggled up the slope under the ski lift, then rode the lift down and began again. Time started at the bottom, stopped at the top, then resumed at the bottom. I don’t recall how many times it took but the man who won also walked down instead of taking the lift!! My sister-in-law and I shouted encouragement to everyone, then I took the lift up, waited for my b-i-l, and rode back down with him, admiring both the view and the fortitude of everyone who took part! I think the black and white gives the feeling of the difficulty of the event.

Imagine this as my look of bemusement at the above race. However, this man is in Philadelphia, a city full of wonderful street art.

One of my favorite photos of my dad with one of our horses, in Wyoming, of course.

Just “Awwwww.” ❤

We’re avid cycling fans and in 2014, while visiting in France, we watched a stage of the Tour de France, waiting for hours almost at the finish line at the top of the grueling Planche des Belles Filles, the pain clearly etched on the face of every finisher. The agony here isn’t of defeat. Vincenzo Nibali was both the stage winner and leader of le Tour 2014.

Where’s my person?????

Finally, a photo of our younger daughter with the red rocks of Sedona in the background. I had to take the photo as I would never have been able to do this myself!

Direction

One-Word Sunday: direction

Some things really should be self-evident!

Six-Word Saturday 3.23.24

And it’s also green.

Yesterday you peeked at some of the beautiful wildflowers gracing the desert right now. These photos are from the same trip, highlighting the green brought about by the rains we’ve experienced.

Patches of yellow flowers.

Clouds and light, just right.