I love flower photos – can you tell?

I don’t have much to say lately, but I do love to see the beauty in nature.

Love the morning dew

Fun with Macros part deux

Morning Dew

 

Fun with Macros

I Miss This

And this…

And this…

And especially this…

Tears and Butterflies

Shortly after returning from BlogHer, the hubs and I boarded a plane to Key West.  We had a great time.  On one of the last days we decided to go to the The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. 

Before I go any further, I have to mention that I have been recently entranced by butterflies.  One of my favorite sayings of late is, “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, it became a beautiful butterfly.”  Some sources quote this as a proverb.  Some say it’s anonymous.  Wikipedia has no idea.   I say it’s just beautiful.  It has become a mantra, of sorts.  So, understandably, I wanted to go to the conservatory.

I expected it to be beautiful but I did not expect the experience that I had.  We walked in and it was staggeringly beautiful.  There were tons of gorgeous butterflies, but the ones that caught my attention were these beautiful blue butterflies.  On the outside they are brown and unassuming, but when they fly, they are the most beautiful blue you have ever seen. 

They could not keep still.  They rarely landed on anything and when they did, it was not long enough to catch even a blurry photo of them.  

I resigned myself to taking photos of the other beautiful creatures that put themselves on display for us, though what I truly wanted was a picture of one of these blue butterflies. 

We were about half way through when, out of nowhere, I felt a thud on my hand.  I looked down and almost immediately started to tear up.  One of the blue butterflies landed on my hand. 

I continued my silent weeping until a woman walked up to me and said, “I’ve been watching them around you.  Since you walked in, they’ve been following you around trying to land on you. It’s amazing!  I’ve never seen anything like it!”

I stood there for a bit.  I did not want this experience to end.  Surely this butterfly would flit away just like all of it’s friends.  They were fluttering around us not staying in one spot very long.  This one stayed.  As people stopped to take pictures of me and my new friend, it stayed.  As I spoke, it turned and almost seemed to look at me as I spoke.  (The instructions on the website advise that they are afraid of noise and to please be quiet.)

I wandered around, retracing my steps, trying to stay in that moment but hubs was ready to leave.  There was a large group of people that had just entered.  It was time to go.  As we decided to leave, as quickly as it landed, this butterfly flew off.  It’s job had been done.

We stopped in the gift shop and found that this butterfly is the Blue Morpho, native to South America.  Once it has gone through it’s metamorphosis, it lives about ten days.  It hit me that this beautiful creature chose to spend five precious minutes with me. That is a significant amount of time if you’re a Blue Morpho. 

I like to think that I was given an important gift that day.  I like to think I was given some grace. After all,  just when I thought the world was ending, I was graced by a beautiful butterfly.

Beautiful creature

I haven’t had the time to post my experience at the Butterfly Conservatory but will once I come in for a landing.  Until then, here is one of the beautiful creatures I was blessed to spend time with.

Siesta

I love a good gratuitous lighthouse shot

 

A little bit of rum punch, a little bit of trip and fall

And it started out a little something like this…

We started out at the hotel.  Then we walked to The Rum Bar at The Speakeasy Inn where we had a couple drinks and met some cool people.

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While at The Rum Bar we were invited to go on a sunset cruise – it was a birthday party.  I love a good party and wanted to go but I knew that I would not make it that long.  Oh, if I only knew… (cue foreshadow music)

We left The Rum Bar and traveled down Duval and ended up at 801 Bourbon Bar.  It is a cabaret bar.  We hung with one of the performers, Ruben.  Ruben was fun.  Ruben and I were pals yesterday. Ruben and I sang a lot.  Ruben and I are now Facebook friends. 

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Hubs and I then made it up to Cowboy Bill's.  I did not take any pictures.  It was hot and I had too many drinks. Well,  I did not have THAT many but when you have breakfast at 9am and then you don’t put anything else in your stomach but alcohol?  Your body does not take it well.  This I know from experience.

We left Cowboy Bill’s and I asked to take a cab.  Hubs didn’t want to.  We weren’t too far from the hotel.  We should have taken a cab. 

We got less than a block from our hotel and my legs had had enough.  So did my feet. So did my knees. I tripped and it was all over. 

I also have a brush burn on my butt.  It hurts.  Not more than my pride.

Through a rear window

Ahhhh, this is the life

Sigh…I’m on vacation

In honor of my Key West getaway, I went through some photos of our last visit to the Keys and decided to post them.   

I was obsessed with this lighthouse.  I think I took about 20 photos of it while we were there.  I’m normally not a big lighthouse fan.  The simplicity of this one struck me.

I love the colors of the sky during the sunset. 

I love this man.  This is the hubs. 

This is probably my favorite restaurant in the world.  I love Cuban food and I love El Meson de Pepe.  You have got to go there if you’re in Key West.  Eat outside with the chickens!

Douglas was our captain for the sunset cruise.  He was hilarious.  I caught him in a quiet moment.  I wonder how Douglas is.

 

I hope to get many more great photos on this trip. 

Will the real DaisyPantalones please stand up?

So, I wanted to take an outdoor picture today and it rained and the only things that I wanted to photograph were outside and there were cars behind me and it’s dangerous to take pictures while your driving… You’re getting a picture that I’ve taken of my precious pup.  She is adorable but she is very itchy right now and not in the mood to have her picture taken.  These pictures are oldies but goodies. 

 

Daisy adopted hubs and I in June of 2004.  Since then, she has been the light of my life.  I wish I could have a whole house full of her… sometimes it feels like I do.  She give me hugs every day when I come home from work.  I couldn’t see my life without her happiness.  She reminds me  to be joyful, every day.   

Seeing the Beauty

Since I’ve challenged myself to take a photo every day for the next 365 days, I find myself looking for things to photograph.  Here is a rose from my backyard. 

 

3/365

BlogHer ‘10

I would love to post a wrap-up like the one’s I just read by ThreeSeven and Feast after Famine but mine would pale in comparison.  (Thanks for the suggestion Arts and Dafts)

I did not take many photographs at the conference as my fire for photography had dwindled years ago.  I’ve always preferred to carry my photos in my memory.  I now see the value in having a tangible item to remember a moment.  The fire that once was only embers was caught by the wind and is now an inferno.

All I have to say is that I am glad that I was a part of BlogHer this year.  I am saving my pennies for next year.  And I will have business cards.

In the Devil’s Den

A couple months ago I took a trip to Gettysburg to ghost hunt with a couple of old friends, my sister and my mother.  The most amazing place was Devil’s Den.   Below is one of the better shots I took.

Fun with Art Camera

Self-portrait challenge. Hope I don’t burn myself out.

                                    

Inspired

In honor of the photography session on Friday, I have decided on a self-portrait challenge for myself.  Also, in honor of the session, I have decided that my first pictures will be with my cell phone.  It’s not that great but I’m learning so I’m ok with that.  Practice makes perfect.  After all, your best camera is the one you have. Besides, I have to go home and read the book for my COOLPIX.

Overwhelmed

Is there such a thing as too much inspiration? Inspiration overload? I think it is quite possible that it can happen. I was sitting outside the hotel at BlogHer '10 and it came to me. I'm overwhelmed.

I don't know what to write about. I don't know what I should write about. I don't know if anyone will be interested in what I have to write about. Then I think, "Who cares?! Who is this blog for anyway?"

I originally decided to come to BlogHer '10 to give me some inspiration. I always wanted to be a writer and went to school for writing but I've never really done anything with it. It seemed like this is the perfect place to get some inspiration. Wow, I'm on overload. There are so many creative people here. There are so many different viewpoints. Listening to the Key Note speakers yesterday afternoon was amazing - so many powerful stories.

So, today I will continue to soak up the creativity and try not to feel like a fish out of water. I don't have a successful blog. I don't have hundreds/thousands of readers. Hell, I don't even post on a regular basis, but I do this for me and that's what it's all about, right?

Right.