The Burrow

Last night, the sun set like this but TBG and I were hard pressed to take our eyes off the book Little Cuter created.  The Grandparental Invasion - March 2017 is filled will hugs and love and smiles. Our basketball pools, decorated by the stickers FlapJilly put on her dog and her father and her Gampa, are totally busted, but the hearts and the minions and the Minnie Mouse polka dots allow us to smile as we cross off another team.  The love is there, but the girls are not. Sigh..... I needed an antidote - and Scarlett and the Tucson Botanical Garden's butterfly exhibit came, once more, to the rescue.  The exhibit receives shipments of chrysalis every three weeks; there's always a new specimen to examine, like this one, who flew right past my nose to land on the hibiscus leaf.   From the side, he's perfectly camouflaged. There were blue ones and big-eyes-on-the-wings ones and then this new one, with round wings and straight wings and s...

As an antidote to DJT's newest attempt t o keep us safe  with this executive order :  PROTECTING THE NATION FROM FOREIGN TERRORIST ENTRY INTO THE UNITED STATES, I offer this broken but unbowed specimen from the Tucson Botanical Garden's Butterfly Exhibit: Even in the most well-protected spaces, and the Butterfly Exhibit's vetting processes are second to none, shit happens. That's why the poison dart frogs are in their own separate terraria; they were being squashed underfoot and attacked by their compatriots.   Sometimes, a quarantine is necessary.  Wondering why no one has thought of that in relation to DJT?  Soothe yourself alongside this beastie, resting on the window, wondering what's outside: The rest of the world is all aquiver the tangled, intertwined relationships  between the Reds  (remember when The Russians were The Reds?) and the USofA can leave you flat out exhausted but try not to becom...

Certainly, there are plants at the Botanical Gardens. Some make you smile, like these cacti Scarlett named Llamas I see snails with their necks elongated. We laughed at both descriptions. This was all on the way to the tropical environs and big bigger biggest leaves in the desert in The Butterfly Experience. These LBT's (Little Brown Things) were everywhere, fully exposed and camouflaged. One circled me, but decided not to land. I was kinda sorta glad about that. You are warned to avoid touching the butterflies if they land on you.   You are also warned to avoid stepping on them. Their life-cycle spans 2 to 3 weeks; no need to shorten it by human intervention. We stood for a while, watching the proboscis probe as the antennae and wings provided balance. A friend came to visit, skirting my elbow and sharing the nectar as his (her?) wings fluttered. They didn't seem to notice us, which was vaguely insulting. These orchids were mesmerizing, a ...

We were sweating like nobody's business, to quote Daddooooo.  It was cool for Tucson, and Scarlett and I were wearing sweaters.  They proved to be a big mistake.  Butterflies like it hot and humid.  We humans... not so much.  Those huge glossy green leaves are not indigenous to our arid climate.  They were very happy in the Butterfly Magic exhibit, though. There were weird vines  and strange leaves  and fluttering among the greenery and the sunshine were butterflies.  There were these teeny ones which barely alit long enough to be photographed, but which fluttered all around us, tempting me to try to capture them in pixels.  There were yellow ones, getting up close and personal with one another. There was lots of eating going on.    A slow approach with wings opening as they got closer to the food source.  This smaller orange fella was fluttering madly, taking a more pro-active app...