After last week’s heat and humidity in the DC area (code orange!), we are glad to escape to Northern Vermont for our annual retreat to cool lake and lush mountains. Summer is barely creeping over the countryside, and we joke that the ice has just melted on the lake (the water is so frigid that I wear a wetsuit to swim in it). As the sun climbs out from behind the clouds and the afternoon warms up, my favorite pastime is to grab my camera and go in pursuit of butterflies. The Eastern swallowtails have emerged here recently, and it doesn’t take long to locate them. Butterflies seem so carefree as they follow their erratic path in pursuit of wildflowers, though of course it’s their survival they are pursuing. Still, the combination of their startling beauty and their zigzagging track through the meadow never fails to raise my spirits. They flit, and I flit with them, following my curiosity and trying to capture their rare static moments. If I am lucky I take home an image like this one of a slightly battered butterfly sipping on orange hawkweed. And I get to leave my city cares behind for a while.