Sun Burst

    The air was crisp, the sun was warm, yellow and crimson leaves floated down from the maple tree at the end of my driveway, and two patrol cars pulled up across the street behind my car.  Mmm, interesting.

     I watched from my side porch, pretending to brush my dog, as a police officer got out of each car, put on his gloves and walked down the street.  They split up when they got to the house they were searching for;  one officer went up the driveway and stood guard over the back yard, the other climbed the stairs and knocked on the front door.  No one answered.

    The little drama that never unfolded became boring, and my attention wandered to a glint of light reflecting off of the hood of my car.  It's not unusual for the sun to bathe my car at that time of the morning, but the glare was different this morning. I saw a full spectrum of color radiating from a sunburst;  rays of blue, green, red and yellow exploded from a white, bright core.  I gawked at it for a minute then ran into the house to get my camera.  I knew the sun was about to change position and the colorful sunburst would soon disappear.
   
    By the time I came back out, camera on and ready, the police officers had given up on rousting anybody from their target house and were heading back to their cars.  I had to hurry.  I didn't want to attract any undue attention.  I mean, what's more suspicious than a woman pointing her camera in the direction of  police cars and clicking away?  Unfortunately, time was of the essence and I had none to waste.  I had to risk discovery.

   
    I think I got the picture I wanted, and even from here you can see the colors.  Luckily for me the officers were too preoccupied to notice me and my camera, either that or they saw and decided I wasn't worth further attention.  I went back inside, and they got back in their cars and drove away, and I spent the rest of my morning watching the sun.

    When I first saw the sunburst, the rays of color were longer and more defined.  The sun had moved while I was in the house, and I missed the best photo opportunity.  Still, I was happy with my results.

    I found out that later that night there was an aurora radiating over much of the northeast, and some people had even seen some red light dancing over Maryland.  Apparently the Sun was very active that day.  Extra solar activity equals extra color. 

     I like that.

A Fluttery Breakfast

The other day, as I was filling the bird feeder, I noticed a monarch butterfly was flitting about the front yard.  I was surprised as I have never seen one in my neighborhood before.

Years ago I traveled all the way to Mexico to observe the monarchs as they gathered for the winter in the mountains to stay warm.  The story is that they start their migration from Canada, travel all the way through the U.S. over mountains, rivers, deserts and busy cities to get to Mexico and rest.  In the Spring they start their journey back, only it takes generations of butterflies to get to the place they started before the last generation turns around and flies south again.  They stop on the way to fortify themselves on their favorite snacks, milkweed, try not to get eaten by hungry birds or run into by speeding cars, do their best not to tire out over open water and drown or get blown off course by hurricanes and tornadoes.  Nature does it's best to thin out the weak butterflies leaving the strongest to breed for the north bound trip.  I was fascinated and enthralled by the thousands and thousands of monarchs that gathered in Mexico, like music lovers to a jazz festival.  Their collective wing flickers made an impressive sound, and as they are protected by law, you had to whisper when in their presence and ended up in jail if you accidentally killed one.

The energy and will power that it took for this massive migration brought to mind that we as humans can accomplish anything we put our minds to.  All we need is the will to succeed, the patience to do things right, and the ability to keep in mind our final destination.  And if we can do all of that with a smile, then we can move mountains and be happy about it at the same time!

When I saw this lone butterfly in my yard I took it's presence as a reminder of my experience in Mexico. It was an omen that I had to keep on keeping on in my new business venture, Happy 2 be Earthbound. Then I ran into the house to grab my camera, risking getting to work late.  I managed to take a few decent pictures, but had to give up to get ready for work.  Then, as I was in the kitchen cleaning out my coffee cup, I saw through the window to the back yard more butterflies flitting about.  Now I was curious.  Where were they coming from?  Why, after all of these years of living in this house, have they come here?

Then I saw what the attraction was.  There were trees in my neighbor's yard that had been taken over by vines and they were flowering.  The butterflies loved it!  I watched as they bounced about from flower to flower, warming their wings in the morning sun, taking a brief break before they took flight again toward Mexico.  My neighbors never knew the treasure they had in their own back yard, but I did.  I have no idea how they found the vines in the middle of this busy city, but they did and I was glad for the treat.  It was a beautiful way to start a hard work day at a job I'll be happy to leave some day.

I looked for them the next morning, but the butterflies had already moved on with their journey.  They also had a schedule to keep.

And, encouraged by the monarchs that early October morning, I vowed to keep on keeping on.