Butterflies

An unusual butterfly was on the rue one day. Dusky brown wings with giant vees of buff, not one of the everyday visitors. Investigation found it to be the Giant Swallowtail. Since I didn't get its picture, this one will have to serve.

The purple morning glory vine seen here sent a bud over the top of the opened window to bloom indoors on the back porch, my treehouse.

Most days tiger swallowtails, black and spicebush swallowtails, monarchs, and white sulfurs come to the front yard. I found out that the hatchlings of the cabbage butterflies feed on nasturtiums. That explains a lot, but i never catch the butterflies laying eggs. They must wait till everyone's in bed.

Like Housman with his cherry trees, I think there's little time to watch the butterflies, so I keep an eye out when I'm near flowers. Te porch is a good place to sit quietly when it's too hot to sit out in the sun. And as long as the black and white cat's not under the bird feeder, you can see the chickadees and finches too.

Over at Reading Life, there's a note about a book to help anyone enjoy the seasons, even if you can't tramp through the rolling English landscape. As Cosmo Dogood showed us in his late, great Cosmo Dogood's Urban Almanac, all we have to do is to look out and up and around us. Nature is everywhere.