The View from Here

Butterfly Secrets

 

As most of you know, I don’t refer to myself as a “photographer”. If a label is necessary, I would call myself a “writer with a camera”. So it may seem strange for me to offer photography advice, but people have asked. These are my secrets for taking photos of little things with wings:

1. I plant flowers. Originally I grew flowers only for my own enjoyment. Then I realized that certain flowers attracted hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. Now those flowers dominate my garden.
2. I go outside. I know that sounds condescending, but many people just don’t spend enough time outside to know when and where they are likely to encounter butterflies.
3. I keep my camera handy. Yesterday I went out side without the camera because I was going to help Gary mow the lawn. The first thing that greeted me was the lovely swallowtail you see here. So of course I went back into the house, got the camera, took pictures, then mowed.
4. I use a telephoto lens. I don’t have to get too close. I don’t startle my subjects. They aren’t usually aware that I’m even near them.
5. I take a lot of shots. I’m not great at numbers and techniques and settings and such. I use two or three options on my camera and I take at least five, usually ten, shots of each subject. One good one is all I need.
6. I don’t care about perfection. I’m not competing with anyone. I’m not trying to show off my skills. I’m just sharing what I consider to be some of God’s most beautiful creations. I know that many people can’t see them in their own environment, so I share those who inhabit mine.

I do realize that the images I take are often “different” and more creative than simple snapshots. That’s because I spent years in art classes and also took a couple of photography classes that emphasized viewpoint and angles and such. That’s one of the many benefits of the creative arts and why they should always be taught in school. The training stays with you and affects everything you do in life.

I guess I should also add that I’m a little bit crazy. LOL Last night I went into the kitchen and started to cook dinner. I glanced out the window, saw this katydid, put dinner preparations “on hold”, and went outside to take its picture! Gary no longer even questions my actions…

 

The Sound of Summer

Nothing says “summer” in Oklahoma like the drone of cicadas. As a child I found them fascinating and I often collected their little exoskeletons to examine. I seldom saw a live adult. This morning I was surprised to see one resting on a jade plant on my patio. Of course I had to take a photo! As soon as I finished he flew away.

In case you are curious about these amazing insects, you can read all about them at Cicada Mania

Library Books

Gary and I went to the library this afternoon and we were pleased to see several children laughing and talking and picking out books. I also spotted the teenage daughter of a friend. Another friend was tucked into the far corner doing some genealogy work on her laptop. Several people were walking down the aisles. There were a couple more in one of the private reading rooms. And of course, there are always six or more people on the public computers. Our library is a popular place and it makes me happy to see that even in the summer it stays busy.

I didn’t go to the public library very often as a child because we usually lived out in rural areas away from town. However, we were blessed for a few years to have a bookmobile that parked once a week on a vacant lot a few blocks from our house. My brother and I always left it clutching half a dozen books. Even when I was a bit older and we lived farther away, my friend and I rode her horses to the bookmobile.

My mother encouraged us to read. She bought books at the flea market and was always on the lookout for other ways to add to our small library. One year the local grocery store gave away a children’s encyclopedia set. You had to purchase a certain amount of groceries for each volume. I think we eventually earned all twelve. I remember the colorful illustrations in it.

During the school year it was easy to obtain books. There were extra reading books in our classrooms and books in the school library. I was always happiest when I was in school surrounded by friends and books.

I know that some people are very pleased with other reading devices and I also spend a lot of time reading something on a screen. But I hope we never lose our love of real books and that our libraries remain open for those who still enjoy them.

After the Floods

We’ve waited ten weeks to drive along the roads of Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge, our favorite nearby place to commune with nature. Yesterday we were able to drive the main road and two of the side roads. It will be a few more weeks before the rest are dry, cleaned of debris, and resurfaced with gravel where it is needed, but a return to “normal” will come soon. I use that word…normal… knowing that in nature it is a term without a fixed definition. What is normal in one habitat is unusual in another. Healthy growth in one region can become “invasive” in another. The events of a season in one year don’t happen during the next. And so it is with the condition of the refuge. What we experienced last August may not occur this year, no matter how much the water recedes or what wildlife returns.

We have learned to be flexible and to never “expect” anything in particular to be there. We simply go out and enjoy whatever is…

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

I was enjoying some time on Facebook this morning when it occurred to me that at least six of my former K students are currently enjoying vacations on beaches, either here in the states or on the shores of some other country. All but one will be returning to school in the fall and I found myself wondering if any of them will have to write the standard obligatory essay of my generation: “How I Spent My Summer Vacation”.

My own summers were so similar that I could have written one basic essay and simply changed a few details each year. I spent most days working in one field or another: cotton, peaches, or grapes. I helped Mom with cooking and housework. I occasionally went swimming with friends at a motel pool in our area. I spent a few days with my best friend. One year I went to camp, thanks to the generosity of our church.  Another year I went to Yosemite because my friend’s dad asked my dad to let me skip a day of work.

When we traveled in the summer it wasn’t to a far away beach, but to faraway Oklahoma to visit family and friends. We drove long hours, often slept in the car on the side of the road, and ate food we packed or bought at grocery stores. Sometimes we ate at pancake houses. Once each trip we stayed in a motel so we could clean up and escape the desert heat.

I remember only a few trips to the beach, and that was when we lived close enough for a day trip. We went to Santa Cruz, Morro Bay, or Monterey. It was love at first sight and I dreamed of living in a little house where I would always hear the crash of the waves.

Looking back, I suppose my summers were typical of those of my peers. Most of my classmates were children of migrant workers or local farmers and ranchers. I knew only a few boys and girls who didn’t work and I rarely saw them except at church or school.

I understand why I had to spend so much time working. I don’t feel that I suffered any ill effects from doing it. However, I’m happy that my former students are spending their summer in a very different way…enjoying leisure activities with their families and friends. They have many years of work ahead of them and they will cherish these memories of time spent playing.

 

 

 

 

Humility

a modest or low view of one's own importance.

It occurred to me yesterday that gardening has a way of teaching us humility. As I wander around the yard admiring blossoms and harvesting vegetables, I am frequently reminded that I while I may plan and plant and endeavor to create a lovely garden, I actually have very little control over the results.

This year has been a perfect example:

I planted two grape vines on the same day. One died within a week, the other is flourishing.

I planted a dozen different flower seeds. Most have done well, but none of the cleomes, one of my favorites, ever sprouted. I replanted zinnias this week and they sprouted within two days.

I planted tomatoes, beans, squash, and gourds. I picked twenty tomatoes yesterday and we’ve already enjoyed green beans. The gourds are doing great! The squash is still tiny and has yet to produce anything.

I have a lovely crop of sunflowers this year…all under four feet tall. I planted three varieties in multiple locations and they are all shorter than I expected.

There are two plants in my yard that I didn’t even plant. One is a wildflower. I assume the seed blew over from the pasture where it has lots of relatives. The other is a succulent…no clue where it came from.

Yesterday morning I watered all of my flower beds because there was only a 30% chance of rain and my plants were 100% thirsty. Between 3 and 4pm we received over two inches of rain!

So…realizing my humble role as the steward of this garden, I will just enjoy whatever grows and appreciate the beauty God bestows.

Serendipity...

I was photographing the flowers and this lovely butterfly decided to land on one and pose for me. 

Bird Album

Sometimes it seems to take me forever to make changes. I finally uploaded a new album of bird photos. It's in the left column. 

Some Time With the Birds

Believe it or not, I often have to remind myself that I am retired and that this is summer.

Yesterday I did just that.

I took a break from researching, reading, and writing and spent an hour with the birds. 

 

Random Thoughts

 

I find that as I get older, I listen to the news a little more carefully. I read reports online and Google anything I find interesting or questionable or unfamiliar. The result is that I’m a little more informed than I was when I was young, and I understand now that ignorance truly does lead one to bliss, or at least a joyful state of innocence. It’s easy to think of the world as a happy, comfortable place if your own environment meets your needs and you’re free to live your life as you choose.

The more you look outside your own job, family, and community, the more challenges there are to your faith, values, and ideas. Sometimes that begins when you’re young; sometimes you need a little time to feel secure about your own survival before you consider the needs of others. Sometimes it never happens.

We forget sometimes that we base most of what we believe on our personal knowledge and experiences. Sometimes those are so limited as to be laughable.  Yet, we defend what we believe, sometimes out of pride or defiance, but often just out of a sense of loyalty to ourselves or our upbringing.

I see predictable patterns in the behavior of most people, but I also hear about behaviors that defy expectation or logic. I am astounded by the arrogance and selfishness that seems rampant in our current society. I am saddened by the anger and violence that continues to plague our country.

Today we will celebrate our nation’s freedom and independence…not by showing kindness and mercy and charity to those who are without it, but by an arrogant display of our liberty and power. We will spend billions on food, fireworks, and alcohol while at the same time claiming we don’t have the funds to solve our problems.  

Humans are fascinating creatures capable of both love and hate, peace and violence,  joy and anger, brilliance and stupidity.

As Paul says in Romans 7: ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.