DRAGONFLY

I watched this dragonfly feeding near a pond for several minutes. As with many things, the appearance of the dragonfly is deceiving. It looked so delicate and fragile, yet it is considered a predator and preys on small insects, particularly mosquitoes, flies and bees. In college I studied Shakespeare for a year. One of the recurring themes my professor drilled into us was "appearance and reality". Note to self... all things are not as they appear in nature or in life.

TEAMWORK

WORKER BEE

I couldn't help it I was out marveling at the "from the birds" sunflowers again today. I'm not alone in my fascination with them. There were about a dozen bumble bees hard at work gathering pollen form them this evening. The bees worked tirelessly and I now have a much clearer understanding of the term "worker bee" and its genesis. I always get a lot of joy watching the little seedlings that I plant grow and flourish, or seeing a perennial I have planted return the following season. I can't get over how happy these accidental sunflowers make me. They are special!

THE BUTTERFLY BUSH

I have a big white butterfly bush at the edge of my patio. When I first moved in it was unwieldy and I almost took it out when I had the patio redone. Every year in early Spring I cut it down to nothing and wonder if I cut too much. Will it come back? Did I go to far this time around? This year it is the perfect shape, not too tall and not too wide. Today the first Monarch butterfly of the season stopped by for dinner. In a few weeks the butterfly bush will be in full bloom and lots of butterflies will be passing through.

BUSY AS

As I left home to head to work this morning I saw this big bumble bee busy working the buds of my azalea bush. Of course I thought of that hackneyed expression, "Busy as a bee". Then I got to thinking about Memorial Day weekend and how everyone was celebrating. Well, not everyone....I guess there are all kinds of busy in the world. Busy working, busy celebrating, just plain busy. Are we ever anything but busy these days? I think busy is the status quo now.

TABLE FOR TWO

Designers and art directors I have worked with taught me to eschew an even number of elements in an image. I find myself trying to work with three elements or five--odd numbers. For some reason I felt that two elements just didn't create interest or have balance. Today looking out my window I saw these two Monarch butterfly friends having a late lunch. I got to thinking about numbers, specifically even numbers. I was born on the twenty second (two twos) day of an even month. I like the number two, it's a couple. It's not as lonely as one and we all know that three can be a third wheel! And you know, I like the balance of the two butterflies on this bush. I think I will start working with two more often. Time to rethink design!