Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Meet the noble Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) on an aptly named butterfly bush.

Taken at 6 p.m. this evening.  Canon EF-S60mm f/2.8 Macro USM (1/60 sec; f/25; ISO 100) and Sigma EM-140 DG ring flash.

Honey Dipper

"If the ocean was nectar and I was a duck,
I'd dive to the bottom and I'd never come up!"
-- Rye Whiskey (sort of)

 

If not for the leaf, this would be a stunning composition.  May have to test my PhotoShop mettle on this one.

There are No Unknowns

I've begun using Microsoft's Lync at work recently. It's Monday, and my threshold for amusement has been significantly lowered, which might explain why I thought that this was funny:

It makes me think of the classic Donald Rumsfeld quote:

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." 

—United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, Feb. 2002

Big'uns in the Grass

Relatively cool and rainy July weather has been conducive to at least one thing:

 

Behold the Agaricus campestris growing on a nearby lawn (iPhone 4 photo).

Cactus bloom

An unidentified cactus/succulent bloom.  We have several cactus dishes that we set outside every summer.  This one apparently liked the warm humid weather we've been having.

Shot with the EF-S60mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens; 1/60 sec;   f/22;   ISO 100; using a ring flash.

Sunday flower garden, part 3

A couple of shots that didn't make it from yesterday.

One rather emaciated fly.  I love the macro detail on the bell flower anatomy.

 A scrunched up honey bee, but otherwise nice detail.

Asters

Bud to an aster

A bee to that aster