Cherish is my favorite word, and I cherish the ability of turning the routine into a beautiful moment.
Nature creates in me, a spiritual and meditative time to bring peace, harmony and balance, into an otherwise ordinary day~
Mary Howell Cromer







Saturday, August 11, 2012

You Don't Say...Cabbages, Giants, and Tigers;')~


This year, several of the neighbors have commented that we have just not had our usual Butterfly counts.  In fact, just on Thursday, I saw the first Monarch of the season.  That same afternoon, I could have kicked my good self;')  I was thinking about the possibilty of doing a bit of lawn cutting, as the weather had cooled down a bit.  I had taken my camera out as I always do, and had placed it on the picnic table, under the umbrella.  I like having the camera handy when I am working outside...just in case. 
As I turned to walk toward the garage, I could not believe what was about to be my good fortune of the summer, for as I had seen only once before, ever, there before me was the most gorgeous
Giant Swallowtail Butterfly
The largest butterfly in North America.  I grabbed up my camera and took chase, as they are mighty fliers.  I was running so fast to keep up, I nearly fell, and then it flew amongst the heavily wooded trees.  I thought to myself, I may have even actually spoken the words...out loud..."You have got to be kidding me...right." ;'(
I could not find where it had gone, but I ran to the 2 closest neighbors gardens, hoping that it would visit, either next door, or across the lane.  I waited at both gardens for several minutes, but the butterfly never found those gardens and my camera never got a single image.  This had happened with a Zebra Swallowtail twice a couple of years ago...geesh, but hey, I got to see it and it was thrilling!

Below is one of the images that I took of one, amazingly two years ago today~

We always can find the Cabbage Whites, as well as the Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, but oh to catch another glimpse and this time get more images of the spectactular
Giant Swallowtail Butterfly.

Happy Week, Happy Mosiac Monday, be blessed and be a blessing to others, be safe and take care always~ 

I am linking up with Mary for:
"Mosaic Monday"
at:
http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/













 







27 comments:

  1. HI Mary,
    What a colorful set of pictures you presented! I'm jsut back from sunny France to cloudy Iceland, but I was quite unsuccessful to take pictures in France and even broke my canera :-(

    ReplyDelete
  2. they are such gorgeous creations. :) at least you got to see him this year!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gorgeous butterflies and photos, Mary! My hubby and I were saying also that the butterfly count was down this year. I wonder why?

    ReplyDelete
  4. IT's always a treat to visit your blog and admire your amazing photos!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh WOW!! These images are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That is a truly gorgeous set of pictures. the flowers make a wonderful backdrop to the butterflies.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awesome photos, Mary! Gorgeous colors and the detail is amazing! That swallowtail is especially beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for your always kind comments everyone!
    I am doing fine, the surgery area is all healed. I am still just not so sure this has anything to do with my heart though, but must first have it thoroughly checked before we can continue forward to find out what does cause these events to occur. I had one on thee morning of the 19th, which I failed to use the activator properly and that one did not work, and I had a small event on Friday. It is quite frightening when they happen, but only last for less than a minute, but the deep fatigue lasts for 2 to 3 days.
    Thank you always for your caring hearts~

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mary,
    Really nice collection of photos, made my morning to see them. Incidentally the Giant Swallowtail is not the largest butter in the US anymore. The recently described Appalachian Tiger Swallowtail is bigger.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Amazing photo line-up of the butterflies! Very nice work. They're gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  11. So quiet, these butterflies are really beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Bad luck with the Giant Swallowtail Mary but I'll cross fingers for you. You certainly made up for it with your mosaics and the colours therein. The black and white of the butterfly against the purple buddleia is just a superb combination. Butterflies are really scarce over here this year, especially the larger ones - all down to the bad summer and not enough sunshine. Have a great week and keep clicking.

    ReplyDelete
  13. How frustrating to see the butterfly but not be quick enough to photograph it! I feel your pain as similar sightings that ended in no photos have happened to me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow! Great series of the butterfly.
    Hilda

    ReplyDelete
  15. Such beautiful mosaics! Your description of almost capturing a swallowtail is as good as a photo in my book. I enjoyed reading that!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Every time I come to this blog I can only look with my mouth wide open. Just agape at the detail and perspective that you can catch with your camera. Amazing. True I have not seen as many of anything this year.
    QMM

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gorgeous shots. I know what you mean about the gian swallowtail ... I *chased* one on my back yard this year .... good thing it is a postage stamp backyard! I didn't notice butterflies at all last year during our extreme drought. More this year and we've had rain. Still not *normal* (whatever that is).

    ReplyDelete
  18. These images are beautiful!! Thanks for sharing.


    Kim,USA

    ReplyDelete
  19. Mary, it is rather like the fisherman's tale of "the one that got away". Your photos are just gorgeous. I love the ones with the purple butterfly bush as well as the butterfly. Wow.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi Mary...love these images of the butterflies on the butterfly bush and I especially like the picture of the beetle!We have seen a great many butterflies in New Jersey this year.

    ReplyDelete
  21. An amazing post and stunning butterfly-photos!

    ReplyDelete
  22. gorgeous butterfly images. I had to laugh imagining you running about trying to photograph the butterfly - I wonder what the neighbors thought! perhaps they are used to you!
    Also a treat Mary to come over to your blog. Have a wonderful week and thank you for sharing your corner of the earth with us.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Butterflies are one of my favorites and I visit the Butterfly Farm daily each year when vacationing in Aruba! Beautiful layouts of your captures!...:)JP

    ReplyDelete
  24. What a beautiful set of pictures !

    Sounds like an adventure...running around chasing that butterfly! I had to smile a bit reading the post! :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. These are amazingly beautiful pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Being still in the midst of a long, snowy, cold winter in Maine, I stumbled across one of your photos which led me here. I enjoy taking nature photos too - especially of flowers and butterflies. These are beautiful and such a welcome sight right now.

    ReplyDelete

I enjoy each visitor to "Red Shouldered Hawks of Tingsgrove and Beyond" I truly appreciate those who have become followers to my blog and really am encouraged by the wonderful comments.
FYI if you leave ANONYMOUS comments, they will never get published, so please don't waste your time.

Thanking you~