I'm not sure what kind of plant this is with these neat white flowers - I didn't even realize the main stalk was a highway for aphids or some other mite until I was editing the photos!
These are a pair of Julia butterflies perched happily on some sort of sunflower.
Blanket flower - I love how the petals have a flame-like gradation
And lastly some pink owl clover puffballs.
Penstemon - I've always loved these flowers for their orchid-like shapes. This group looks like it's somehow singing :)
Globe mallow come in a variety of colors - though I haven't seen this golden hue in the wild before. 
Nor have I ever seen golden hued lilies. The butterflies really liked these - but apparently their proboscis aren't long enough, since every time I caught a butterfly on one of these lovely flowers, it was busy trying to crawl deep inside, presumably to reach the nectar.
Also one of my favorites - Lupine
is here, and that means wildflowers! Here are some favorite shots I captured while playing with the macro lens. First up, a bloom from a hedgehog cactus - spring is short here in the desert southwest, and this photo actually reminds me of the blazing heat of summer that is on the way.
This is a fairy duster - in some ways it reminds me of the crazy crown of feathers on some birds :)
Claret cup Cactuses are also in bloom.
Pink Globe Mallow - with a bee :) I'm happy to see the bees out and about doing their thing. I worry over the bees what with not yet understood phenomena of Colony Collapse Disorder.
I chase butterflies...
I recently had an opportunity to trot out my relatively new macro lens - I had a good time ogling flowers and chasing butterflies...hope you don't mind as the next week or so shall be an ode to spring via photos :)
This lovely is called a Malachite - I don't recall ever seeing a green hued butterfly before. There were also some really stunning lunar moths, but they were not sleeping in convenient places for photographs (apparently moths are indeed nocturnal and once they find a perch for the day, that's where they stay!)
The orange one in this photo is a Julia, the blue/black one is a Swallowtail, but I forget the specific variety.
Not only are the wildflowers making an appearance, it seems the cactus blooms are well on their way also. These are Strawberry (or Engelmann's) Hedgehog cactus - they are are quite common in the desert area that I live, and are amongst the first cactus to begin blooming in the spring.
I love them for their bright splashes of color - I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the desert blooms come to life over the next month or so!
The flowers that I'm happiest to see out are the poppies....well, the poppies and the lupine - together they just make me smile. Happy Spring, everyone :D
Pre-blocking, lace always makes interesting topographies. As usual, I was amazed at how much this grew during the blocking/dressing process. For finished photos, pop over here.
with beads! Freshly bound off the needles is a brand new red lace shawl (because I apparently am still stuck quite firmly in my red knitting phase) - This was a relatively fast knit, and the edging is really quite lovely. Straight off the needles, the shawl is very ruffly, and looks more shawl-ette sized....it's got a date with the sink and some pins though, so we'll see how it all turns out once everything is all said and done :D
With the rather wet winter we've had here, the wildflowers are making a good showing this year :) these happen to be popping up in the neighbor's yard. I have to admit that while weeding, if it looks like a lovely wildflower, I leave it alone, figuring it'll die off soon enough and I'd like to enjoy the evidence of our short spring while I can!
"Hey" she says, "You're not going to be happy when you see what Troy is doing"
Indulging. In a dirt/dead leaf bath. And he couldn't possibly be more pleased with himself. Sorry for the slightly blurry photo - he wouldn't stop rolling about. Not even when I tried to clean him off before letting him back into the house. Apparently this cat is statically charged for maximum dirt attraction!
