Black Mo: Afternoon Light / Butterfly / Boats

My husband wanted to jog someplace different, so we went to one of the dirt roads in Moshannon State Forest, up above Black Moshannon, a local state park sometimes referred to as Blackie, or Black Mo for short.

I knew from past visits that there is a high meadow up on top with pink thistle blooms that attract the butterflies, so I took my chair and my camera, and that's where I set up shop. I was delighted to see a whole bunch of butterflies, including the male black swallowtail - Papilio polyxenes - in the extras, who offered me a perfect view, with open wings.

When my husband was done running, we headed down to Black Moshannon State Park, where I swam and he waded. It is a gorgeous, photogenic place, so I walked around and took a bunch of pictures: of the colorful boats (extras), and of the absolutely glorious afternoon light through the trees through one of the CCC-era pavilions (above). Info about the park's history may be found here.

It is a place where the water is black from tannin due to the bogs, which yields some wonderful colors on the reflections. As I swam, I watched ripples of blue and green against that darkness; wished for a camera in my hands, as I so often do when I'm actually IN the water.

When I got out of the water after my swim, I took a shower and washed my swimsuit thoroughly, as the dark water will indeed stain light-colored things. (I wore a black bikini, so no trouble there.) Eventually, we left the beach area and walked over to the pavilion where we had parked, and I strolled down to the lake from there. 

I amused myself with abstract photos of the ripples and the reflections. A lady in a pink top was standing on the bridge with her guy, and I captured her pink reflection in the water. The lake wore a tiny dot of bright pink because she was there. It reminded me of that lovely quote from the film Out of Africa, which I'll share here:

"If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?" - Isak Dinesen.

The temperatures were reasonable. The day was full, and long, and luxurious. It reminded me of how much we loved summer when I was a child when we ran free and unfettered and wild and the world was at our fingertips. So here are three of my best photos from a really gorgeous summer day.

I've got three photos, so here are three songs: Neil Diamond, with Summerlove; Bruce Hornsby and Shawn Colvin, with Lost Soul (for the boats), and Barry Gibb featuring Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, with Butterfly.