Stasia, Straham Hill

Today's destination was coastal New Hampshire, where we drove up north to celebrate my granddaughter Stasia's impending "graduation" from kindergarten... hard to believe the time's gone by so fast. We got to visit her school and meet her teachers and classmates, then we headed outdoors to climb the hill of a nearby park. While we were walking, we noticed an exquisite butterfly so, of course, we had to stop to watch it at work and attempt to take its picture. (I managed to take a few of Stasia, of course... well, more than a few.) The lepidopteran is a Black Swallowtail, and, on this sunny day at least, was the dominant species. At home, we're awash in Spicebush Swallowtails, with the Blacks conspicuously absent. That might change, but in the meanwhile, I'm happy to have both in this year's collection... and happy to spend the day with my own graduate "butterfly."

Black Swallowtail, Stratham Hill