Category Archives: Malachite

Dazed at the Serendipity of Seeing this Malachite Butterfly

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Filed under Malachite, National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

Malachite butterfly (Ventral) photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

The flight to San Antonio Texas, boarded very early in the morning, because of that I slept in a hotel near Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport. We flew the 1,300 miles or so, rented a car at the airport, and drove more than 4 hours to Alamo, Texas. Those 5 days in Mission, Texas were unforgettable. Every day I met new butterflies. I would turn and there’d be new butterflies.

Many of those new species were more than rare, call them very rare. I was almost dazed at the serendipity (is that the correct word here?) of it all. Christmas week in Texas, almost at the border, and so much to be Thankful for.

This Malachite butterfly was the most memorable of them all. Fresh, poised, elegant and ‘Rare,’ it remained in place much of the time. Injured? No. Weakened by poor health? No. It’s senses dulled by some problem? No.

On seeing the Malachite Butterfly, I appreciated it all, I internalized the incredibility of what I’d experienced and yes, I knew that G-d had again shared great beauty with . . . me.

National Butterfly Center, Mission, Texas.

A Malachite Butterfly in Texas

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Filed under Malachite, National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

Malachite butterfly (4) photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

Friends post their awestruck visits to butterfly enclosures, and I love seeing those winged beauties flying around, in spectacular butterfly exhibits in Pittsburgh, Scottsdale, Florida and more. I thankfully remember surrounding myself in new, extraordinary butterflies, wild and free butterflies, in the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas. Less than 3 miles from Mexico, near the border wall.

This Malachite (Siproeta stelenes) remained along that lightly treed trail for more than 1/2 an hour. Glassberg, in his A Swift Guide to the Butterflies of North America describes Malachites as “U” (Uncommon) in South Texas all year. Imagine how excited I was to be able to approach this gem, at times some 6 feet away?

Memories that you never forget? Oh My Goodness! This was such. I’ve been to pre-sale Exhibitions of Magnificent Jewelry at Christiie’s and at Sotheby’s auction houses in New York City. The Malachite? No contest, it real, alive and one example of G-d’s finest work.

Jeff

Upon First Seeing A Malachite

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Filed under Malachite, National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

Malachite butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

It was Christmas week, when my friends pointed out my first and only encounter with this Malachite butterfly.

It was so so fresh, its colors vivid and it was calm, remaining where it was for Oh! nearly 25 minutes. Me? I considered whether or not G-d sent this Gem there, for reward for I am not sure what?

I shot away, from different angles, there in that darkened understory of The National Butterfly Center trail, we in Mission, Texas near the border wall with Mexico.

I ask that you compose a short Ode to Malachite.

Would you do that for us?

Jeff

Why Malachite? Why not Peacock?

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Filed under Malachite, National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX, Peacock

Peacock butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TXMalachite Butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

Friends love Chevys. Others love Fords. Yuppies here and in New York love ‘Beemers’ (BMW’s), others love Nissans. Why?

My Christmas week trip to the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas near the border wall did not yield Jeffrey Glassberg or Jane Hurwitz, but I did meet my first White Peacock and my first Malachite butterfly! (I too met Javier and Mike Rickard).

I was OK with meeting and shooting this Peacock you see here. I was very excited to meet and photograph this Malachite, which friends there shared was an especially handsome one.

“OK” with finding this Peacock. “Very excited” to shoot away with this Malachite.

Why do some butterflies (Malachite for me) so excite us, even years later, while others (Peacock for me) are met with moderate excitement?

Why?

Jeff

A Private Room In Tiffany’s Flagship Store

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Filed under Malachite, National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

Malachite Butterfly photographed by Jeff Zablow at the National Butterfly Center, Mission, TX

That’s what this meeting this Malachite Butterfly felt like. We were in the National Butterfly Center (NBC) in Mission, Texas near the border wall. There were few people there that morning, Christmas week, 2017. We were on a trail, and someone approached and told us that there was a Malachite, resting on a lower trail, in good shade. The three of us quickly found it, and I was stunned by its beauty. Stunned. A few others came shortly after, and at least 2 people, frequent visitors to the NBC, said that it was the freshest one they’d ever seen. Big smile, for that!

I view this image once again, and I think, seeing this Malachite, spectacular as it is, is akin to us entering Tiffany’s flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue with the CEO of Tiffany’s rushing to the front of the huge store to meet us, and we are escorted to a posh private viewing room, and she proudly shows us their finest baubles, brought from their solid safe, she awaiting our approval after each broach, ring, necklace, pin, bracelet is reviewed. In the 1980’s I experienced much success, and this, earlier in my life, would not have been impossible.

That’s how moved I was by the Malachite, it more beautiful than anything that the House of Cartier had ever attempted to fashion.

Would that Barbara Ann, Nancy, Kelly, Phil, Laura, Virginia, Deepthi, Cathy, Leslie, Jim, Beth, Kenne, Sandra or you, were there . . . Jeff