Will 2012 bring a renewed interest in posting for me? Unknown, but I can share this year's calendar with you. As I began to review 2011's images an obvious theme emerged -- butterflies. Well to be exact 10 butterflies, a moth, and a caterpillar. The text from this year's message:
As I sat down to compile photos for this year’s calendar an obvious theme emerged. Between the photos I took in early April on a spontaneous road-trip to Myrtle Beach (poor Lee stayed in the frozen north) and the photos I took in late July on a very much planned trip to Key West (Lee got to come along this time), and a few from my own garden, this year’s calendar just had to be butterflies. Well, to be specific—one Luna moth, 10 butterflies, and a caterpillar that I very much hope made it to a new life as a swallowtail butterfly.
The photos for January through June were snapped in the butterfly house at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, SC. I spent a lovely day there with my friend Pat and her granddaughter. It was a grand escape from the seemingly endless winter we experienced in CT this year.
The photos for July through October were captured at the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. Lee and I traveled down to Key West in late July to help my mom celebrate her 70th birthday. Amazingly it was actually hotter at home in Branford than it was in south Florida when we landed—2011 was the year of weather extremes in CT! Mom and I went to the butterfly house the day after her birthday (just the two of us) and it was a magical experience with a cool present/souvenir for mom.
And how could we have a calendar featuring Heather’s Garden without photos of Heather’s Garden? November’s swallowtail butterfly perched right on our butterfly bush. And December is a caterpillar on the dill in my herb garden that may have transformed into a swallowtail butterfly, but we’ll never know.
Cover:
January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
June:
July:
August:
September:
October:
November:
December:
Back cover:
Happy New Year!
