underdogishere

This weekend we saw multiple Gulf Fritillaries flying in the gardens. Yay! Spring has definitely arrived. And a week or so ago Judi saw a Giant Swallowtail -- our first spotting of this enormous (at first Judi thought it was a bird) butterfly in her gardens. She has three citrus trees -- host plant for the Giant Swallowtail -- so we hope to see more.

Speaking of Spring, I received this email message from my brother in New Hampshire. He could have posted this himself, but didn't, as he explains below. However I did get his permission to post this in his name:

I was going to post this to your blog but couldn't do it as we now live too far from Smith College....

You see, although I do enjoy the change of seasons, every year about this time I, and everyone else around here, gets really tired of winter, white snow, hibernating trees, etc. When we lived in Vermont we were just an hour's drive from Smith College and their wonderful collection of greenhouses. They have about half a dozen huge greenhouses, one is done up as a tropical rainforest, another is a temperate forest, then there is an orchid room, fern room, etc. It was a good cure for the late winter blues since I could go there and pretend, just for an afternoon, that the world was not cold and dead.

Well, now since we can't easily drive to Smith College your website fills that void. I have enjoyed the butterfly updates at so many levels. As we sit up here in this cold white dead world it is very reassuring to know that somewhere there is new life. I just couldn't bring myself to pollute the experience by posting something about snow, so instead of posting my thoughts I’ve sent you this email.

It's March, which means that every warm day I sing a verse or two from one of my favorite songs, The Waters of March (I have the Susannah McCorkle version, I am sure there are many):

And the riverbank sings of the waters of March,
It's the promise of life, it's the joy in your heart

I am convinced that the song is about the coming of spring; that the waters of March are the waters of melting snow which does indeed bring the promise of life and joy to the heart, just like your butterfly pictures. My belief is not shaken by my recent discovery that the song was written in the southern hemisphere. Oh well....

So last weekend it was 65 degrees on Saturday. We took our chairs out to the driveway and let Evelyn walk around in 'bare piggies' as we call them. Here is a picture of her working away at the pile created by months of snowblowing, and the moisture on the driveway? That's the waters of March.

And just for kicks, a picture of Evelyn helping her mom at the stove.


Evelyn and the Bare Piggies


Evelyn and Mom Cooking

Labels: Butterflies, Northern Bro, Uplifted