A kaleidoscope of butterflies- day 10-16

A group of butterflies is called a swarm or a rabble or even sometimes, a kaleidoscope which I prefer.

A visit from a young friend

Last Thursday I had a visit from an adorable little girl. Attracted by the butterflies, she wandered over. She was curious. She had a white bow on the top of her head, tied to long, dark hair and a dress covered in colorful flowers. She stood at the base of the scaffolding, longing to climb and declared her admiration for the butterflies. She was amazed that I had made them all, and flabbergasted when I told her I had made 2,000. I asked her what she thought about when looking at them and she began to tell me her story about them. I stopped her and asked her to write the story instead and this is what she wrote.

I also had a visit from the head architect, Christopher Noll of Noll & Tam in Berkeley. As he's insured, he did come up with me. He was really happy with the installation which made me feel great as he's designed an amazing building and I feel privileged to participate. There is an open house event on August 29th. Please join us in celebrating this very green addition to Sacramento's impressive collection of public buildings.

Besides Celeste's charming story, I've been reading a wonderful travelog called "Chasing Monarchs," by Robert Michael Pyle. I quoted a section in the prior blog. He's a terrific writer with endless patience for following monarchs even when there aren't any. He started in the state of Washington and discusses various factors that influence Monarch behavior as he encounters them. So far he has mentioned herbicides, nuclear power plants, dams, sun compasses, magnetic fields, landforms, rivers, highways, mimicry, toxicity, lava flows, waterfalls, flower farms, the aerodynamics of gliding and John C. Fremont who passed through the same areas in 1863. He wrote about his experiences extensively, and as my next project is for Fremont Park on 16th, I'll be reading him soon. (See my blog on that project).

My buddy George Hauptman joined me again last Friday. He's 6'6" and can reach areas that I can't reach. I've known him for years and it's great to spend some time with him. He's a very gentle person and so good with butterflies.

By the end of Friday, my 16th day on site, we had set the last of the cable lines and the sky is beginning to fill with these crazy butterflies which quiver and spin slightly with the air conditioning