I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free. ~ Charles Dickens
Last week, I tried to capture a shot of this butterfly in my yard (for a photo essay on gardening yet to come) - this one, to me, is "cabbage-white" because there's just a tinge of greenish-yellow throughout its wings. Summer is winding down - I aim to enjoy what's left of it, because I do not care for winter!
The butterfly, a cabbage-white, (his honest idiocy of flight)
Will never now, it is too late, master the art of flying straight.
~ Robert Graves
Here's more about the butterfly (there's no proof that the word is derived from "flutter-by"):
As author and etymologist David Feldman once asked, “who put the butter in butterfly?” The English common name did originate from the relatively simple combination of “butter” and “fly,” there’s a written old English citation for buttorfleoge, but the literal origin is lost. Some sources have erroneously suggested that the excrement of butterflies is thought to resemble butter. The problem with this, of course, is that other than to void excess water, butterflies do not excrete! Caterpillars do because they are the active growing stage, although a simple consideration of what they eat will make you wonder why anyone would consider that it, commonly called frass, resembled butter! More likely origins include considering that the males of the common brimstone butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni, Pieridae) of England are butter-colored, or that, as author Samuel Jackson suggested, butterflies and the churning of butter are the simultaneous harbingers of spring, or that the word derives from the old myth that witches and fairies stole butter in the night, in the form of butterflies.
http://www.aworldforbutterflies.com/etymology.htm
Thanks for fluttering by today!
Okay - so, as promised (last month), here is a rough draft of some cobbled-together art for a story I wrote a few years ago...
Since making the mermaid paper doll, I've decided that I will create my own art for the book and photograph it and either distribute it electronically or print it out and bind the pages together as a "book" - so, here is just a quick version of a "scene" from my book about a little girl named Tessa and her friends - ta-da!
What I intend to do is create a "scene" to go along with sections of the book that I've written... I'll "cut and paste" the text alongside the artwork (incorporating the paper dolls and background art...) and each page will exist on its own - I will reveal it on this blog or print it out and somehow bind it together as a book to give as a gift to those people who have small children who will hopefully appreciate it
So - this isn't an actual "scene" from the book but it's sort of a prototype - now I have to come up with backgrounds appropriate to the story on which to pose little paper dolls of Tessa and her friends (more to come in future posts)
Tessa's story is about accepting who we are - little and loud, quiet and proud - and being true to ourselves and our friends... yeah, that's right - friendship is key!
It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Time it was and what a time it was...
A time of innocence,
A time of confidences;
Long ago, it must be...
I have a photograph.
Preserve your memories,
They're all that's left you."
Paul Simon ~ "Old Friends"
Today started out rainy and cool, my favorite kind of day... Now the sun is out, it's nearly ninety degrees and I feel like I just took a bath in melted butter. However, I still managed to get a few things done, mainly housework like cleaning the cat boxes, washing dishes and - finally - cleaning the fish bowl. Let me tell you, Barry (short for Barracuda) is a happy fella - nice, clean, normal pH levels and an air stone to play in - what more could a fish ask for? Oh, yeah, and some flakes to nibble on as a reward for not jumping out of the little container while I cleaned his home! So here's a shot (taken after I brought him home, actually) of Barry in his bowl on the mantel. Lots more to do, though - I want to plant two plants (a hydrangea and a sunflower) and then I have to get ready to go to Staples to buy some ink cartridges for my printer and then I am going to go to a crystal bowl meditation class with Randeane Tetu who's a holographic sound healing master. Randeane is a really sweet wonderful person and I love listening to her chanting/singing along with the two crystal bowls she plays. I'm going to wear the small covellite piece I wire-wrapped to assist me in exploring my past existences, if possible... and I'm wearing my new dress I just bought that's a lovely mix of blue, green and purple with pretty fish and starfish hand-painted all over it. Enjoy your life - enjoy your day - enjoy your self!
Philosophy will clip an angel's wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine -
Unweave a rainbow.
~John Keats, "Lamia," 1819
Photo: TJBGoogins/8-1-2011
When you see an intense storm approaching and suddenly there's wind and rain, thunder and lightning, and then it's passed over and you realize there's a sunset in progress and it hits those tiny water droplets that are still hanging in the air way up there... well, it can make you gasp, or smile, or shout out loud...
... or take a photograph to share with everyone. Enjoy!
