Hello and welcome! You have landed on the website for Bette J. Kauffman's photography. I hope you enjoy looking as much as I enjoy engaging the world with my camera.

Blog

October: Reunion

Categories: Year in ReviewLeave a comment

In October 2025, I hosted a mini reunion for the Iowa Mennonite High School Class of 1963. It was “mini” because only 5 of my classmates could come, but the 6 of us had a blast. The classmates who came, came from far and wide. None of them had ever seen a swamp. So, of course I took them to Black Bayou Lake NWR to walk the boardwalk. And of course it was the highlight of their visit to Monroe. As you can see by the sign on the door of the Conservation Learning Center, all facilities were officially closed…

A New Goal

Categories: TravelTags: · · · · · Leave a comment

Everyone should set a new goal from time to time, don’t you think? One day in 2017, I stepped out the front door of my house to go to the mailbox. And the moment I came out from under the carport roof, I froze, almost in mid-stride. What is that incredible sound? Birds! Birds singing their hearts out!! I have always been partial to birds, but for years I paid little attention to them because, as my hearing loss progressed, I could not hear them. Thus it was in 2017, when I finally got hearing aids (what was I waiting…

September: Who can resist?

Categories: Uncategorized · Year in ReviewTags: · · · Leave a comment

This annual review will be completed before the end of the year. Pinky promise! Once a month I serve a little church in St. Joseph, Louisiana. Occasionally, I leave after coffee hour, go just a tiny jog back south on Hwy 65 to head west on Hwy 4 to enter the southern most edge of Big Lake WMA and meander north toward home. So it was that September 7, 2025, the road ditches were full of blooming Ironweed (Vernonia spp.) and other wildflowers. Butterflies were everywhere. I did not actually count individuals, but a quick search of iNaturalist shows me…

August: Butterflies Galore

Categories: UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s the hottest month of the year in Louisiana, and the butterflies love it! Actually, July is just as hot, but by August we’re really tired of it, so maybe it just seems worse. Whatever. Don’t get hooked on butterfly counting if you can’t take the heat. As August approached last summer, I set out to do some butterfly counting on my own. I had learned that Morehouse Parish, which neighbors my home Ouachita Parish, was “under-reported” when it comes to butterflies. In other words, not much butterfly counting has been done there and so the list of known species…

July: Fungi Frolic

Categories: Year in ReviewTags: · · · · · 2 Comments

Things to notice the next time you go into the woods: How some gilled mushrooms age and die quite beautifully by turning their caps inside out. Stray rays of sunlight filtering through the trees sculpt the exposed gills and provide a perfect mountain trail for a tiny red hiker. The Gulf South Mycological Society typically conducts a Summer Foray in July. I attend the Friday night & Saturday portions when I can, and join a bunch of other fun and interesting people crazy enough to go into the woods in July and sweat profusely whilst looking for mushrooms. Last summer…