All 'Aflutter' in My Garden

There is nothing that I enjoy photographing more then the butterflies that visit my garden, and I'm pleased that there seem to be more of them this year. Friends have also reported seeing more as well.

This midnight blue one was lovely, and the blue and yellow spotted underside was even more colorful. I think it is a female swallowtail.

Now for something a tad more unusual . . . I spent quite a few hours in my garden this morning, and every half hour or so, I would stop to rest by plopping myself into one of my pink chairs to survey my estate. :-) Well, one time, I happened to glance down and was startled to see something moving in the grass.  .  . This was splitting open

and out emerged this. Fortunately, I always have my camera handy.

 

 The wings were moist and glistening in the sun and for a few moments nothing happened. Then he/she began making its way slowly through the grass. Move . . . then rest . . .  then move again. It took him/her about twenty minutes to move a yard. How do I know this? Because I was crawling on the grass beside it trying to get these photos!!! :-)  Actually, I was crawling around it trying to get a catchlight in its eyes. (Photographers reading this will smile and nod agreement while I'm quite sure the rest of my readers will think I'm nuts!)

Anyway, it was a harmless, fun, interesting way to pass some time before I went back to my gardening.

Just look at this cute little face. Really, it's adorable; click on the photo to see a larger view for yourself.

Anyone know what it is? I'm thinking that it is some kind of cicada.