It was a beautiful fall day last week when we visited the East Brunswick Butterfly Park. It is off Ryder’s Lane; one can park at the neighboring Oak Tree Park that has a lovely playground for children.
We didn’t see a lot of butterflies, but the autumn foliage was enough to keep our interest.
Yellows and reds are dominant in the landscape at this time of year.
Milkweed! With an aphid. My husband said, look at that bug, and I was proud to be able to identify the milkweed aphid.
Wish I knew the name of this pretty yellow wild flower.
The last two purple blossoms of the year stood out on this butterfly bush.
Sedum turns to such a lovely muted shade of red in autumn.
The path in the butterfly park swings off to a path into the woods. However, one is never far from a busy road or highway when going on hikes in New Jersey. One can hear and see traffic of Ryders Lane.
Can you guess which animal kept our interest for a while in the woods? Can you see him?
Red Leaves in East Brunswick, New Jersey
We visited the Butterfly Park in East Brunswick last Sunday. I was planning to post a Nature Notes about the park (didn’t happen! not enough hours or energy in a week); instead, I have material for next week’s Nature Notes.
On My Blog
I have two more interviews with bloggers on writing coming up for this blog – one for this coming week, and one for the following week. I will post the answer to the Film Festival quiztomorrow morning on Sunday (in the comments of the film festival post). Still time for guessing – thanks to those who already tried!
Elsewhere in the Blogosphere
Jew Wishes reviewed Irretrievably Broken by Irma Fritz, saying “Fritz has woven a tapestry that is profound and compelling within the pages of Irretrievably Broken.” She also has a post with photos by Irma Fritz of Wernher von Braun’s lab at Peenemunde (links no longer exist).
Funeral plans are in the process, and we’ll post them as soon as we know.
May RivkA’s family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.”
One more update, a parsha thought on Hayye Sarah by Jeffrey Woolf: “Abraham came to Hevron to eulogize Sarah and to cry for her. The Rav זצ”ל used to emphasize that ordinarily the order is the reverse. First once cries. Only after time passes and perspective returns, can one eulogize the departed and evaluate who they were.
Sometimes, though, one is obligated to suppress one’s primal shriek of pain in order to tell the world just who the person was who has gone. That way, the Rav said, we try to involve as many people as possible in mourning the tragedy. Once the eulogy is achieved, we may all let ourselves go and cry out in pain.”
As soon as we entered this small, two pathway long butterfly garden in Washington, DC, I thought of Rambling Woods and Nature Notes. How pretty were all the flowers in the garden!
The butterfly garden is near the National Gallery of Art and next to the Natural History Museum; both are on the National Mall.
Despite all the butterfly-attracting flowers such as butterfly bushes, we didn’t see any butterflies. Perhaps the many people and cars and big, concrete buildings of Washington, DC scared them away?
I am guessing this lovely red bloom is a cardinal flower.
On the last day of our vacation we visited Mount Vernon, Virginia, home of President George Washington. There I spotted – a butterfly!
Middlesex County Fair at night, August 3, 2009
Yes, more photos from the Middlesex County Fair: night shots capture action and light.
I really don’t like going on the rides, but they are fun to photograph. This photo was taken just a few hours earlier than the one above.
Dhaval thought my sepia photo of the fair was still a bit gloomy, so I added back in a bit more of the colors from the fair. Then I took the sky out of sepia mode, so now it’s really the cars alone that get the sepia treatment.
Fireworks at Middlesex County Fair, August 3, 2009 (Opening Night)
I wish I had read Mason Resnick’s post on Fireworks Photography Basics before going to the fair. And I also wish I knew how to use the continuous shooting mode on my camera inside and out, instead of trying to hunt for it in the dark and running out of time. Maybe next by July 4th I’ll be prepared.
Mason writes:
Exposure tips
Aperture: Most photographers use ISO 100 and an aperture of between f/8 and f/16. The smaller aperture intensifies the colors of the fireworks and prevents overexposure. Experiment and see how the different aperture setting changes the look of your image.
Shutter speed: Use your camera’s “B” (bulb) setting. Start your exposure at the moment the burst begins, and end it when the burst reaches its peak. How long is long enough? For a single blast, a second or two should be sufficient.
Some photographers leave their camera on B and block the lens until there’s a burst, and repeating the process over several bursts. This results in a multiple exposure that can fill the frame with fireworks. Read more.
For more photos of the sky, visit Skywatch Friday: Sky Watch Friday
