Beginning, Middle And End

Monday, June 11, 2012

Salado Creek Greenway, Lady Bird Johnson Park Trailhead, south,
(dirt to paved trail loop*)

Today's photos:

It is said every good story has a beginning, a middle and an end. The story of today's walk begins and ends with butterflies, but don't be fooled. To the casual observer, the three butterflies at the beginning appear to be the same kind as the two at the end. Take a closer look. Butterflies can be deceiving.

The first three are Queen Butterflies. The last two are Viceroy Butterflies. Both could easily be mistaken for Monarch Butterflies.

But then there's the middle. I could go on writing about any number of the creatures that appear in the middle: the turks cap flower, the elm trees, the black-backed lesser goldfinch, the black vulture, the killdeer, the snowy egret, the buckeye butterfly behind the white flowers beside the creek… . It would take forever to get this post online.

What is more important is to view the photos as the expression of a continuous experience. While the walk began and ended at the trailhead, the middle was indeed a continuum.

* Today I began my walk going south along the dirt trail at the base of the cliff on the east bank of the creek and then returned north along the paved trail on the west bank of the creek. The dirt path ends at the paved trail where the paved trail crosses from the west to the east side of the creek, thus creating a loop from the trailhead.