Dead Leaf Butterfly

Can you try telling yourself this is a painting, or that I blurred it to create a special effect, LOL? This gorgeous butterfly was at the Calgary Zoo yesterday afternoon and for most of the time hung upside, almost out of reach, down looking like a brown, dead leaf. Every once in a while, it would make an attempt to open its wings to reveal the very pretty upperside. This is the "best" of a string of extremely blurry shots, all of which need to be deleted : )

Just got home a short while ago (7:30 p.m.) after a long, long day out in the fresh air. We spent the first part of the day very happily exploring Jim Coutts' amazing homestead and gardens near Nanton (south of the city). We've been going once a year the last few years, thanks to Jim's generosity in allowing us to be there. My favourite part of Jim's gardens is the Poppy garden, to which I headed straight away. After lunch, we drove west through William's Coulee to a wonderful area of natural prairie grassland, to search for flower species. This included a walk on Howard Hornecker's property, too. Thanks so much, Jim and Howard - I hope you both know how much we all appreciate your kindness (and company)! Thank you, too, Laura, for very kindly being willing to drive us there and back! Found a few nice insects, too, which I will upload as soon as I can. And now I need to download almost 500 photos, recharge batteries and get myself all organized for a very early start tomorrow, for a day of birding (for a change - though I know I'll be looking for and photographing plants, insects, etc.). Come Sunday, I will be more than ready to totally collapse : ) Oh, and Dorothy, that Wanton soup was SO good, LOL!

Have been out all day so haven't been using Flickr. However, this evening, it is painfully slow to do anything at all on Flickr. I see a few people have reported this already on the Help Forum.