Butterflies

We've just gotten back from our (mostly) annual visit to Scarborough Faire. I'm munching on some lovely cinnamon sugar encrusted pecans from said Faire and thinking about butterflies.

I have always been enamored with butterflies. I practiced catch and release as a child with my trusty butterfly net, and I also used the symbol of a blue butterfly to represent myself in numerous (OK, just three) 'Secret Clubs.' I have butterfly jewelry, butterfly hair pieces, and I'm still looking for copies of particular prints of various butterfly species that I saw once in a model home. And we're currently planning our butterfly garden.

This Spring has been rather good for wildflowers and therefore butterflies. They are everywhere in droves. I have to remind myself while driving that I shouldn't swerve to avoid hitting them. It's been really cool to have them hovering around and landing on us whenever we're outside. I've had three nice experiences with butterflies over the past couple of weeks, and since three of the same type of thing equals a blog post, it's time to share.

#1 - Three weeks ago, we had a family reunion at Lake Whitney. There were, of course, just as many butterflies flying around there as there are around where we live. On the last day, we were all down at the dock after a final boat ride. My son noticed a butterfly that had landed in the lake and couldn't pull itself out because its wings were wet. It struggled for a while and then eventually stopped as it drifted closer and closer to the dock. We thought that it had drowned. When it got close enough, I leaned over the edge and scooped it out of the water and found it was still alive. It rested in my hand for a bit while its wings dried and then took off. Very cool.

#2 - I spotted a butterfly hanging out in the grass in our front yard one day. For some reason I thought I'd try and see if it would climb onto my finger (despite many hundreds of failures attempting the same as a child.) To mine and my son's surprise, it climbed right on. We then noticed that it was having trouble flying as it would go a very short distance and then climb right back onto my hand. We fed it some leftover fruit smoothie and then took it to some nearby flowers. Hopefully it has recuperated.

#3 - Today at Scarborough Faire, there were again lots and lots of butterflies flying around and landing on people. One butterfly took a particular liking to me. It apparently liked root beer. It landed on me, flew around me and then landed in my cup to sip some of the drink clinging to the side. We watched it until it curled its proboscis back up and flew out of the cup. As we were walking from the area, it followed us and continually landed on my hat and my shoulder for quite a bit. It was really grateful for the root beer. Very amusing.

Just call me the butterfly whisperer. :)