Too Much Heaven: Lotus, the Grand Opening

I cannot help myself: I have been stalking the single lotus bud that I spotted at the Arboretum's lily pond last week. I dropped by every day that I could, but I am not usually in town on the weekend. A friend posted a photo of the first opening of the pink bloom on Facebook on Saturday. Isn't that about how it goes?

As far as I know, this is the first lotus bloom on the lily pond in about two years. There just weren't any last summer. If there had been, I think I would have spotted them. I am there often; it isn't something I would miss. First comes the tightly wrapped pale pink bud. Then the pink opening, petals still tight. Then pink turns paler, and down to cream, as the lotus opens its heart, and petals, to the sun.

Apparently, I was not the only one keeping close watch on the lotus. A huge dragonfly and a monarch butterfly flew over, looking longingly at the lotus - I'm sure its scent extends far and wide. Something exotic for the pollinators; you won't find many lotus blooms in these parts. I willed each of them to stop and land on the bloom, for an awesome shot, but apparently my Jedi mind-control tricks aren't up to influencing dragonflies and butterflies!

The bees absolutely adore the lotus flower. I spotted several bumblebees flying around it, and these two little bees (honeybees, I think?) were clearly smitten. I loved the way they found the beautiful bloom and instantly it became home and sustenance to them. Why not? The flower is like heaven to them, and who can get too much of that?

The soundtrack: the Bee Gees, with Too Much Heaven.

P.S. On a personal note, I also wanted to give a quick update on my photo library transition, which I had been very worried about. My workplace got me a new Mac last week and one of the implications is that my photo library had to transition from iPhoto to Photos for the Mac

As my photo library (10 years worth of digital pics) weighs in at about 1.82 TB, I was worried it might hang up or crash. I started the transition on Tuesday of last week, and at work week's end, the hard drive the photo library was on was still making noises and spinning; it wasn't obvious it was done. So I left it all connected through the weekend, just in case.

On this day, a good friend, one of our very knowledgeable tech folks, came by to help me take a look at where we were at. We quickly determined that the transition had happened successfully (and actually, it looked like it had completed in only 36 hours or so). So here is my first Blipfoto posting for which I am now using the new Photos editing software. Lots to learn, but I'm grateful the photo library made it safely through!