This is an all tiger shot. Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, and Tiger Lily. I started to write, “sometimes images just happen” …but of course, images always just happen. Be there. Be aware. Be ready. That is the only secret to satisfying photography, especially nature photography. This one is in a stand of Tiger Lily by the bridge over the Mousam at Old Falls Pond. It is a not a safe spot for photography, as the cars come whipping around the curve and over the bridge far too fast, and there is precious little room at the very edge of the pavement to stand, but I am always tempted across the bridge to try to get both the Lilies and the falls in the same frame. Yesterday there were Swallowtails. Such fun!

(Yes I do know that this is not a genuine Tiger Lily. It is only an orange Day Lily. But it is what everyone in Southern Maine calls a Tiger Lily. Actual Tiger Lily is very rare here, even in plantings.)

Olympus OM-D E-M10 with 75-300mm zoom. 600mm equivalent. Shutter preferred. 1/640th @ ISO 320 @ f7.1. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.

And for the Sunday Thought: Be there.

Since I am recovering from a heart attack, I tire much more quickly than in the past, and every adventure is an exercise in marshaling my stamina to get where I need to go and home safely. Yesterday I was on an errand to Walmart, looking for a storage solution that would tidy my “office” corner of the bedroom enough so my wife does not kick me out. 🙂 (Which she would be completely justified in doing. I seem to create a little pocket of chaos where ever I sit for more than a few moments at at time…and, I have learned the hard way, most people, including my wife, have a much lower tolerance for chaos than I do.) To get to Walmart the short way goes by the Kennebunk Plains, and, of course, I had to stop to see if the Wood Lilies are in bloom yet. They are, just, a few plants here and there, so I did some tramping around and photography there. Then the store itself, and an hour of shopping (there were other things on my list besides the storage). I had planned, on the way back, to take the long way around by Old Falls Pond to see if there were any interesting dragonflies, but I had a five minute debate sitting in the car after loading the 40 pound bag of dog food into the trunk as to whether I had enough energy left to make the detour. Still: The sun was shinning. A nice fresh breeze was blowing. There were white clouds of several descriptions decorating the blue sky. All in all a wonderful July day…so I talked myself into the visit to Old Falls. And there were Swallowtails in the Tiger Lilies! I made it home with enough left in the tank to get me to my chair. (Though I still have not taken the 40 pound bag of dog food out of the trunk 🙂

I have hopes that over time, I will build my stamina back to the point were “being there” is not the major obstacle to what I need and want to do…especially to doing the things that I love to do. I have a plan. I bought a bicycle, and a heart rate monitor, and I am eating even more sensibly than before. Still, the days when I can take “being there” for granted are clearly gone. (And in more ways than one.) And that should, and does, make me even more thankful for Swallowtails in the Tiger Lilies…for Wood Lilies on the Kennebunk Plains, for Snowy Owls on the chimney pots in Kennebunkport, for raindrops on Foxglove in the yard, for dragonflies at the little ponds in town…for all the wonders that are still in easy reach. God is. God is good. God loves us more than we can ever deserve. God is everywhere. We are surrounded by the wonders of creation, where ever the there is that we find ourselves. If we be…we be there. And for that I am profoundly grateful. Happy Sunday!