BUTTERFLIES AT LEWIS GINTNER BOTANICAL GARDEN - THURSDAY, JUNE 25TH, 2026

I was delighted to see that there was an indoor Butterfly Garden inside one of the sections of the greenhouse. Our family very kindly bought us tickets and the four of us had a lovely time looking around. There weren't as many as I have seen in other places but, and I am just guessing here, the sun didn't seem that bright and I seem to remember once being told that they start to get more active when it is shining. You butterfly experts out there can correct me if I'm misremembering. We will be going back and expect to see more next time.

These are called the Common Morpho and my information came from their website here. A few facts are: Common Morpho - Morpho peleides - Family: Nymphalidae - Range: Mexico to Colombia - Wingspan: 5-8 in (12.7 to 20.3 cm) - Fast Fact: Common morphos are attracted to fermenting fruits.

This butterfly is apparently a Postman Butterfly. I was curious about its wing pattern which seemed different to others I saw, also identifying themselves as a Postman. The excerpt below explains it a little bit.  I read on Google: "Like all Postman butterflies, the H. melpomene species has long wings and a primarily black base, but its patterns vary drastically based on where it lives. 

"Regular" Postman (Heliconius melpomene melpomene): the nominal/common form is characterized by a solid, elongated red band across the forewings, and black or faintly iridescent hindwings.

The Plesseni Subspecies (Heliconius melpomene plesseni): instead of a solid red band, the plesseni variety has a distinct pattern sometimes referred to as a "split band." It typically features a reduced red area that is split or rayed, alongside a clear, pale yellow or white stripe near the margin of the hindwing. 

The Postman butterfly is famous for its bright, warning colors (aposematism) to deter predators and its incredible ability to mimic other species. Because it is so widespread throughout Central and South America, this single species has over 30 recognized color variants or subspecies. The plesseni subspecies primarily inahabits the eastern Andes region (such as Ecuador).

If you go to this website at iNaturalist, it will tell you more about the Postman Butterfly. I went down a rabbit hole. There is so much information that I could have been here until sundown. I will go back sometime and read as much as I can. Hopefully I have all my info correct but if you find anything that you disagree with, please feel free to put me straight.

Next comes the Atlas Moth. I had a great chat with a gentleman called Buzz, who had been a volunteer here for many years. He had a great deal of knowledge, telling me he acquired this interest when he was a young boy. I enjoyed my short time with him. I wish it could have been longer but there were others waiting to ask questions. A very interesting gentleman. One of the things he told me was that this moth had somehow got entangled in his cocoon and had difficulty getting out of it. His wings were a bit misshapen and they were hoping they would open more. I didn't even know that could happen.

The information says: Atlas Moth - Attacus atlas - From Southeast Asia, the Atlas moth is one of the largest moths in the world> As a caterpillar, these moths live for 5 weeks and can eat over 200x their body weight in leaves. Once they become an adult moth, they no longer have a mouth and cannot eat. They survive about 7 days as a moth and their main objective is to mate and produce offspring. Added note which I found very interesting: Due to USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) regulations, we must keep adult moths in a separate enclosure where they cannot lay eggs in the exhibit.

This Common Morpho landed on Gregg's back so we carefully removed it. It was time for us to go.

Here are a few do's and don'ts.

It reads: Butterfly Blooms - from top left to top bottom. The other side is printed in Spanish.

DO NOT TOUCH THE BUTTERFLIES: they are very fragile and can get hurt easily. We probably should have asked for help to remove the one from Gregg's back? Next time but we tried to be very gentle. DO NOT TOUCH THE PLANTS OR PICK ANY FLOWERS: Due to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations, we must keep all plants and insects contained in the exhibit.  WATCH YOUR STEP: as butterflies like to sunbathe and drink water from puddles on the floor. NO FOOD OR DRINK: no food or drink allowed in the exhibit except water.

That's the end of this butterfly post. There was a wonderful exhibit inside the visitor center of butterflies and moths, which I took photos of. I will share those soon.  I figured next time I will concentrate on the flowers.

I hope you have enjoyed this post today. 

Thanks for visiting and I

hope your day is a great one.

A CHANGE OF PACE

An oldy posted in 2014, revisited for today. We had a van back in those days.  

Gregg came in and told me that there was a very interesting caterpillar climbing up the side of his van, that I might want to take some photos. I grabbed my camera!

I had never seen one like this before. It was a very interesting little caterpillar.

Not wise to pick them up with fingers. It can stick you with those bristles, which can be quite itchy and uncomfortable and cause a rash. A good defense mechanism.

We must have known somehow.

 We were going out in the van and we didn't have the time to wait for it to make its own way off our vehicle, even with all those tiny feet. Our little caterpillar was moved to a more appropriate spot in the garden.

I went online and found this link. It is a Banded Tussock Moth - Halysidota tessellaris. Wonderful little thing!

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous."

~Aristotle~

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Added note on Saturday, June 28th, 2025:

To see the Banded Tussock Moth as it is with wings, you can click on the website address below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halysidota_tessellaris

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - UH-OH, WHAT HAPPENED?

 After witnessing furry animals looking for food, some time later the Mister heard a loud bang outside. The furry ones had disappeared by the time he peered through the curtains.  He couldn't see anything amiss and went to bed...but the next morning...The Froggies3 could not wait to tell him (he understands froggy also).

The other birds listened with great sympathy.

The Carolina Wren thought it was probably an accident, that they couldn't have meant to cause such a catastrophe to Froggies3. The Black-capped Chickadee agreed...

and so did the visiting moth who joined in half-way through the conversation. He was trying to get into the house and though the Mrs. told him he was very welcome to stay on the screen, she didn't really want him taking up residence inside. So sorry, she said, but explained the weather was warmer now.

The Mourning Doves for all that they had such kind hearts...

were a little more skeptical, especially when they saw these mug shots. Naughty Boy definitely had the touch of the rascal in his countenance. Wannaby Naughty Boy at least looked a little remorseful.

Sparrow remained on the rail post, taking it all in but saying nothing.

Well, everyone deserves a second chance and besides, Froggy Fairy worked her magic.

and so they stayed and lived happily ever after, and the little furry rascals were forgiven by all.

And so it goes on a Saturday Morning at the Bird Feeder.

ARTSY PHOTO OF...

 our son and a bit of a hodge-podge from our week.  Son came over a couple of days ago for a few hours.  I was sitting at the other side of the kitchen table while we were talking and I was drinking out of my half-pint mug.  When I got to the bottom of my glass of water I said to myself, that would make a neat photo and so here he is, an artsy one of son as taken through the bottom of the glass with my cell phone.  No I can't stop myself and my two fave guys are always so patient with my desire to record everything in our lives, even in artsy ways.  I can almost see my Dad smiling, he was the same way.

Next is a photo of my Mother's Day flowers.  They have lasted longer than I expected.  A few of the flowers are gone but most are still viable.  There were three wood lilies, and one took longer than the others to open up.  When I came downstairs a week later, this pretty bloom greeted me.

These were looking good also.  The flowers have lasted longer than usual.  I added plant food when I first got them, and fresh water every day, which is what I do with any flowers I get.  Always happy when they last this long.  They do brighten the place up.

 

We made a start to our planting before the heat gets too high.  Hellebores o. 'Pine Knot Select', hoping for a deep pink but I will be happy with what comes.  We also planted a couple of Pica Bella Coneflowers.

This week we will be buying more as we are trying to fill in a shady part of our garden and those frosty nights should be over by now.  The coneflowers will get more sun.  I want lots of butterflies and bees!

I was there to help out and act as gopher (go for this, go for that, you know how it is), but when Gregg asked me to get one of the tools he needed, on my way past another tree I saw a Catbird.  Yes, hubs got what he needed first as I gave him the box cutter, but I had grabbed my camera in the house and started taking photos of the bird.  I have to download them still and will post them next week sometime.  I was on call for the rest of the planting session, but I also wanted to take photos of our 17-year brood of Cicadas, which were/are everywhere.  Son took great shots near their place and has a lot more than we have.  They back onto woods.  I will share those in a few days also.  This is one I took.  Not everyone's cup of tea, but like all things in nature I find them fascinating.

I saw my first Cicada yesterday and I was wondering when we would be getting ours.  Last night we heard them singing, they were really loud!  As I walked around the garden I saw all these small holes in the dirt, and looking up there were dozens of their shed shells on the trellis.  Then I looked over at one of the hostas, one that needs to be trimmed as half of it seems to have died.  On the bare branches that needs to be removed, there were about a dozen or so shed skins.  Then I looked over at our Willow Oak and there were more on its trunk, one I saw in the process of shedding, and more like the one above climbing up the tree, there were several like that actually.  One stopped when I got close to it with my cell phone.  I hope this short video comes out as I think it is the first time I have tried loading one since blogger changed things around.  If it doesn't work I will get back to it later and see what I can do.  Gregg had just found thick tarp that had been laid about a foot down, maybe the last time we had extensive work done on that area, and he was having a really hard time cutting through it with the tools he had, even with the box cutter he had asked for.  He had to cut through it for each plant and it was hard going.  There was no way I could help and I felt exasperated for him.  The tarp was so embedded into the earth that it was impossible to pull up any large pieces.  A future project for removal!

There were lots of maple seeds lying around so had to take a photo of those.  

Next is a photo of a moth that was on the door screen when I went to let some fresh air in.  Pretty little thing but do not know what kind of moth it is.  This was also when I came downstairs first thing.  Such a pretty day today.

Someone posted the following on my neighborhood app, the same place I got my possum graphic that I posted yesterday (it is actually called an Opossum but I can't hear the 'O' sound very often).  There are a lot of animal lovers on my neighborhood app.  With the days getting hotter, it is a good reminder for the safety of our furry family members.  Even though we ourselves no longer have any pets, I still like to share these safety measures for others who do, just in case.

One of our neighbors across the street shouted hello when we were outside planting. He was walking up the hill with his dog.  I chatted to him for a while.  We both said how wonderful the weather was and I said something like it's nice to be getting back to normal, at which  he said with emphasis, oh yes it certainly is.  I asked him how his family was.  They had a baby girl not too long after they moved here and she was almost a year old already.  I was shocked.  It is hard to believe but with everything going on, not too many people have been out and about, and time has certainly marched on.  Yes, things are slowly getting back to normal.  No photos of our neighbor and his dog, but a nice memory of pleasant conversation.  

A very nice young man, and his wife and other little girl are the same way, and their dog usually comes over and says hello.

One last photo of a weekend treat.  Gregg makes the most delicious coffee milk shakes.  It is his memory from childhood.  He spent a lot of time in New England while visiting with his Mother's family.  He remembers New England milkshakes being thinner, which he prefers to this day and he makes them the New England way, at least from his memory of 60  plus years ago.  We lived in New England for about a year-and-a-half in Newport, Rhode Island.  We hadn't been married long but I don't remember what their milkshakes were like.  Have to say his are the best I have ever had.  I don't say it just because I know Gregg enjoys reading my posts, it's the truth.

A bit of a hodgepodge today and I realize I am all over the place.  This day has gone by so quickly and it's time to publish this before I put the computer away.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.  I will be back on Monday.

2017 CROSS-COUNTRY ROAD TRIP - APRIL 27TH, 2017

APRIL 27TH, 2017 

12.29 p.m.  Lovely to be in one spot for a few day. I love our traveling but staying in my pj's later than usual has been restful. Gregg went out and dropped a couple of items off at a dry cleaner, and brought me oatmeal from McDonalds.  He had his usual and picked up a latte from Starbucks for me. There is obviously food here but the first day it was hard to break the cycle of traveling. He picked up milk for his sister at Safeway and showed me a photo he had taken of a very artistic and colorful display of veggies.  Hello California!  I do love your artistic spin on things.

 We are using his sister's washer and dryer to catch up on our laundry. 

She had been busy this week and as we were two days early, had not finished the week out.  We went off to a book store Gregg had heard about in San Jose.  

2.56 p.m. we had fun at Keplers. His sister had given him a book about the founder, the reason for his interest. A very nice place not that we need an excuse to go into any bookstore. 

Gregg bought a book on philosophy. I purchased three relatively smaller books by Mary Oliver, one of my favorite poets.  And of course there are always greeting cards to look through, ones that I don't see at home.  There was also a list of authors shown.

We ordered a drink at a place with seating outside. I can't remember its name now, but it was very pleasant sipping on a lemonade and looking through our purchases.  

Next on our list was the Arizona Cactus Garden at Stanford University.  We learned about it on Yelp.  

3:59 PM.  It was lovely, very interesting. There were lots of lizards running around, and birds. I saw a cactus wren. We didn't have the camera with the zoom lens, so it was impossible to get decent photos of them.  But I got a pretty decent shot of this bug with my cell phone.  I saw several of them on the cacti, and then found this one crawling on my top.

It is a Tussock Moth Caterpillar.  I put him back on the nearest cactus and was very careful not to touch it.  Some species tend to feel like you have been stabbed with fiberglass and can give a nasty rash.  I don't know if this is one of them but I wasn't taking any chances.

Such a pleasant place, first to take photos and then to sit on a bench in the shade and admire the surroundings.

We had difficulty finding it at first, and asked several people if they knew where it was.  We were on the grounds but no one seemed to be able to point us in the right direction.  We muddled on and found it not too long after asking the last person.

We spent a very pleasant hour looking at all the plants.  It wasn't a big garden but very enjoyable.

When it was time to go GPS took us on the back roads.  It was rush hour and the freeway was a solid red on their map.  Staying off the freeway made it a pleasanter ride home.

5.57 p.m.   We are back at the house and waiting for both sister and brother-in-law to come home.

9.43 p.m. I am tucked up in bed for the night. Gregg's sister and her husband took us to a very nice restaurant with Mediterranean cuisine. Neither Gregg nor I can remember the name of it now but it was a very nice restaurant, and lovely to catch up with them both.  We came back and chatted a little more and then we all went to bed.