How To (Almost) Walk To The Garden.

Sunday emergence...ahhhhhhh. Plenty of time to grab camera accoutrements and write up a right proper post all in one shot.

Sunny high of 81 degrees, and Fauna...

(How did I decide it's Fauna...let me explain, no...let me sum up...when one says such names, and just like they say in The Addams Family movie, it usually comes out Flora and Fauna, hence Flora first, Fauna second. Of the two cats this round, one pupated high on the ceiling and emerged first, so Flora she is. Today's bfly, she's Fauna, which works well for her, too, in that I got to hold her like a sweet pet, as you shall see.)

So, sunny high of 81, and upon my return from yoga class, Fauna was resting on the cat house floor, all emerged and dry and flit-ty with her polydamas gold-rimmed swallowtail self.

I'd no intention of holding her - all I wanted was for her to pose for a pretty side-view portrait. But when I poked at her, she lifted one tiny foot to my finger...

then all the rest...

...so here I am stuck trying to get decent pix with one hand.

Soooo, one-handed bulky SLR video, could it be done!?

Well, I managed it, well, we both managed it. Later, while editing the video on my computer, Pandora music player sung in the background. As you watch, it's the same song that happened to play while I edited the almost-walk to the garden:

Slacker.

There comes a time in every blogger's life where one of your readers says to your face and at your person, "Hey, when's the next post? Slacker!"

My moment was in Miami, just after a Social D concert in the most gorgeous decay of an Art Deco theater, just after asking a bountiful, beautiful hug of a friend, "So, really, WHY does Mike Ness hate Orlando so much?" And she says, "Who knows?! He'll go to Orlando tomorrow night and rag Miami! So when the h#!! is your next butterfly blog??"

After my lame "uh, er, I dunno, there's nuthin' goin' on...," there is, finally, after nearly two months of eggs, cats, and a lengthy pupation, something goin' on. My slacker of a pupating polydamas gold-rimmed tail-less swallowtail butterfly made an appearance today.

.

I found her empty chrysalis...

...and her-herself basking in afternoon sun on a wall of the cat house - Flora? Fauna? Who knows?!

But she was plump, pretty, and fully ready to get the h#!! out of the cat house. She posed for a few pics, then tolerated a few pokes of her wings - she wouldn't open up, but adjusted for a scenic side pose.



Within moments, she took off past my lens and rounded the porch a few times. Then high in the sky, landing in the neighbor's queen palm.

As dry as it's been weather-wise, there's plenty a'bloom in the garden, so maybe she'll make her way back for a few sips of nectar.

In the meantime, Flora, er, Fauna, stays cozy in her chrysalis hanging from the stick that is part of the cat house decor.


C'mon slacker, emerge already!