<Click all photos to enlarge.
Hover mouse over photo for caption when viewed on a computer.>

Gray hairstreak butterfly. Ray focuses on something tiny. I met my friend Ray when he enrolled in one of my photography classes at FCC, accompanied by two sign language interpreters.  It was the first time I had had a deaf person in one of my classes, so I had to get used to looking at Ray when I spoke, and not at the interpreter.  When one of them said, "Did you get my email?" I looked at her and said, "No," not realizing it was really Ray who was asking me that question, so I quickly changed my answer to "Yes."  Having the interpreters in class took a little getting used to!  Ray took both my black and white photography and my flower photography classes, and we have kept in touch.

The most popular plant in the sanctuary! Yesterday's rain clings to the back of a leaf. Last night Ray messaged me that he would be walking the sanctuary, although he didn't mention a time.  When I arrived, I saw a parked car, but I did not see him.  I decided that the smart thing for me to do was to walk the sanctuary the opposite way I usually go, and sure enough, halfway around I found Ray.

We both were using our macro lenses.  I pulled out my pen and paper, and we were able to ask questions of each other using the pad.  Of course, pointing out butterflies, beetles, and dragonflies was easy, and we needed no words for that.

Cicada shell on lichen covered tree trunk. A cicada shell on the fence On our walk, we found a number of cicada shells, which I mentioned yesterday that I would have to look for.  There were also just a few milkweed plants in bloom, and they were heavily visited by bees, beetles, and butterflies.  Our macro lenses got a good workout.

A skipper on milkweed. Lichen grows on the top of each fence post. When we parted, I reminded Ray to check for ticks; he decided to stay a while longer.  I'm so glad we found each other this morning.  Now another friend is aware of the sanctuary, and I'm sure he'll visit it again.

<Thanks for reading my blog entry, which is part of a personal photography project to bring attention to and to benefit the Fred Archibald Sanctuary in New Market, MD.  The sanctuary is owned and managed by the Audubon Society of Central Maryland.  Copyright 2017 Cam Miller.  All photographs are for sale upon request.>