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Sunday, July 22, 2007

The Butterfly


Sitting out on the deck just a few minutes ago sipping a glass of wine under the umbrella, feet up, schmoozing with Don. Along comes this butterfly - I first noticed it crawling up the side of the tablecloth very close to my left arm! It startled me and I drew back and it flew away for a second, and then flew right back and starting doing laps just a few inches above the tablecloth, round and round the table! Amazed, Don and I just stared at it, then it came closer and closer to me - I thought in those split seconds, what does it want? Is it the colors in the tablecloth - does it think it's flowers? Or my blouse - it seemed to be intently focused on me - I was wearing a floral pattern blouse. Then it circled away outside our range of vision, and I was looking at Don and talking with him when the next thing I know his eyes got big and he said "don't look now but - " and I looked where he was looking and there is the butterly on my shoulder! Eek!
I freaked, I ran in one direction, the wine glass went in the opposite direction, and the butterfly settled down almost instantly on the deck, lapping up the spilled wine! A wino butterly! It got drunk! It fell asleep standing up - or went into a stupor. Don startled it when he tried to get it to jump on his finger and it flew away (sort of, it looked rather how a drunken person would stagger away) and landed on the hose that was laying out on the grass in the sun; it's still there, about 30 minutes later. Once it flew away I was able to pick up the wine glass (it had fallen "asleep" right next to the glass and I didn't want to get anywhere near it!) and I washed down the spilled wine so other insects wouldn't come drinking!

Don got four shots, this one is probably the clearest, although shrunk down because of formatting limitations here, showing the dropped and now empty wine glass, the butterfly with his "drinker" down on the deck, a pool of wine to the left and some droplets of wine scattered about!

I've lived here 17 years and been drinking wine outside all that time, and I've never had an experience like this. Amazing, just amazing!

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