Butterfly Macro

Wow!! What a knockout! I love this close-up showing such dramatic red and black details. It sometimes seems impossible that there are living creatures with such colors! Totally incredible!

I looked at this entire album of butterflies and oh my goodness...there are so many that I would put in first place, and all the rest are wonderful too...I couldn't possibly pick a favorite! What FUN that you got to visit a butterfly garden! Really, they are the best places to get a good look at these flighty creatures--and many, many species that don't live locally or even on the same continent! After my introduction to exhibits like this--we stumbled on one at the Jackson County Fair--I am a total fan and would like to visit these places any time I can. Bravo on all of the fabulous shots, I am so envious of the variety of cool species you saw! I have to agree with you about Blue Morphos...they are absolutely jaw-dropping spectacular butterflies that cannot be appreciated properly without seeing them with your own two eyes! Funny how photos do NOT do metallics/ shimmery subjects justice at all. That just cannot be properly recorded...you can get close but it doesn't translate 100%, no matter how good a camera a person has. It makes you wonder about all of the gorgeous images we see of birds/butterflies/insects/plants with that quality which are just unbelievably stunning...if they are THAT amazing in a picture/video and the true iridescence cannot be translated, what do they REALLY look like?! Wow...

Thank you for the wonderful comments about that Paintbrush picture! Aren't they just wonderful? So odd-looking and fuzzy and with crazy neon-bright colors too...it is always such a joy to find them. Still remember a) seeing one of these flowers for the first time and being totally blown away by their unique beauty and b) discovering them on our property! What a present that was! :D LOL, trying to get pictures on our steep hillside was funny...sliding and slipping around, contorting this way and that to get proper angles....lol, what fun.

I enjoyed what you had to say about the poetry quote that I used for that 365 picture...I didn't remember that you appreciate poetry! How nice! It's certainly not for everyone and I used to hate it as a youngster. I didn't understand the melange of emotion and swirling thoughts that blend together like literary paint to create the prose. My 9th grade English teacher changed my mind on that one when he made us study poetry and I finally GOT IT. I now really enjoy it from time to time but often find it annoying to pick through the lines and try to figure out what the composer was trying to say.

I haven't looked into what countries aren't allowing US citizens in, but it certainly doesn't surprise me that Canada is looking down their noses at our masses of idiotic fools. Thank goodness you can visit family members though...but wow...it sounds like a dangerous proposition...I had no idea there has been such violence directed at Americans. *sigh* It's hard to know what to do, isn't it?

Glad you had a nice time with Dave and Jess, and that the food turned out so nicely! How did the coconut and tomato curry turn out for your Sunday guests? *drool* We had another sous-vide tri tip with more portobello mushrooms in butter and cream sauce because we loved it so much the last time! :D

Ok, I'm off to bed! I expect its early am for you right now, hope you have a lovely cup of coffee and enjoy your morning! :) We had snow on the nearby hills this morning and frost too! Night night!