The Butterfly Pavilion

February 18, 2015 / Dianne / Leave a comment

Even though I’ve lived in Colorado for a very long time, I just never made it to The Butterfly Pavilion in Denver. Technically, it’s in Westminster, but it all runs together. Apparently it’s their 20th year of operation. Not that I expect I’ll be able to see ALL the things in Colorado. Highly unlikely. But it’s one of those I’ve wanted to go to for some time now.

The first Saturday of each month, they allow about 25 photographers in an hour earlier than the general public so that they can use tripods. The space for humans isn’t that massive, so during normal business hours, tripods aren’t allowed. You can stay longer once it’s open to the rest of the world, but no more tripod.

So Hazel*, my fellow photo junkie, and I made a trip north (and a bit west) a couple of weeks ago to check out the butterflies as the sun began to shine in their beautiful, tropically humid world. Of course, we made the obligatory Starbucks stop (we had to meet someplace, after all) before heading out of town at o’dark thirty (aka 6:00 a.m.). When we arrived, it was rather windy, so we skipped out on perusing the grounds outside. The morning light was beautiful, but the wind was just too much to have any photographic fun.

It was a pleasure to be there with only a couple dozen other people who totally understand whatever weird photographer quirks you may have when trying to capture the shot. Having the tripod was a plus, although there were times when you just had go handheld.

I loved getting to see such colorful and interesting varieties of butterflies. So much more than is typical out in the backyard. Some sat still the entire time we were there, leading me to wonder if they weren’t statues put there to trick the other butterflies like the zoo has. Okay, not really. I know they were real. At least I’m fairly sure they were.

I don’t think this one moved one iota the entire two hours we were there. The wings look like velvet when you see them up close. The colors are just amazing!!

Another “never moved” butterfly.

Others flew around constantly and landed only long enough for me to point my camera in their general direction before taking off again.

The current featured butterfly. The Owl Butterfly. Pretty cool how their wings look like owl eyes and they can camouflage so well. If you look closely, you’ll see a little snail down on the left side of the tree. Silly little photobomber.

Little hitchhiker.

Pretty butterflies. Fun photography. Good times.

* Name changed to protect the innocent. Or at least she who doesn’t know I’m talking about her on my blog.

Neighborhood Walk

February 3, 2015January 31, 2015 / Dianne / Leave a comment

It’s very difficult for me to take a walk and not take a camera along. In fact, on this particular morning, I was more than happy to have the camera accompany me. Having recently had snow which was melting, it made for some fantastic reflection shots. Reflection pictures are some of my very favorites.

Clouds and blue skies. Lovely combo. Decorative grasses are nice in there, too.

For whatever reason, there were a bunch of ravens flying and squawking around the neighborhood on this particular day. Shoo!

I kind of like it when the leftover flowers and weeds aren’t pulled up at the end of the season. Probably why my garden is always such a mess. Ha! These are not in my garden, however.

Me, myself, and I. Or Sony. Or something.

This picture is sort of odd to me. I don’t really know why. But it is. Well, for one thing, I don’t usually wear shoes that tie. You’d think I was two years old. But the angle of the sidewalk crack or something. Oh well. Odd isn’t a bad thing.

Welcome home. It has become obvious which side of the mat is used more. The only way to even it out would be to turn it around and welcome us out of the house. Hmmm…maybe that’s not such a bad idea. When the weather’s nice and spring has arrived.

Memory Cards, Morning Light, and Chocolate Milk

February 1, 2015January 31, 2015 / Dianne / Leave a comment

It was time to clean up the memory cards. Again. I do fairly well for awhile and then I sort of fall behind. So tonight I went through all those scattered on my desk to see which had been uploaded and which hadn’t. Naturally, I found pictures which I’ve already forgotten, though they were shot this month. Given the massive quantity I’ve taken in January, that’s not too surprising, really.

I sort of thought I had more cards than this. But there is the one in my camera. And the two in my camera bag. And a few more in my card shelf thingy. I also may still be missing one card altogether. Not that I don’t have enough to accommodate my crazy picture-taking ways.

So here are some found images:

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Early mornings are such a conundrum. That’s when the amazingly beautifully gorgeous light appears. Most days here in Colorado, anyway. It brings such a beautiful glow to a frosty or snowy morning and I love it so much. Once I’m up, I’ll get out that door, camera in hand, as quickly as possible. Even if it means pajamas and slippers. Yep. I’m that lady.

The problem is the getting out of bed part. I am SOOOO not a morning person. To those people who say, “Oh, I always wake up before my alarm ever goes off,” I don’t know how you do it. I mean that in all sincerity. I would like to be that person, but I’m not wired that way. Even if I wake up, my warm, cozy bed has this anesthetic power which seeps into my brain and says things like, “Just 15 more minutes. You’re so warm and cozy here. You didn’t get to sleep very early, so you should catch just a few more ZZZs because you really need them.” Silly brain. It listens to the bed and forgets that the morning light is stunning and fleeting.

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I like my beverages very, very cold. All should have copious amounts of crushed ice to obtain said coldness. Including milk. And, therefore, chocolate milk. I prefer to pour my chocolate syrup on top of the milk and then stir. Quite the opposite of John, who pours it in first. I always feel like there’s more syrup in the bottom with that method. Nevertheless, people can prepare chocolate milk any old way they please. Since my milk requires ice, I just pour the syrup atop the ice. Which is sort of cool, because it just sits there on top. In a blob.

Yes, I usually make it in a Coke glass.

Pop Rocks & Eye Drops

Month: February 2015

The Butterfly Pavilion

Neighborhood Walk

Memory Cards, Morning Light, and Chocolate Milk