Butterflies in Daydreaming on the Porch

Beauty is truth, truth beauty…
John Keats

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
Nathanial Hawthorne

Butterflies – they are the most amazing and glorious creatures. I don’t know why, but there have been so many butterflies this late summer at the gardens and parks I visit quite often here in Charleston. I can’t ever recall being so fascinated by them or seeing so many. Primarily they have been Gulf Fritillaries and Black Swallowtails, flitting about sipping nectar from zinnias and other flowers they seem to love. The gardeners know what they are doing. Just imagine, from a lowly caterpillar these magnificent butterflies emerge from the four stages of their metamorphosis. One of Nature’s most resplendent wonders. Today, when I suddenly saw a Black Swallowtail at the end of my walk as I was about to leave, I could only muster one feeble exclamation, “Wow!” Startled by such beauty.

Thinking of butterflies, I discovered a remarkable book I bought about four years ago titled “Butterfly People.” It’s about naturalists and scientists who find and collected butterflies in the 19th century and their beautiful illustrations. The book sat at the bottom of a pile of other books I have been intending to read next to my bed, surrounded by dust. Needless to say I have it cleaned up and it’s ready to peruse. Amazing to discover this now.

With all that weighs me down in life now, including the state of our country and the world, I needed to be reacquainted with butterflies this year. Delicate and beautiful beyond words to describe as they float among the flowers, hovering and elusive for the photographer who wants them to be still for the perfect portrait. When I see them, my troubles seem to fade and I enter their world for a brief time.

In my last entry I posted some photos of butterflies taken in the past month or so. Here I am including a few of them again but others as well.

Last updated September 18, 2017