Weathered Butterfly

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks. ---- John Muir

Buster and I spotted this Pearl Crescent Butterfly feasting on Prairie Ragwort in the road ditch on Wednesday. There were a pair of butterflies, the one in the first two photos looks a little worse for wear, though happily engaging in normal activities despite his or her wing injuries.

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The name "Pearl Crescent" comes from the whitish crescent-shaped designs on the lower wings. This butterfly had a 1-1/2 inch wingspan, much smaller than a Monarch's. I like the dotty look of the antennae.

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Yesterday around noon my daughter phoned from Germany where it was 7:00 in the evening. She finally whipped the lingering jet-lag with a 12-hour night's sleep the previous night. It rains everyday, off and on for 5 or 10 minutes, then the sun shines again. She's getting along well with her roommates and the kids they are working with in their Camp Adventure program. She reports that the houses in the towns are all built in the classic German style (even the new ones) with flower boxes on the windows. There are no lawns to speak of; instead gardens and lots of shrubbery surround the houses. The streets and roads are narrow, accomodating well the small cars owned by the German people and not so well the large vehicles owned by the Americans. I asked her what the countryside looks like and she said, "Mom, it looks like in that Irish show we used to watch on PBS. Lots of narrow roads lined with fields of waving grass."

Oh, yes......I recall "that Irish show", Ballykissangel, and watched it faithfully (quite the interesting characters inhabited that little village) until the script allowed Assumpta to be accidently electrocuted in the basement of her pub. Sheesh.....that was just too much.....I had been desperately hoping that Assumpta and the priest, Father Peter Clifford, would run off and get married. That first time he tried to kiss her was one of the most dramatic moments I've ever seen on a TV show. That's just me being sappy me, though; I always assume unmarried priests must be lonely and longing for love.....which might not be true at all. Yeah, similarly I was glued to the TV screen when The Thornbirds miniseries was shown many years ago......poor Father Ralph.....and Meggie.....boohoohoo. The book was worse, though......oh, my goodness, what sad things happened to the people in that story.....I bawled and bawled while reading it. What a sap I was and probably still am.

How'd I veer off on that goofy tangent???

Have a wonderful day!

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