Saturday Rodney took me to see butterflies. Actually the festival was over, but they still had the conservatory open through this weekend. I have no idea what the “festival activities” that we missed out on consisted of, I just wanted to walk amongst the “flying flowers!”
Look at this big butterfly net outside the door:
I got a butterfly net for my 8th birthday – I’ll never forget. One day I came inside and my mom was in tears laughing at me. “Wha…?” She’d been at the window watching me chase down a butterfly with that net – swiping it this way and that, and never able to catch the darn thing. I guess I looked funny? Thanks for the encouragement, mom.
As soon as we walked in, butterflies were darting all around us. They swooped like bats and when you watched them fly off, it looked as if they were marionettes on strings that someone was jerkily controlling from above. They’re not graceful, that’s for sure.
I mean, it’s not like I’ve never seen a butterfly before, but seeing so many at once (and all flying right up and around you and taunting you) was a cool new perspective.
They gave us each these fans to combat the heat (so humid!) and also to identify the different butterflies. I kept laughing at Rodney carrying his around like he was on the safety patrol.
Pretty blue butterfly:
R kept saying, “That’s a [whatever type of butterfly],” and getting irritated with me because I was calling them all birds.
This one creeped me out:
They ARE just like bats!
All the butterflies were regular size except for certain blue ones. They were much bigger than the others and did the most swooping and darting. I really wanted to take pictures of them but they were so fast! Or they would fly right up to me and around me playing ring around the rosie, making it impossible. I’d swing around and twist and shout and NEVER get them in the shot!
I tried chasing, I tried standing in one spot and letting them come to me, I tried flailing all over the conservatory. Basically I was 8 years old with the worthless butterfly net all over again.
I ended up with one shot of the ever elusive big blue butterfly:
Until we were done and I saw the balloons outside the entrance:
I got your Blue Morpho’s right there. That totally counts.
Update: Oh My Gosh. So, The Stone Rabbit blogged about going to the festival and my jaw hit the floor when I saw what happened and the pictures she got of the Morpho’s. You won’t even believe it. I don’t want to talk about it.
Wasn’t that an amazing experience? It is so beautiful out on the grounds, too, and I am not a gardener! I was overwhelmed by the variety of the plants and trees. Thanks for letting me know about your trip there! Signed: A Real Granny Smith aka/Dana ;-)
I love butterfly houses….I go to them whenever I see one! My Mom loved butterflies and so no to honor her, every one of my mosaic pieces has a butterfly hidden in it somewhere :-).
Penny
ohhh I love those butterflies! So pretty. Thanks for sweet comments you left for me and I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to ya. I kinda got caught up over there at RMS! Now I think I’ve fallen off the face of the earth, well RMS!LOL, It was fun while it lasted.
Hugs~Kelly
The butterflies are beautiful, but I had to laugh when you said the one creeped you out and reminded you of a bat. I was watching one fly in my yard the other day and thought the same thing! I do like to look at them, they are beautiful, but I don’t think I’d want one to land on my head anymore! My reflex reaction would probably be to swat at it, and then everyone in there would be horrified at me! lol! So I think I’ll just look at all the lovely pictures and enjoy the ones in my yard.
Hi Kristiane,
No I wish I could say I have been in a magazine or book, but a girl can dream right! Thanks for such a compliment though!
Hugs~Kelly
Wow! Thats amazing, such beautiful butterflies, love all the colors! Thanks for visiting me, you have a lovely blog :)
Thanks for coming by and visiting my blog.
Oh, I was laughing so hard at your descriptions of trying to catch them or get pictures of them. I LOVE butterflies and would love to go to that and I was going to tell you about the Stone Rabbit but I see you have found her. She did get some FABULOUS pictures of the butterfly festival.
Hi Kristiane :)
Thank you so much for writing to me! I love your blog. I laughed so hard at those pictures from that yearbook site I was practically crying LOL
Come visit me anytime and don’t be a stranger :)
rue
Oooh, these are lovely! We went up to the Omaha Zoo a few weeks ago and they have a great butterfly exhibit. It’s pretty amazing to see so many in one place–they’re on EVERYTHING.