Portraits of Perfection for the New Year

Hmmm, can we hasten thereturn to normal by turning our minds to simpler pleasures?

A ways back when we werefinding our way through an earlier wave of the pandemic, I decided to forgo anycommentaries in this space in favour of a BeautyCan be a Contagion series of posts to give our brains a reprieve. I hadhoped by the turn of the year into 2022 the pandemic would be just anunpleasant memory. Alas, that is not the case.

So I am returning tothat earlier series to welcome in the New Year and once again turn our minds tosimpler pleasures while Omicron factsand endless figures dominate the news.

Eastern Comma

This is not the most flatteringview of an Eastern Comma butterfly.If it had opened its wings, it would have revealed a striking pattern of earthyorange and brown with yellow, wingtip eyespots.

But this particularspecimen is newly emerged and the picture of perfection posed so elegantly onthe large, serrated leaf that cradles it. The white comma-shaped mark, thatgives this species its name, is as clear and distinct as I have ever witnessed.

Long Dash Skipper

Skipper butterflies are notoriously difficult to identify and photograph since they are about the size of a dime with very subtle markings. This Long Dash Skipper seemed to want to be photographed as it posed perfectly on a neutral background of sandy soil.

It too is newly emerged and showing off to fine affect its faint yellow spotband and often  indistinguishable yellow basal spot. I rarely come across a specimen this distinct allowing a definitive identification

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spottedSkippers are quitecommon but no less striking than other butterflies. This specimen posed forperfect contrast on the puffball of a wildflower to show off its flashy markings.

It is also newly emergedand perched in just the right way to display both the gaudy, silver-white patchon the hindwing and the yellow-orange band on the inner wing for photographicpurposes.

Beauty can be acontagion too. No social distancing here. Get up close and personal. It isallowed.

Let us hope that thesenewly emerged, portraits of perfection help us ring in a New Year in which wefinally put the pandemic in our rear view mirror and get back to what life isreally all about.

Happy New Year to oneand all.

~  Now Available Onlinefrom Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites ofPassage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet

~ Michael Robert Dyet is alsothe author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel whichwas a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’swebsite at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .

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