Butterflies for my birthday!

This year on my birthday, I decided to spend some time with the butterflies at the Sophia M. Sacks Butterfly House in St Louis. Boy did I have a lovely time! The butterflies were very active and it was a great opportunity to learn how to use my camera a little faster. I didn't get nearly as many or as good shots as my time at the Butterfly Pavilion - did I mention these little guys were very active? - but I had a great time walking among them! Here were some of my favorite shots - and some of the only ones that ended up being in focus:

 The Owl Butterfly - Caligo memnon

 The Postman - Heliconius melpomene stichelli

 The Paper Kite - Idea leuconoe

 The Metallic Blue Wave (I think...it was not listed on their brochure)

 Orange Shoemaker - Catonephele orites (I think)

 A female Great Egg Fly - Hypolimnas bolina

 The Cloudless Sulpher (again, I think) - Phoebis sennae

 The Orange Julia - Dryas julia - or this might be the Orange Tiger - Dryadula phaetusa

 The Paper Kite - Idea leuconoe

 The Great Mormon - Papilio memnon

 The Common Blue Morpho - Morpho peleides

 Scarlet Peacock (I think) - Anartia amathea

A Ruby Lacewing - Cethosia hypsea

I also got some neat video footage, but that'll take me a little longer to put together...

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles

The Smithsonian Art History Museum - Washington DC

Below are some of my favorite pieces from the Smithsonian Art History Museum:

 I think I like how wacky "Ratapoil" is, but was surprised it's so small. By Honore Daumier

I certainly could not escape Edgar Degas' "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen - Wax Statuette", especially when there were two facing each other. So exciting!

 "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin

and of course I couldn't resist all the landscapes:

 "The Shipwreck" by Claude Joseph Vernet

 "Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight" by Joseph Mallord and William Turner

  "Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight" by Joseph Mallord and William Turner (detail)

 "Autumn-On the Hudson River" by Jasper Francis Cropsey

 "Lake Lucerne" by Albert Bierstadt

 "Street in Venice" by John Singer Sargent

 "El Rio de Luz" by Frederic Edwin Church

"The Fall of Phaeton" by Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Washington DC - the National Mall

The national mall is a deceiving in it's size. We certainly got our exercise enjoying the scenery and visiting the museums.

 View from the National Mall nearing sunset

 The US Capitol

 The Lincoln Memorial

The World War II Memorial and the Lincoln in the background, after sunset

We were grateful to have our friends join us for two days of sightseeing and museum touring. We enjoyed the Air and Space, Natural History, American History, Art History (I visited this one on my own and will post photos of my favorite pieces next), and the Air and Space Udvar-Hazy Center.

All photos copyright Katrina Kouba Boles