Saturday, September 27, 2008

Second Chances....



Some meetings are fashioned by chance. Some are wonderous gifts of fate. -Flavia
Yet another butterfly picture.....but what are the chances of having not one...but two huge monarch migrations in my own backyard? As evening fell last night, I noticed several large monarchs, wings lit like stained glass windows in the orange glow of sunset. Assuming they were free spirits that marched to their own drummers...far from the crowds before them, I grabbed the Nikon and headed out to the pine trees that sheltered their predecessors. As I approached the grove of trees, I scanned the low hanging butterfly bed and breakfast branches.....and found them filled with migrating monarchs. Words cannot describe the beauty...the mystery...the elegance of this sight....and though I took over 100 pictures in the next 15 minutes, it was impossible to capture on film the wondrous gift I was given as I watched what had to be over 1000 fragile butterflies jockey for position on the ancient pine branches. There are no words to describe the joy in watching the ripple of orange as a late arriver nudged and fluttered and wiggled his way into the perfect overnight branch...sometimes at the expense of another traveling companion. I'll never know if this was a second chance at simple joy...or a wondrous gift of fate...but standing in the midst of a monarch migration has got to be the chance of a lifetime!

1 comment:

Changes in the wind said...

Awesome...simply, awesome.