Oh my love of butterflies!

I don't know when my love of butterflies first surfaced. Those graceful, colorful, dancing creatures...oh I love butterflies!

Maybe it was when I was a summer intern at a farm newspaper almost 15 years ago (gawd that sounds like a long time ago). I visited a butterfly farm - yes, a farm that raised butterflies - somewhere in Indiana. Maybe it was in the south, maybe it was up north, for the life of me I can't remember.

I do remember the lush green grass, the quiet woods and ALL of the butterflies. Small, large, orange, yellow, white and black - there were dozens of different types.

Oh the photos I took that day. I must have taken hundreds, I just couldn't stop. I wish I could share them but I shot them on film! Remember that?

Loading the camera with a roll of film; not knowing what kind of shots you got until - gasp - the film was developed; envelopes with prints and negatives. What a different world that was.

So all I have left from that transforming experience is a copy of the paper and an envelope of negatives somewhere in my closet.

Now I am a collector of butterflies. They are on my walls, shelves, clothes and even on my purses! I tell myself that I won't buy one more thing with a butterfly on it but then a picture catches my eye or a cute notebook calls my name and I can't resist!

These hang in my spare bedroom:

To try and ease my urge to gather more butterflies around me, I try and visit the Butterfly Exhibit at White River Gardens at the Indianapolis Zoo when it comes to town in the spring. If you haven't been, I highly recommend it.

After a long winter of constant meetings and a lot of travel, I had a day off of work so my sister and I took my nephew Tyler (who's so darn cute) to the Zoo on Good Friday and had a wonderful time. I plan on going back again this summer and then again next year and...well you get the picture!

Oh I love butterflies! Glad I slowed down and watched the butterflies go by.