Cooler Weather & Butterfly World

Good morning Folks ~ I hope you are all doing well, and enjoying life, whichever ‘season’ you happen to be in.

The weather the past few days has been just wonderful. It’s the weather we ‘year rounders’ look forward to every year. The time of year when the heat is much less and the humidity is almost gone too. The other morning it was 62 and felt like it was 59 when I was first up and what a blessing. It gives one renewed vigor for living life.

I’m able to work outside longer, getting more accomplished, and I hope to accomplish much more in the next few months.

Saturday a group from my little church family went to ‘Butterfly World’. I was able to hitch a ride with friends, as it’s about 30 minutes away and driving the turnpike. We had a good time on the way down and back getting to know each other better, plus the time at Butterfly World was a wonderful experience for all of us. So relaxing, so peaceful, so beautiful! I want to go back. I had forgotten my little Cannon Power Shot, I was so bummed, but at least I had my smart phone, and was able to get some pictures with that, although not as nice of ones as I would have gotten with my camera. Oh well. I could spend hours and hours there, I was inspired to keep working on my own personal butterfly world here at Plum Cottage.

To see lots of photos visit this link, Butterfly World photos from Google.

The weather was perfect, there were between 25-30 people in our group, is my guess. We did not have to stick together, so I mosied around snapping photos and just taking it all in as much as I could, running into friends here and there through the grounds. It was just what this FlowerLady needed. It was a gift from God, a time of enjoying His beautiful creations, in flora and ‘flying flowers’ and sweet birds. I came away feeling refreshed.

Here are some of my photos taken with my smart phone, warning some are blurry.

Here is our sweet guide, Jessica. She works here. She goes to our church and going as a group, we got a the group rate which is a much better price, which was GREAT for all of us. Isn’t she a doll? She has a wonderful personality. She has studied and has a certificate from UF in Entomology and Environmental Horticulture. She says, “I am technically a Butterfly Conservationist and I have been creating south FL butterfly habitats for people since 2002. Butterflies are my passion because I believe people can slow down and connect to nature and God while observing them.”

Here are some of the sweet little birds in the Aviary section.

Was I ever surprised to feel little bird feet on my head. The birds love silver/white hair, for their nests. Jessica told me this bit of trivia when I told her later they had landed on my head. Here are a couple of selfies.

The next two photos were taken by a young lady from church who happened to be in the Aviary at the same time I was.

What a great capture this was! Tugging on my hair. All I felt was their little feet walking on my head, quite the experience.

Butterfly nursery. There are different little nurseries for each species.

Some of the butterflies I was able to capture. 

They just don’t stop fluttering around.

         

Bananas are a food source for butterflies. There were several of these feeding stations. When these butterflies open their wings, the upper side is a beautiful blue! I could not capture them with wings widespread.

The foreground butterflies were actually more green than yellow in coloring.

   

Some orchids.

Roses

Passion Vines

The butterfly house was a tropical oasis, just wonderful. Something I really loved about this place was the sound of water everywhere and the soothing sounds of lovely instrumental music.

Lovely flowers and shrubbery everywhere.

I will end with this last photo. I just loved these crane statuary. That is a swinging bridge in the background, which leads to the Aviary part. I bought three plants and a packet of seeds, which I’ll tell about in another post, as this one is overly long.

Happy Fall ~ FlowerLady