Seeing Little Things In Grand Villa Resort

I've managed to take close-up snapshots of objects both plants and insects while we were enjoying our visit in the Grand Villa Resort and Butterfly Center in Laguna.

We're peering here inside a yellow gumamela (hibiscus) flower. This flower is found inside the butterfly caged sanctuary.

This looks like a tied-up knot; an extension of the vines I noticed entwined around iron grills.

I'm looking up close to an unknown white flower, a yellowish flower blossom, and a stem wrapped with tiny flower buds and blossoms below.

Meanwhile, lots of insects can be found crawling or hovering on flowers and shrubs around the garden pool, like a black wasp I noticed resting on a vine tendril, or a spiky caterpillar nipping at some plant buds, a big black ant methodically scavenging around a leaf, or even a pair of mating yellow ladybugs (let's not disturb them below).

On the wooden table tops and stools dotting the scenic gardens around, interesting tiny objects can be found, like a hairy pod or plant pollen, a possibly dried up, knotty fruit seed, and an undetermined fiery orange outgrowth that could be a fungus below (certainly it doesn't look like a bubble gum; I never dared to touch it).

These are rusts on a decorative iron swirl, part of a makeshift metal shed in the garden area (image below).

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day for all of us Filipinos, both still living back in the Philippines and those living overseas - either as migrants or workers!

I greeted some of my officemates here who are still busy doing some work here, oblivious of the fact that today is our country's birth date and (official) independence celebration. I have been greeted by them with surprised looks; they seemed to be awakened from some deep suspended animation upon realizing that, indeed, today is the 12th of June, an important day for all Filipinos worldwide. "Ah oo nga no, araw ng kalayaan ngayon. Gusto ko nang lumaya dito!" (Ah yes, today's independence day. I wish to be free from here!). My officemates are referring to their plight of doing heavy work that they yearn to be free from what they're doing, drop everything, go out of the office and be merry all day. Hehehe. I wish it's that simple, but we're all deep at work concentrating in finishing assigned tasks especially fixing some production issues.

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A prayer for my country: "Dear God, bless my country and us, her children, so that we Filipinos can continue to grow and be fruitful in our lives without fear, but instead filled with love and compassion for one another. Continually bless and nurture our souls to appreciate more the beauty of our lands and to have a sense of pride and dignity to our heritage and what we have at hand, without the feelings of contempt and regret for what we lack of. Thank you God for the gift of freedom. We truly appreciate this as it contributes greatly to our distinct glow of happiness and resilience renown throughout other nations."

Butterflies And Flowers Of Grand Villa Resort In Laguna

Besides the usual features found in every swimming pool resort in Laguna, the Grand Villa Resort and Butterfly Centre offers much more with beautiful botanical landscapes (lots of plants, trees, and ornamental shrubs) and their main attraction - the butterfly sanctuary, near the far end of the resort, before the adventure camp area.

As I said, this resort has some magnificent display of tended gardens and plant landscapes showcasing a variety of flowering plants and shrubs. Some of these are the colorful orchids featured at this mini-garden with a wooden shed in (which also doubles as a swing) in the middle.

The butterfly garden was not yet fully open to public (or was still being maintained by the staff) when we arrived there. Some people emerging from the place told us to use the exit door to enter the garden (I'm confused there). So we entered through that door. We beheld in awe the enchanting surroundings that greeted us inside. There were lots of trees, flowering plants, shrubs, and ornaments all neatly arranged to make the enclosed garden look like a fairytale place.

I initially mistook most of these white and black spotted butterflies as the monarch butterflies until I later searched through google images similar to these. These are actually the Paper Kite butterflies.

Meanwhile, the pair of mating butterflies below (a lot of them are actually doing this inside so that's why I could take pictures of them without bothering or scaring the butterflies away) are from the species of heliconiine butterflies, specifically the Leopard Lacewing.

On the other hand, I am not so sure with the correct species of butterflies for the these two (another acrobatically mating) butterflies pictured below. I searched in the web and the nearest butterfly species I could tag the pair is the Ornithoptera priamus (the Cairns Birdwing butterflies). Am I right?