It was July 24, 2025 when I took this stroll at Heritage Park.  I was double-dipping, picture-wise, because my purpose for being at this venue that day was to walk and take photos for my virtual 5K “Running to Honor” event.  I always go the day before the actual event.  “Running to Honor” acknowledges those living veterans who suffer from PTSD as a result of their military service and additionally memorializes those military personnel lost on the battlefield, or who took their life after battling PTSD. 

As I walked through Heritage Park, I always try to keep the photos for the event’s post low key, so I usually aim for beauty, as opposed to baby Barn Swallows glaring at me from their nest in the covered bridge rafters, or the antics of ducks and geese, even the occasional barnyard critters like chickens or Guinea Pea Fowl that stroll over from the nearby Petting Farm.  As I recounted that walk, I filled my post with lots of red, white and blue images, most of them flowers.  You can read the post about that 5K walk here in case you missed it.

During my long stroll that day, I stopped at the pretty-in-pink pollinator garden filled with Bee Balm and Coneflowers.  It was there I found a busy bumblebee and a Black Swallowtail Butterfly, both nestled deep inside some of the abundant Coneflowers.  I decided these shots, far less than my normally picture-laden posts, would be perfect to tuck away for Earth Day 2026.

The bee’s knees!

This old-time expression, unbelievably from a century ago, means an outstanding person or thing. Well, it was great that I was up close and personal to this winged wonder, so I could study this bee’s knees and take pictures as well. They weren’t knobby either!  🙂

No fear about being stung – this bumblebee was engrossed in collecting pollen and no, I was not using a DSLR with a big zoom lens, just my digital compact camera with its 12X zoom.  The bee’s translucent wings were glinting in the sunlight and I imagined how soft and furry it must feel. This busy bee didn’t seem to mind me hovering around it, taking photos as it was buried deep in the Coneflower.

Butterflies in my stomach!

This is another expression that has been used for 70+ years and is akin to another phrase we often use: all aflutter.  The former phrase I really have to scratch my head over, as it almost disparages the butterfly, a beautiful creature that undergoes a metamorphosis like no other, transforming from a wiggly caterpillar, to a chrysalis and ends up as a winged beauty.  It is the insect version of the fairytale character we know as Cinderella. Is there anything more delicate and beautiful than a butterfly alighting on a flower, its slender antennae moving slightly as it gently steadies its four feet securely onto a flower to sip its nectar? 

This Black Swallowtail Butterfly was in excellent condition, not a single mar on those powdered wings as you see when it is flattened out against the Coneflower in these two pictures. 

Even in profile, it is equally exquisite.

This Wednesday, April 22^nd is Earth Day. 

Originally, I had a different angle for this portion of the post, one that was somewhat dire and mentioned how climate change is harming Earth and its inhabitants.  But you all know the story already – you also know how pesticides are harmful to everyone, from bees to butterflies to birds – even us. 

So instead of delving into the consequences of pesticides and pollution and what they do to our pollinators, I did a 180 and instead chose to focus on the good news.  These are three, short, feel-good blurbs I recently saw on some nature sites I follow on social media.  I was pleased (and quite honestly surprised) to read about the population of the Monarch Butterflies which migrate to Mexico where they overwinter.  I understood their situation was dire, but this is positive news!

And this is an excellent idea to help our birds and bees. Yes, it in Denmark; we are ALL inhabitants of Mother Earth though. I wonder if we implement anything of this nature here?

I found this incredulous – can you imagine 32,000 years ago there were bees buzzing and butterflies flitting amongst these flowers? And here is one of those flowers thanks to squirrels … you know my affinity for squirrels, so bless their hearts.

So, may we always have these …

… so we will always have these.

We can all help out Mother Earth by lending a hand, no matter how small, to help sustain life, from the tiniest beings and beyond … after all, we human beings are lumped in here as well, i.e. we all share the planet, right? 

I will leave you with this quote:

If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere. – Vincent Van Gogh

Terri’s Sunday Stills Challenge this week is:  Celebrating Earth Day (April 22). I am also joining Pepper’s Walking/Hiking Challenge One Step at a Time which is every Tuesday.