Tag Archives: monarch butterfly

Butterflies

I know it is only the tail end of February, but I have been thinking quite a bit about butterflies. I think this is because I having been seeing my photographs of butterflies and flowers come up on our Aura Frame. Other photos come up as well: forests, lakes, oceans, canyons, mountains, and new and old photos of loved ones. I believe I am focusing on butterflies now because I am craving lightness and beauty. When I see those photos, I can almost feel the warm sun on my back and a mild breeze on my face. I remember butterflies on the Blue Ridge and on the North Rim, in the Great Basin, in Washington, D.C., and in many gardens I have grown.

The thing is, I am going through a rough time. Like I promised when I started writing this blog almost fifteen years ago, I do try to stay close to the ground. Beyond the pretty good particulars of my own life, on this cold blue day, I struggle with the darkness of cruelty, unkindness, ignorance, greed, and selfishness that invade the space around me. Like Joni Mitchell sang over fifty years ago, “Reading the news and it sure looks bad They won’t give peace a chance That was just a dream some of us had…” I counter this darkness with the light from my family and friends and caring people I meet along my way.

blue sky from my balcony window February 24, 2026

On March 28, 2026 I plan on marching from near Arlington National Cemetery across Memorial Bridge to Washington, D.C. to speak up for our democracy, for our diverse society, and for our environment. Meanwhile, I need butterflies and flowers, and I thought you might need them, too.

red-spotted purple with crape myrtle blossoms, Charlottesville, Virginia

swallowtail butterfly and thistle

butterfly with black-eyed Susan and verbena bonarensis

butterfly and flower on the Widforss Trail

hairstreak (?) and flower Harvey Meadow, North Rim

monarch butterfly on zinnia

fritillary, Yosemite National Park

painted lady (?) and coneflowers

white on asters November 2025

Arizona sister (Adelpha eulalia) Harvey Meadow, North Rim

monarch and goldenrod, Mosaic Park, Arlington, Virginia

mourning cloak butterfly

September 2025

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For several weeks–in a messy corner of my mind–I have been working on a blog post. So far, that post exists only as an unruly pile of ideas waiting to straighten themselves out. Fall has come, though, and I need to be reading, writing, and walking out in the beautiful world.

For many years, I have been searching for the right time to read J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings another time. I was hoping that if I waited long enough, I could approach the book with the absolute wonder and absorption that I felt when I read it for the first time in the fall of 1967–fifty-eight years ago. A little over half through The Fellowship of the Ring, and even though I am familiar with every scene and much of the dialogue, I am again wonderfully absorbed in Middle Earth. Turns out, I started reading September 22, which LOTR aficionados may recognize as Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthday. I count it a fortuitous beginning,

our current copy of the The Lord of the Rings

Mostly what I want to write today are Tolkien’s words that give me comfort. I hope they give you comfort as well.

There they (Frodo and Bilbo in Rivendell) sat for some while, looking through the window at the bright stars above the steep-climbing woods, and talking softly. They spoke no more of the small news of the Shire far away, nor of the dark shadows and perils that encompassed them, but of the fair things they had seen in the world together, of Elves, of the stars, of trees, and the gentle fall of the bright year in the woods. (last page of the chapter “Many Meetings” in The Fellowship of the Ring).

Here in Arlington the oppressive hot weather ended many weeks ago and autumn is beginning in earnest. The walks I take now also give me comfort. Below are some photos from recent walks.