Maymont Mansion and Gardens in Richmond

Check out my lovely Maymont mansion, wildlife, and garden photos from my May 7th Facebook post.  Gorgeous!  I couldn't imagine living in such splendor!  

Here's a few I left out.

https://m.facebook.com/CalmReflectionsPhotography

Butterfly Exhibit

We went to Richmond recently and visited the Lewis Ginter garden butterfly exhibit.  I spent a lovely hour or so watching exotic butterflies. The exhibit was smaller than the exhibit at Brookside, near Wheaton MD, but they had a nice collection.  (They also have an incredible collection of orchids, with every color of the rainbow: green, yellow, red, pink, purple, white, etc.)

Here are my favorites butterfly photos.

      Blue Morpho

     Butterfly heaven

     Blue Morpho?

    Tiger Longwing?

     Blue Morpho

     Sara Longwing

     Clipper butterfly

Flower Arrangements

Some of you may know my 91-year-old mother recently passed away.  Being the passionate photographer that I am, I couldn't resist photographing the lovely flowers at her funeral luncheon in Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately, I can't send you the scent as well.  Mom loved purple, so there are more purple flowers than usual and purple always looks nice with a yellow background, its complimentary color.

The funeral was a lovely tribute to Mom, a sweet lady.

  Friends said the blue reminded them of the ocean Mom loved, and purple orchids for the color Mom loved.

    Dogwood in Media, PA

A Day Trip to Kent Island

Jim wanted to go see the boat show, a long trip by himself.  I went along to help drive and spent the day visiting the local Kent Island parks with pur toy poodle Sarita.  I had sore feet, but it was lovely to get away for the day after my mother's recent death on Easter day.

      Metapeake Dog beach.  You can just barely make out the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in the background

     Metapeake pier

     Melanistic gray squirrel, a fairly rare sight in Maryland (Kent Island South Trail Netapeake entrance April 2017)

https://patch.com/maryland/annapolis/black-squirrels-in-annapolis

     Kent Island south trail

   Textures

     Possibly daisy fleabane

     Male Mallard

    

 

     Terrapin Nature park meadow

     Chesapeake Bay Bridge

     Sandy Point Park Beach

Happy Easter!

     My dog Sarita, dressed for Easter

     Easter sunrise today.  Interesting shape

Cherry Blossom Festival ArtsPark Photos

I really enjoyed myself at the Cherry Blossom Festival.  I made some new friends and caught up with some friends I already know.

Here are some photos of the Cherry Blossoms from March 25th 2017.  It is so hard to predict when they will bloom.

Sarita was in the dog costume parade.  She tied for first place for best costume.  I brought 3 costumes with me, since I wasn't sure what the temperature would be and asked my friend, Nell to pick which one she liked best.  Sarita was a cute bride, even if she tried to take off her veil a few times.  She posed in her bridal costume with SMAWLIE, the mascot for the St. Mary's Animal Welfare League.

Enjoy the ArtsPark Cherry Blossom Festival Sunday April 9th,11-4 at Lexington Park

There will be music, art, demos, performers, dancing, and of course I will be there selling cherry blossom cards and other photography crafts.

The festival includes a costumed dog parade at noon, so bring your dog too to join my cutie, Sarita.