Oh Look: Adonis Blue

A male Adonis blue butterfly photographed in Foissac, France.

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The Fables of Florian

The despairing grasshopper.

I'm still blah and not in much of a talking mood - but here's a few thoughts for today.

While reading this news story about the late reclusive heiress Huguette Clark and an impending battle over her princely estate - which is fascinating reading in itself - I was struck by the quotation from an author I'd never heard of, one Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian (1755-1794):

It was a fable in verse called “Le Petit Grillon” — “The Little Cricket” — by Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, a French writer of the 1700s.

The fable tells the story of a cricket hidden in the grass who admires a beautiful butterfly. The showy butterfly draws the attention of children. They chase it, catch it and, in their eagerness, tear the butterfly apart.

Oh! says the little cricket
I no longer regret
My obscure condition
It costs too much to shine
in this world.

The doctor realized that the copper heiress — who had once been a reluctant butterfly of society herself — was summing up her life.

How I will love
My sweet and peaceful retreat
True happiness
Is found more easily
In modest circumstances.

Or, as the moral of the fable has been summed up in other translations:

To live happy, live hidden.

So I went looking for the full poem and found it, under the title of "True Happiness," in this 1888 translation, which contains many other witty, incisive fables - and how true they all are, very true. Here is an excerpt from one entitled "The Grasshopper," who is very discontented with the world but is reproved by a friend:

     Let the world go,
     And all its woe.
What is't to you, I'd like to know?
'Tis bad and always will be so.
You cannot shape it to your view
By all that you may say and do.
Besides, my friend, where can you find
A world more suited to your mind?

Good advice for a blogger like me, I think, who remembers too much and feels too much. I recommend all of these fables for your consideration - make of them what you will.

For readers perspicacious
They may prove efficacious.

Update from My Garden

Just sharing some love with ya, fellas . . . .

Click on the images to see full size.

More flora and fauna after the jump --

More Flutterbyes

Believe it or not, your Head Trucker is not really much into bugs, but I'm having a helluva good time with photographing 'em.  Two or three, maybe four new species today. Click on the pics to enlarge. 

These tiny little silver-winged fellows look very elegant:

But they seem to prefer eating their dinner upside-down.  Go figure.

Then there were some striped ones:

Of course, when the dinner bell rings, everybody comes a-runnin':

I felt sorry for this ragged little fellow,

wonder what the other guy looks like?

But maybe that's just the way he's made. 

And then there were these spotted fellas - baby monarchs, maybe?

Digital photography is the best damn thing since sliced bread, and you can quote me on that, guys.  I never would have given a second glance to all these little critters if not for my Kodak.  Which is not the latest and greatest, either:  just a little $150 point-and-shoot, with a close-up setting.

The beauty of this digital stuff is, not only does it make beautiful crisp, clear pics, but it also gives you the freedom to take lots and lots and lots of pictures.  Without having to stop and reload film, and without worrying about the cost of developing.  That's the only way to get really good shots, because the more pics you take, the higher your chances of getting some good ones.  (Conversely, that's also why most of our family snapshots from years gone by don't look so great:  you didn't want to "waste" your film, so you only took a relatively few photos, and didn't give the law of averages a chance to work in your favor.) 

FYI, I took 48 snaps today, got about a dozen good ones out of all that, and as you can see above, 3 or 4 really cool pics.  And I have never had any training whatsoever in photography.  Totally fucking awesome. 

If they'd had this technology when I was in school, think I would have gone in a whole different career direction.  I'm lovin' it.

Flutterbyes

My front porch, 3:30 p.m. today:  a truckload of company dropped by.  Click on any picture to enlarge.

Butterfly to bee: 

Hey, beat it, bud - I'm working this side of the street!

Of course you expect this from me - some gratuitous sex skin petunias:

And finally, the last shot I caught turned out to be the perfect shot.  Enlarge to appreciate the very fine details.

Okay, at least one of you guys must know what make and model butterflies these are.  They're all just 2"-3" across, max.  Little help here?

Update:  The ex-roommate called last night and thinks it's a painted lady, but I'm inclined to go with a red admiral.  What do you think?