raise a glass to turnings of the season

It's late and I need to go to bed. But first I wanted to share this:

Today I saw the first butterfly of spring! It's not officially spring yet and the weather hasn't made it out of the 40s so I was absolutely shocked to discover this little guy flying around in the tree outside my window. Nevertheless, there he was, happily soaking up the sunshine and some sweet nectar from all the pretty blossoms. He was difficult to photograph as the morning was breezy and the window was dirty, but I was determined.

Happy Spring!

a rare sighting

Yesterday, while sitting at the stop light where West Blvd becomes East Blvd, I saw a Luna Moth. It was flying down the street in the middle of the afternoon. Quite beautiful really. I love the book A Girl of the Limberlost. It's the story of a girl named Elnora who pays for her education and makes her way in the world, despite some rather hard circumstances, by collecting and selling moths and butterflies. Her two favorite moths are the Golden Emperor (or something like that) and the Luna Moth. So, ever since I first read that book I've wanted to see a real, and living Luna Moth. I've found wings and bits of dead ones before, possibly even the cocoon of one, but never a whole, real, living one. They are actually quite common but very rarely seen. The adults only live for a week and, being moths, are mostly active at night. So it was rather amazing!