Not too, too long ago, I was having a great conversation with Sepi in which the topic of what we really cared about came up.

Music was among my answers. My friend was a tad incredulous.

How much did I really care?

A little over a week ago, I decided to go on a stroll from my parents’ house to a park with hiking trails and preserved woodland.

I was interested in the hiking trails.

Then I got to them.

They weren’t interesting.

The walk to the woods, however, was.

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It was a little bit of a hectic day.

I needed to mail a relatively bulky package, and being without a car, I needed to walk it to the post office in the early afternoon.

This is a time I’m not usually out. I was sure to bring my camera, because you never know.

And it was a great day for photography, particularly because I got to see this fellow.

It’s unusual around this area to see a bird of such a vibrant blue color.

He was also quite small in size, and pretty skittish and distant from me, which made the photography more challenging.

No matter. There’s always cropping in post-production, right?

Many, many moons ago in a parent-teacher conference, a teacher told my parents that given the opportunity, I would always choose to stop and smell the roses.

Strictly speaking, that’s not true.

I think my mother’s more recent observation that “no grass grows underneath my feet” is probably more accurate, especially given my tendency to sometimes not spend as much time visiting a place, or appreciating things as I should.

Let’s hold that thought for now.

Some people say that lightning doesn’t strike twice.

Well, some people are wrong.

Quite possibly my second favorite animal that I had the pleasure of photographing this summer was the box turtle seen in these photographs.

This time, the turtle was younger, more orange, and more skittish.

For those who know me, like my sister, my transition to becoming more of a nature photographer is an odd change.

“I’m used to seeing your Instagram filled with pictures of graffiti, and it’s very strange that it’s all pictures of flowers.”

Well, this then is the closest I can do insofar as a return to my old ways is concerned (for now at least.)

One of the really fortunate things about growing up in my corner of Southeastern Pennsylvania is that I got to enjoy wild raspberries and wild blackberries, which would grow in a lot of places. They’re delicious, and totally edible.