butterflies

Happy Birthday, David and Mark Byrne!!!!

The bad: This morning I had to spend four hours in the Firestone waiting room, getting my car fixed, to the tune of $500+.

The good: Yesterday, at a cookout at my mom’s house, my grandfather began experiencing some baffling and severe health problems, but as of now, it looks like he is recovering nicely. To say that my relief is palpable would be an understatement. Mom’s going to check on him tonight after work, just to be sure, and if need be, she’s going to drag him to the ER.

My heart can start beating again now, right?

Bone-rattling terror aside, I actually had a good weekend. It was one of those ultra-rare weekends when I didn’t have to work, so I sucked as much leisure out of it as possible.

On Saturday I checked out the butterfly exhibit at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton (you can see my pictures here, including a shot of two butterflies having sex), and then I swung by Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in DC to see what flowers had bloomed since I was last there in the spring (photos here). The butterfly exhibit was excellent, but hot. It was at least 90 degrees in the conservatory, with tropical humidity. I haven’t sweated that much since I spent a half-hour in a Finnish sauna last year.

Every adult was snapping photos like a madman, with the cameras ranging from cheap throwaways to cameras so advanced, they looked like they harkened from the future. Everyone was after the golden ticket: a photo of the sky-blue butterflies who refused to sit still. I tried to photograph as many different butterfly patterns as possible, which meant staying there until I was literally dripping sweat on the floor.

And yeah, I’m trying not to think about the fact that those poor butterflies will only live for two weeks.





song heard most recently before posting: Cymbeline—Loreena McKennitt