Autumn Soup!

Here are a few images from a photo shoot last fall at the Washington Arboretum which I'm calling "Autumn Soup." Absolutely lovely how Mother Nature created these ethereal, three-dimensional layers of floating beauty as dying leaves drift and settle at the bottom of the pond.  

I can't take credit for this masterpiece - just happened to be in the right place at the right time to capture the magic.
 

Canary in a Coal Mine

Last fall, wandering the Wupatki ruins north of Flagstaff at dusk, I came across this beautiful lone Monarch butterfly. It appeared to be basking in the late day sun, it's wings slowly opening and closing. One of them was torn. Who knows what her journey had been thus far, and where it would take her. 

I haven't seen a Monarch since I was a child.  I felt both blessed and melancholy, wondering if I'd ever see another ...