Beauty Everywhere

"Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in, and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give you strength to body & soul alike."

-John Muir

Yesterday, (Wednesday) was my last visit to the Butterfly Exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers. The exhibit closes next week, and I won't have a chance to go back before it closes. Sigh. It makes me a little sad to see it go, but at the same time, it has been such a great source of inspiration for me. I have learned a lot about photographing butterflies from that exhibit, and other winged creatures as well. :) I am not as afraid as I once was, to jump right in and photograph the flowers and all the beauty that surrounds them... even the bees! :)

I am completely tired tonight, it was really warm in San Francisco today, so I am afraid I was tempted to push myself a bit. It was beach weather really, and I considered going down to the beach and letting the sand tickle my toes, but instead I decided to go home early when I began to feel tired. It's a good kind of tired that I feel, the kind where all I can think about is how good life is. :) I was supposed to go on a trip down the coast today, to photograph the Monarch mirgration to Pacific Grove, but I am too tired, so we are going on Friday instead. That's ok, it's just one of those plan B's I mentioned. :)

Scenes from Wednesday...

Orchid

Amazing Hibiscus

Polydamas Swallowtail

An unusual, hairy, orchid! Weird!

Blue Bananas growing on the ceiling of the conservatory.

Pink Amazon Water Lily

Golden Gate Bridge, as seen from Twin Peaks. The hills behind the bridge are in Marin County, (the Headlands) and if you look very closely, you can see the Waldo Tunnel.

-OndineMonet
"Beauty"
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, California
October 18, 2006
Afternoon