Patience is a virtue that I don’t always have. But I do seem to have it when trying to capture flora and fauna on my camera. I’ve noticed that butterflies tend to come to the butterfly bush in the late afternoon/early evening. Around 6 pm I ventured out to the porch and peeked around the corner at the butterfly bush. Aha! A monarch! (And a hummingbird moth, I might add.)
I ran into the house grabbed my camera and then proceeded to contort myself into a position that entailed leaning out over the porch railing and then torquing my body to the right with camera in hand. For a long time.
Here’s what I got:
And, in flight:
There’s more, but I picked the ones I thought were the most interesting. I like to think this one emerged from our very own milkweed plants.
This butterfly bush has been a joy. I planted it a few years back and now it grows very tall each year, with blooms emerging in August. I love its graceful lines. It draws small, beautiful moths, all sorts of butterflies, hummingbird moths – and hummingbirds. If you don’t have one, consider planting one next year. The bloom time isn’t all that long, but boy, is it worth it!
The morning glories and moonflowers are lush with green leaves and are climbing all over the place. Still waiting on some flower buds….
We mowed yesterday and it was exhausting. Since the grass was so long and wet because of the humidity, the mower kept clogging and we’d have to repeatedly stop and scoop up all the cut grass from underneath the mower.
Just under two weeks until the newest Louise Penny is published on August 30th. I will be at the bookstore that day, that I can promise.
Don was on Mr. Robot last night and we kept flipping back and forth between the Olympics and Mr. Robot to try to catch his scene. We were successful! He was wonderful in a scene with his daughter; heartbreaking, sad, bewildered, angry – very real, which, on film, is much more difficult than you might imagine. I’m very proud of him. We haven’t actually watched any episodes in the second season as of yet. We will. So we didn’t try to understand what the heck was going on with the rest of the show; we just caught his scene.
By the way, we didn’t find out that his episode was airing last night until mid-afternoon. I edited this post to include that information and mentioned it on FB and IG. Sorry if you missed it!
Happy Thursday.
Beautiful photos! I love to watch the butterflies! I missed seeing Don’s scene last night…I was going to watch but then got caught up in something else and a lot of whining on my part about my bad haircut! Yesterday was not a good day for me. Oh well, today is another day and I’ll try to get in a better mood!
hugs,
Linda
Sorry about your haircut! This too will pass. You can get episodes of Mr. Robot on demand via cable or on USA’s website, I think.
My husband was supposed to leave this morning on a short trip but stayed home long enough to catch “Mr Robot” on dvr —
Aha! Hope you both enjoyed it, Liza!
missed it darn!
That’s too bad. You missed a good scene!
Hi Claudia. Very pretty photos. I have buddleia in my garden too. I have purple , white and pink. There are lots of other colours too. Very cold and wet here in Western Australia!! Big love. Julie
I should get one in another color, Julie!
I have had a few butterflies land on my phlox. I am going to look for a bush, it looks very pretty. I missed Mr. Robot too, but I will try to watch it.
Here in my neck of the woods, butterflies seem to like phlox, but they love butterfly bushes!
Great pictures of the butterfly. You did a great job getting those shots ! Got to see Don last night, first time to see that show, so didn’t know what was going on. Fun watching someone that we know through your blog!
It’s a hard show to keep up with even when you know what’s going on, Rixie. So glad you saw Don!
Your contortions are Olympic-worthy, Claudia, if only for the beautiful photos that ensued! I’ll have to catch the episode when it reruns….I have nothing fancy except TV and basic cable.
You can usually watch them online,as well. At least, I did so last year on USA’s website.
Beautiful photos of the butterfly but watch out for those hummingbird moths if you plant tomatoes, their eggs become tomato hornworms.
I tried watching Mr Robot once, sadly I could not make heads or tails of it. Person of Interest is another I can never wrap my head around. But I’m sure Don was brilliant!
We don’t plant vegetables, so we’re fine! I really love Mr. Robot, but it’s complex and not easy to keep up with even if you’re a regular viewer.
You had a busy day yesterday! Love, love seeing the photos (well worth your efforts) of the beautiful monarch! We are having a boon of morning coastal fog which is cooling us off for a little while in the mornings. Sun’s out now, but I can scarcely believe it’s almost 11am and only 75 degrees outside!
So nice for you, Vicki! Enjoy!
I never miss Mr Robot! But, I admit, it’s hard to take it all in. Loved Don’s scene and thought he was just as perfectly perturbed and incredulous as most any parent would be when trying to understand what goes on in his loony daughter’s head. Love Rami Malek and Christian Slater and B.D.Wong…Jeez!…all of them!
Monarchs are so photogenic and you’ve captured them beautifully. Love the backlighting on those stained glass wings.
I thought he did a really good job. He actually made me tear up, I felt for his character. He’s damn good, that Don!
Beautiful Monarch pictures! They are so pretty when their wings flap slowly as they perch on the flowers! Must be a scientific term for that movement.
Didn’t know Don was on MR last night. It seems like since the 2 conventions and now the Olympics, that TV is all a big jumble. I surely don’t want to vex you….. but have you caught the latest junk from the Orange Man & his “campaign staff” ?? Absolutely UNbelievable. Watched MSNBC for a bit this AM and I literally gasped at the nonsense.
OK, sorry to bring that up, but can’t ignore it. But you can ignore that I brought it up ~~!!~~ Hope you are having a good day ~ and did it cool down as you were hoping it would?
Oh yes. Unbelievable is right! I can’t even begin to describe it. It’s frightening, that’s for sure!
That monarch is a beauty…how lucky you are to have one there..I had a beautiful butterfly bush that was getting very tall and full…each year I would lovingly prune it and wait for the butterflies and other insects to come visit…A few years ago our sewer line into the house broke and we found a neighbor up on the ridge beside us who does that kind of work…one day my now ex-boyfriend came in the house and said the guy told him how to trim the butterfly bush and he did it…sadly the guy told him to trim it all back to the ground which he did…I have not seen my butterfly bush since then…I wasn’t sure who I wanted to strangle first…lol..the guy who told him that or him for doing it before he asked my opinion…Oh well maybe some day I will replace it..it was a pretty deep purple shade..sigh…My son and I both love Mr Robot and when Don is on it’s an added treat to me…if I don’t understand the techie stuff..Matt explains it to me…
Oh no! Someone told me I could cut my bush back, too, but to tell you the truth, I’ve been wary of it. Now, I’m glad I didn’t!
I did what you did and flipped back and forth between Mr. Robot and the Olympics. Saw Don’s scene and thought he was great! Wonderful job! Felt like I knew a celebrity, even tho, I really don’t! :) Also, enjoyed the Olympics – especially the 3 women from USA who won gold, silver, and bronze in the hurdles! How exciting!
The 3 American women placing 1, 2, and 3 was thrilling!
I’m so glad you enjoyed Don on Mr. Robot, Ellen!
What great shots Claudia! Thanks for sharing.
I didn’t think we’d get Mr. Robot here in Canada but was changing the channel and there it was! We watched all the way up to Don’t scene and then went back to the Olympics but kept flipping back and forth. He’s such a great actor. Fun to watch!! Thanks for letting us know it was going to be one.
I’m glad you got to see it, Chy. He’s a talented son of a gun!
Oh damn, I missed MR ROBOT entirely last night. I became engrossed in AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on PBS – they’re doing a series of Presidential biographies now and that kind of stuff is absolutely catnip to me. They’re all so well-done. Almost like taking a university history course, except no paper to write! But I know you’ll tip us off when Don appears again… 🏡
See today’s post. You can watch it on line.
I found Mr. Robot on my On Demand. He is crazy good at his craft!!! I tried to match “the Don I know” through your blog and posted videos, to the Mr. Robot, Don … it was hard to see DON in that character. Great job Don!
Love the butterfly photos … so beautiful. I remember seeing butterflies often as a kid – but rarely see them now.
Yay! That means he did his job well! I loved him in this one. Thanks, Debbie.
Stunning! Great photos! That cute butterfly knew that there was a photo session!
Thank you, Sydney!