Butterflies

We've just returned from a trip to visit our kids in Colorado. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster. Even though I couldn't fit a monopod in the carryon luggage, and I somehow turned off the vibration reduction feature on my macro lens, I managed to get a few keepers. The last picture shows a hitchiker on Son Number One's hat.

Owl Butterfly

At The Butterfly Pavilion, Denver, CO, Oct. 31, 2008. The picture was obtained by setting a Canon point and shoot camera next to the butterfly as it rested on a concrete bench. Click on the picture for a large version that shows the detail of the wing scales.

Butterflies

I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free.

Charles Dickens


There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.

R. Buckminster Fuller


Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

Nathaniel Hawthorne


My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music. My pleasures are the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting.

Vladimir Nabokov