Undersides

I’ve left Maine, but going back through my photos I thought I’d write another blog or two from the summer’s joys.

Most of the time we look at the tops of things, because that is the first view we get. First impressions may be important, but looking underneath yields further pleasures.

The crusader moth is dramatic from above, but when it takes wing there is a flash of orange,

and if you can persuade it to pose for you its underparts are a bright rusty shade.

This enormous mushroom is dramatic enough (it weighs over 50lbs),

but it’s underside is a maze of frilly canyons.

Underside of huge polypore

Underside of huge polypore

And the giant swallowtail butterfly is just as exquisite from underneath:

So don’t be content with the surface of things.