Let me tell you about butterflies. My grandma loved butterflies, and perhaps still does. She always had the most beautiful butterfly accessories for herself and her house: Decoupage magnets, silver pendants, delicately fashioned ornaments.
When I was young and traveled with grandma Dorothy, she would always detour to the butterfly enclosure. I remember being bothered by these detours. In fact, it may have been only one detour. But in my little mind, it seemed like 10 detours. I'm sure I pouted the whole way there, but I do remember being inside a beautiful greenhouse filled with colorful flowers and a variety of fluttering creatures. For once, grandma had taken me someplace that was pretty cool.
As the years passed, we continued to gift items decorated with butterflies. I don't know if she ever tired of them, as people often do with collections. I gave her a Lumi print with her name and a butterfly x-mas before last. She seems to like it.
The butterflies engage me now more than I could have predicted as a child. We saw the beautiful omnimax monarch movie last year. This year as we drove South, we were fortunate enough to cross paths with a gazillion monarchs as they trespassed Texas. Honestly. They were everywhere. We couldn't avoid running into them, lest we quit driving.
When we got to Belize, we considered travelling to other destinations in the country. I had heard of the butterfly places in San Ignacio. That's how we ended up at the Trek Stop. It was pretty cool. We had fun and learned alot. And that, I thought was the end of the butterflies in Belize tour.
Then, a few months later...
We started noticing a few more butterflies around the property. I remembered the gentlemen at Trek Stop mentioning that they would start coming through soon. We paid attention, and have seen at least 7 different kinds of butterflies on the property.
Earlier this week, there was a barrage of yellow wings fluttering through the orchard. Boy, was it a sight to see! We think they were yellow sulphurs and one other variety. They were headed South, quite directly. There were a few white ones too, who also seemed to be travelling with purpose.
I was reminded of the white swallow tail that I saw on the property during February 2013. At the time, I didn't know it was a butterfly, and mistook it for a bush fairy.
What a particularly interesting and beautiful creature, the butterfly is. They will always remind me of my grandmother, and what a nice association that is to have! I hope that you too take any opportunity you get to visit a butterfly sanctuary, farm, atrium, or other location. One’s own heart can’t help but flutter when surrounded by such grace and determination.
Here is a photo of a yellow sulpher, along with some other things that are similar in color.
