I turned that bend of Nichol Road Trail in Pennsylvania’s Raccoon Creek Park, early on a summer morning. Early morning sun strikes the leaves along the upcoming trail berm. I’d seen butterflies perched on those 8:30 AM berm leaves before, and that turn of the trail always had me poised for OMGoodness! moments.

And there she was. A gorgeous Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. Stop. Think. Slowly, slowly approach her, me down enough to shoot her, she at 18″ above the ground. Pop! Pop! Pop! many times.

Her blue flashes? Well just look at them. The rest of her. Fine, very fine.

She sure makes me reminisce that time when I was leaving Mr. Gorin’s office in New York’s tony Fuller building, at the very fancy intersection of Madison Avenue and East 57th Street. I stood there as the Art Deco decorated elevator arrived at my floor, and those decorative doors opened, and . . . there was Diana Ross, standing there, alone. She smiled, and I walked into the elevator.

My guess was that she’d finished a meeting with one of the lawyers in a floor above. I’d worked in Manhattan for years, and I say, she was impressively beautiful. We chatted, and reached the Lobby level. We exchanged goodbyes, and she went her way.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly and Diana Ross. Neither to be forgotten. Both elegant and especially beautiful. Both met unexpectedly.

Jeff