A butterfly lights beside us, like a sunbeam …
and for a brief moment it’s glory
and beauty belong to our world …
But then it flies on again, and although
we wish it could have stayed,
we are so thankful to have seen it at all.
~Unknown
“Seeing a spider isn’t a problem. It becomes a problem when it disappears.” ~Unknown
“An observant child should be put in the way of things worth observing.” ~Charlotte Mason
I am always thrilled when I come upon a Buckeye. It is my favorite among the butterflies. I like the colors and the bold pattern of the eyespots which are thought to frighten or distract predators.
“I opened two gifts this morning. They were my eyes.” ~Unknown
Some of the flora and fauna living around the duckweed at Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge
“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” ~David Attenborough
“We are by nature observers, and thereby learners. That is our permanent state.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“He has made everything beautiful in its time …” Ecclesiastes 3:11
Music is in all growing things;
And underneath the silky wings
Of smallest insects there is stirred
A pulse of air that must be heard;
Earth’s silence lives, and throbs, and sings.
~George Parsons Lathrop
One morning last week, a beautiful swallowtail was mud-puddling in our back yard. I couldn’t help but grab the camera and take a few shots. 🙂
“We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.” – William Hazlett
“Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” ~Mary Oliver
walking on a country road 