The Little Things In Life

Today was an awesome day.  I felt like I woke up and God said, "Enjoy the beauty in today."  This morning was a crisp Fall morning with cool air and a slight breeze.  The sky was a beautiful blue with a few clouds scattered here and there.  All the plants outside were a beautiful green you only see after a nice rain.  The birds were singing songs, and the lizards were their typical busy bodies eating bugs.  This was a perfect fall morning.  I went in to work and opened all the windows in my office, and turned on the radio to listen to a country station.  This was a day that if I didn't work outside, I probably would have called in sick just to be outside.  Yes, it was just that gorgeous! 

My morning flew by with ease.  After a slow, hot summer of few landscape installs, I was very happy to finally hear a "Yes" from one of my clients.  After lunch, I managed to catch a few butterflies with my camera that were soaking up the sun.  I must say, this made my day.  I photographed four different butterflies that I have never caught before.  Did I mention that this made my day?  This made my day!  I was a very giddy and hyper girl after this.  The day goes on though.  Shortly after that, I get another phone call from a second client with another "Yes" to their install.  Could the day get any better?!  Oh, yes!

I had emailed mom early in the morning telling her we should plant some fall color this evening.  The weather was just too nice to not be outside.  She came by after she got off work and we picked out some plants for her yard.  I wrapped up my day at Buds, went and picked up the boys, then headed to Moms to do some digging.  The afternoon was still just as nice as the morning.  Clouds had rolled in covering the sky, but Fall was still in the air.  I got all of the flats planted just as the sun was setting.  I felt like it was the icing to the cake on my awesome day! 

I went and met Erik for dinner, then came home to start posting my photos of the butterflies.  I shortly realized that I couldn't just post the photos without a further explanation of how enjoyable the rest of my day was.
So, after that long intro to the photos, here they are!  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did and do.

This is the first butterfly I caught today.  This is a male Tawney Emporer.  The dorsal side of him is an orangy brown color.  I know he's not very showy, but I didn't have this in my collection.

This is an Orange Sulpher butterfly.  He was very hard to catch!  He had very fast fluttering wings and was very camera shy.  I was determined to catch him though because of the orange coloring I kept seeing as he flew threw the air.  The picture below kind of shows a touch of the orange.  That was the most he would let me get, so I left him alone after I got a decent shot of him. 

This is a female Spicebush Swallowtail.  She has beautiful coloring on both sides of her.  She was very photogenic, and posed quite nicely!  I have several Swallowtail photos, but I didn't have this one!

This is a Gulf Fritillary - A very common butterfly in Houston, and I have many photos of them.  This one just happened to land right in front of me as I was patiently waiting for this guy to return...

I saved the best for last!  This butterfly made my day!  This is the Buckeye butterfly, or a common name is the Peacock Butterfly.  This guy was very fast and very camera shy.  I just happened to be walking by the Lantana display and saw him just before he flittered off.  I followed him around the nursery as he went from flower to flower.  I lost him a few times and thats how I managed to capture the other butterflies above.  Determined to get my picture, I went and patiently waited by the Lantana again.  Sure enough, he showed back up and posed for me.  Isn't he just gorgeous?!

Thank you, God, for this day - I've needed one just like it for awhile now.