Photo of the Month – Angel Wings

Hi Folks:

It’s been a challenge to select a Photo of the Month for March… partly because together we made over 1500 images in March (admittedly many are for composites), but also because, in addition to Victoria’s colourful beauty this time of year (with the explosions of blossoms all over the city) we also made a trip to Tofino for a little beach walking and storm watching time. The weather while we were there was blessedly cooperative for a pair of photographers! We also made a stop in Coombs at the the Butterfly World and Gardens on our return trip. How to pick one image to represent all that?

Finally decided on this one as it sums up the best of everything from the past month. The beach sand and the shell remind us of our walks on both Chesterman Beach and Tonquin Beach in Tofino and our own Dallas Road shoreline here in Victoria, the shape pulls up memories of the butterflies in Coombs, and the butterfly also brings us to the many wonderful flowers we experience every day in our walks around our Pacific island paradise. Might also be a nod to the invisible ‘angels’ who seem to guide serendipitous events around us… 🙂

Angel Wings

Angel Wings

Original image made by Marcia on her Samsung Galaxy S4, pushed around some in Lightroom. Okay, that’s it. Now go out and make some photographs!

Hugs,
M&M

Remembering Liz…

Hi Folks:

Seventeen years ago today, on June 16, 1995, Mike’s sister Liz passed away in hospital from acute liver failure.  She was not a candidate for transplant.  She was not yet 39 years old.  The whys and hows of this aren’t important at the moment, because today we want to celebrate her life and not her untimely demise. Continue Reading →

Photo of the Month – Butterflies

Hi Folks:

Well, it’s a little late in the day but it’s still the last day of the month, and time for my ‘Photo of the Month’.  Each month I pick my favourite image of the past month, although lately it’s often been more than one image.  Most of my work involves landscapes, but sometimes I also stray into macro work.  My dedicated macro equipment is in storage at the moment, but I have enough to get me through temporarily.  I found two new (to me) species of butterflies this month.  The first is an Anise Swallowtail, seen up on the top of Christmas Hill in the Swan Lake/ Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary.  The second is a Lorquin’s Admiral I found at the Oak Bay Native Plant Garden.  I trust you’ll enjoy them as much as I do. Continue Reading →

He Says, She Says…

Hello, Dear Reader!

If this is your first visit to our ‘He Says, She Says…‘ posts and pages, then briefly what we do is pick a topic each week and write about it individually.  Neither of us reads what the other has written until we’re both finished with what we have to say.  Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t, and sometimes we go off in completely different directions.  All of that is encouraged in our home!  For us the start of this idea goes back a number of years, but we’ll leave that for another time.

Our topic today is ‘Transformation‘.  The idea for this comes from a section of a TV show a few months back that was talking about the monarch butterfly migration.  A great book on this is Sue Halpern’s ‘Four Wings and a Prayer: Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly.’  In eastern North America every fall, these tiny winged insects fly hundreds or thousands of kilometres to live in several different areas in northern Mexico.  They overwinter there and begin heading north in the spring, laying eggs and then passing on, so that the butterflies that return to eastern Canada for example are several generations removed from the ones that began their flight south the previous year.  Still, somehow those great-grandchildren all begin to turn south in the fall and head to the same locations as their ancestors.  A hero’s journey indeed.

There is perhaps a more incredible journey before this, however, as egg hatches out to become larva (caterpillar), and caterpillar transforms into butterfly.  The same process happens with those caterpillars that become moths.  Spinning itself into a chrysalis (or cocoon), the caterpillar literally liquefies itself, breaking down into base components before reassembling itself into an entirely new form.  Dormant structures such as wings are created, and parts like the caterpillar’s extensive digestive system are given up to different purposes.

As humans we don’t undergo any such physical transformations in our lives, but many of us do undergo intense spiritual transformations that are no less remarkable.  This is what we wanted to talk about today.

Have a great week!

Hugs,
M&M

Follow these links to read what He Says/She Says: Marcia’s View / Mike’s View