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!

There is a lovely butterfly park in East Brunswick, New Jersey.

For more nature notes:

These arches are part of the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. This shot was taken from 14th SW Street, close to the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

This shot is taken from the opposite end (12th SW Street). The arches are one block away from the National Mall.

Washington D.C. could use some pedestrian bridges, with all the traffic and the many pedestrians. But nothing this big for pedestrians, please.

For more bridges, visit the Sunday Bridge Series:

Update: more on the bridges between the buildings on Wikipedia

We just came back from 4+ days in Washington, DC. I took many photos…I have some of the Washington Monument that are especially fun. I plan to do a post about our visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. I also have photos from our trip to Broadway the week before, to see West Side Story. On our last day we went to Mount Vernon, Virginia, the home of George Washington.

This is a pretty Smithsonian garden near the Air and Space Museum. Across the way is a butterfly garden (I have pictures of that, too).

“Thank heaven…for little girls…” – this is a scene from Gigi, which was performed at the Middlesex County College Theater Camp that my daughter attended. The director of the camp introduced the song by saying, “remember the name Michael Mills.” He is the adorable boy in front of those teenage girls singing the song that was originally performed by Maurice Chevalier.

For more photos straight out of the camera, visit Murrieta:

Facade of the Asbury Park Theater, New Jersey Shore

The Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey was built in 1927: The entire complex was designed in a combination Italian-French style, with an emphasis on nautical themes in recognition of its oceanfront location. The interior of the theatre was dominated by gold, black, and purple, and featured a giant rosette on the ceiling.

Thursday Challenge theme is CREATIVITY (Art, Music, Writing, Photography, Architecture, Handicraft,…).

Next Week: FUN (Festival, Fair, Carnival, Party, Playground, Dancing, Laughing,…)

Friday was a beautiful, not too hot day in Highland Park. What a joy to visit the farmer’s market. I usually buy peaches, yellow squash, parsley and a cucumber. If the organic stand features kale, I buy some of that, too. What produce do you like to buy?

For more posts with a little or a lot of red, visit: