Winged Things and a Rant

Had an interesting encounter last weekend at the arboretum. I watched from a distance as a young (and very pretty) pregnant girl picked a small bouquet of flowers. Carefully she made her selections; however, one flower was rejected and placed on a brick post to wither and die.

When she made her way over to the rose section, closer to me, I saw no choice but to confront her. As gently as possible I informed her that she wasn't allowed to pick the flowers, that they were for everyone to enjoy, especially the butterflies and other insects who depend on them. I'll spare you the entire exchange, complete with eye rolls and sass. However, I remained calm yet firm.

As I was packing up my car to leave, she walked by, glaring at me, sans flowers. My jaw dropped open. I said "Where are the flowers?" She said, "Does it really matter? I mean, after you bitched at me, I no longer wanted them." "Well," I said, "that's just great. Now they're wasted. You really should have known better anyway."

Doesn't everyone know you cannot pick flowers from a local arboretum as though it was your own personal garden?!

Okay, rant over. Here are some critters I was able to shoot in between blood pressure spikes.

Guess who? Face blurred on purpose.

It's been a long time since I felt angry enough to confront a complete stranger, so it's still bothering me. Not one of my finer moments to say the least. My biking partner said she would have nicely informed her that twice a year the arboretum has plants for sale, but I didn't know that. Would you have handled the scenario differently?

Weekend Update

Howdy folks! The arts and crafts fair put on by St. Luke's Episcopal Church was a great experience. I loved spending the day with Sweet B and her equally sweet son. We met a lot of people, even making some contacts for future work. A lady from St. Amant purchased cards from both of us and asked us to photograph her horses and stables. There were three ladies who wanted photography lessons, and the guy in the booth next to us was interested in buying art for three locations of a business he was expanding. So even though sales were a little lackluster, we made some great contacts! Our minds were swirling with ideas like getting a web site, etc. Not sure where all this will lead, but I feel hopeful.

Some of you asked which notecards sold at the arts and crafts fair. Below are the ones that sold. You've seen them all before here at some point.

I have been a little worn out from the experience, so I promise to catch up with everyone during the week. Oh, and since I have so much extra card stock I am going to host a couple of give-aways in the near future. Y'all be good and have a great week!

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More Digital Cleaning

Pushing to clean up my hard drive so I can move the original Lightroom files to my external device at year end. Raw files are awesome, but they are awesomely HUGE. My Mac is about to burst!

Clouded sulphur from my back yard, 8/15/13

Unknown plant at local arboretum, 9/5/13

Pesky love bug on lantana, 9/5/13

Canoe at my aunt's camp, 9/7/13

Meet Cowgirl, next door neighbor of my aunt and uncle, 9/7/13
I have never seen a chihuahua with this color coat and blue eyes.
I seriously considered dognapping that day.

Zinnias at arboretum, 10/8/13

Gulf fritillary, 10/8/13

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More macros

As I stated in the previous post, I am completely smitten with my new macro lens. Here are some shots that kept me busy the first couple of weeks after receiving it.

Tiny lantana bud

Anole on crape myrtle tree

Some sort of spider - nearly missed him he was so small

Dragonfly

Clouded sulphur

??

I have no idea what the last insect is; looks like some sort of moth? The metallic color of the stalk is pretty cool, too. Just wish I could remember what plant he was perched on.