Magic Wings

A visit to the Butterfly Conservatory in Dearfield, Ma. was long overdue. I hadn't been there in years and only had a vague memory of what it was like. Well I certainly wasn't disappointed by this trip!

When I walked in the door I was expecting the butterflies to be everywhere and they were. But what really surprised me was a group of tiny little Chinese Quail that sashayed across the floor in front of my feet. There were 3 of them and they acted like it was no big deal to constantly dodge feet on their quest to reach the plants (and relative safety) on the other side. I immediately said out loud 'oohhh what the heck was that'? But I got no answer because I was the only one that saw them. Being the inquisitive creature that I am I headed off in the same direction they went but no matter where I looked I couldn't find them. Just as I was chalking it up to 'butterfly madness' I saw another little creature (different color) scuttle along the edge of the walkway and disappear in the bushes. I turned my camera on and took off after him.
And this time I struck gold! I found several of the little birds AND a nest of eggs! Before the visit was over I'm sure those cute little birds were completely sick of me and my camera turning up in their face every time they turned around ...but I did manage to get a few good shots. If I could have managed to climb right into the bushes without being caught and thrown out of the place (the only thing that was stopping me) I would have been able to get some really spectacular pictures. Quail are timid little things when they 'notice' they are being photographed.

Another thing I aspired to today was for a butterfly to land on me. After all, one landed on Stacey's butt and she didn't even notice at first. It took a stranger who wanted to photograph the butterfly on her butt, to tell her because she felt it would be breaking some kind of rule to photograph a butterfly on someones butt without first obtaining their permission to do so. Hmmmm she may have a point there. But in any case I also took a picture of the cheeky butterfly while Stacey just grinned and accepted her predicament with good humor. Well it's not like she had much of a choice anyway now did she? We are not allowed to touch the butterflies so how would one get that off ones butt without actually touching it or injuring it in any way? I have a vision of Stacey performing vigorous butt gyrations in an attempt to convince this butterfly to leave her posterior. But funny as that would have been, Stacey knows full well that I would have filmed that dance of hers and she's much too smart to let that happen. So she stood there and let the world photograph that butterfly on her butt! Good girl Stacey!

We had lunch at the butterfly place and headed out to Yankee Candle not far down the road. The last time I had been there I no sooner stepped in the door than the overwhelming scents of the place gave me a roaring headache. I didn't last long in there that time. This time I had no such problem. No headache...even though we spent the first 15 mins smelling every candle and soap in that room. Wonderful! But it is true that once you've smell a bunch of them you tend to lose the ability to smell anymore. They all start smelling the same! We moved on to the next rooms.

We didn't see everything in there but we saw the most interesting stuff and bought the sale items. If you've ever seen the sticker price of a normal candle in there you'll understand why we only bought the ones on sale! Unfortunately I we didn't discover the garden dept until we were checking out. They had the funniest looking planters in there. They had comical faces on them and I would have loved to buy one...except the prices gave me sticker shock! There is only just some much money I am willing to blow on whimsical items and I'd already reached my limit. (too bad)
All in all it was a good visit to Yankee Candle and I'd be willing to go again some time..but not until my pocketbook recovers a bit first!
These are some of the pictures I took at the Butterfly Conservatory. If you ever get a chance to check that place out please don't hesitate to do it. Nobody has a bad time there!