Pretty... scary

No, I'm not talking about the election, though it is pretty scary. I am talking about the current exhibits at the New York Botanical Garden. It is around 80 degrees in New York City today, and since Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Garden and Scarecrows & Pumpkins are only on display until the end of the month, I decided to take the morning off and go visit (before the weather turns cold and rainy).

Here are some of my favorite photos from today's outing.

B is for Butterfly (and Beautiful)

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

~Nathaniel Hawthorne 

Last summer, the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Connecticut, installed a temporary butterfly exhibit called Flutter Zone, where visitors could walk amongst dozens of beautiful butterflies. The exhibit was such a hit that the aquarium mounted it again this summer.

As I finished with work early yesterday, I decided to go visit the Flutter Zone -- along with a dozen or so mothers of small, awestruck children, including the cutie above, whom the butterflies, and my camera, adored.

If you live in Connecticut, Westchester, or New York City, or are visiting the area this summer, I highly recommend you visit the Maritime Aquarium... even if you don't have children. ;-)

In the meantime, here are some of my favorite photos from yesterday's visit. One of these days, I'll learn the names of these butterflies, and the flowers they like to pollinate. (You can see my photos from last year here.)

Butterflies: Your moment of zen

To a Butterfly

I've watched you now a full half-hour,

Self-poised upon that yellow flower;

And, little Butterfly! indeed

I know not if you sleep or feed.

How motionless!---not frozen seas

More motionless! and then

What joy awaits you, when the breeze

Hath found you out among the trees,

And calls you forth again!

             -- William Wordsworth

Your moment of zen: lunch hour at the Flutter Zone....