(Not the ballet.) On the short list of really good ideas is not found driving somewhere that takes an hour to reach when rain is due in an hour with the object of nature photography. I had some irrational urge to visit Swan Lake/ Iris Gardens in Sumter, 40 odd miles east of here. It's a really lovely place when the irises are in season. Unfortunately, the last day of July is not included in that period, at least not this year.
Of course, it's still a lovely place without the irises, and fortunately the rain was very, very short-lived. It made for a very nice walk and good for my fragile psyche what with all the negative ions from the waters of the pond (OK, lake), creek, spillway, fountains, swamp and for that matter the rain. And the mosquitoes were much less fierce than most of the watery places I've visited lately. I was able to get some fairly interesting pictures, including a luna moth clinging to a cyclone fence. (Apparently this is normal luna moth behavior. I was worried.)
OK, I would have rather had a beautiful day, but since I didn't have one it was nice to get a change of scene. And I wanted to know if there were any irises this time of year and I probably would have been somewhat peeved had I wasted a pretty day to go find out there weren't. Also they now have a Chocolate Garden (a bunch of plants with chocolate in their name or chocolate-scented blossoms) and a Butterfly Garden (with which the butterflies were not cooperating). For some reason, the entrance to both parking areas said "Bus Entrance Only" but I just ignored this and didn't get ticketed, towed or arrested. Goodness knows where civilians were supposed to park. Regardless, it was a good and fun visit, good for badly flagging morale.
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