This was taken yesterday after I had already posted my PaD, but I did do the photoshop border work on it today. The photo itself is cropped but otherwise unedited.
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I was playing hide and seek with the butterflies again yesterday.
I seek, they hide, and I wait.

As the scene unfolds I'm standing there in my straw hat, loitering around next to the empty butterfly bush, fiddling with the camera and feeling (as I usually do) like Bill Murray chasing that gopher in Caddyshack, when I catch this -- flicker -- out of the corner of my eye. Not a normal flicker, and before I know it this little fellow pops up right in front of me. I haven't seen a hummingbird in over 19 years, and never, ever this close.

At this point I do what any good photographer would do.
1) First, I calmly panic, and freeze.
2) Then, I talk myself out of falling over backward. (So far so good, right?)
3) That done, I say a bad word. (Very, very softly. For some reason birds are offended by loud invective. * shrug *).
...I guess you could call this my 'Stop, Drop, and Roll' procedure.
My hands are already moving -- at least they know what to do, and don't need my brain. (Really, if I ever go on a diet I think I'll chuck my brain first off. That's what, two pounds off the top, easy! It's not as if I use it much, obviously.) ;^)

I have no memory of what the camera was last set on but know that if I move it's all over; I can't even look down. I aim blindly and get off one shot. Two. He flits closer. Readjust, re-aim. Three. Closer. Four. The next door neighbors come out into their driveway and start loudly (as usual) loading their car in to go somewhere. I grit my teeth. Five. I blink, and it's gone. Gone.
I remember to breathe.
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There is no way this photo does him justice. I was staring at him the whole time and shooting blind, hoping he was in the frame and in focus. He was like a brilliant little gem, glittering green, and not three feet from me. What an amazing, amazing creature.

Sometimes I think I spend too much time looking through the viewfinder.
I'm so glad I got a picture, but this once, especially, I'm glad I was looking up, and that there was nothing between me and real life.