Detours

I was heading out to the post office this afternoon, to mail a stack of postcards before my next show. I will be doing the Lyndhurst Show in Tarrytown, NY mid September, and I am a little late in getting these out...but better late than never, right?

On my way to the car, I was noticing all the butterflies in our yard. We have an enormous butterfly bush that is in bloom right now, and there are all sorts of butterflies flying around our yard. It is so cool! I decided to take a detour and take a closer look. After a minute or two of watching, I went and got my camera.

Can you see why I had to take a detour in my day, and just stop and watch for a while? What you can't see is the myriad butterflies, flying all over the bush, and over my head. And all the bees, weighing down blooms as they gather nectar. I had been meaning to take pictures of the hydrangea for some time, but....and the coneflowers are in bloom, so I got a picture of them as well.

There was even a hummingbird on the bush.....(tree???), but I couldn't get a picture of it. It moved too fast, and was too far away for the range of my camera. I am not sure what this bug in the picture at left is. It looked like a very small hummingbird, the way it flitted from bloom to bloom, and the way it's wings were going. But, it was much smaller than a hummingbird. I got a few pictures, and it was clear that it was an insect, not a hummingbird......But not one I had seen before. It has this very long probiscus....I think that is what they call it....the long, skinny thing it sticks into the flower to collect nectar.

Take the detour. When you are being pulled to take a few minutes to stop and notice and observe, do it! The rewards were so worth those few extra minutes in the driveway, watching nature do it's thing. I will carry those few minutes with me long beyond this day. And now I have some pictures to share as well.