FLUTTERING AND SHUDDERING

When I went to the park today, at first, I saw a pretty little butterfly I so wanted to take a picture of, but altho' I tried and tried, I couldn't capture it in the frame. Every time I pushed the shutter...well, finally, I managed to get it...well, it looked like this:

Would you believe it? I think the butterfly actually felt sorry for me!

Because he came back with another one, and then another, and FOUR pretty butterflies settled down by the "Turnstile Gate" while I snapped pictures!

I could almost hear the first b-fly saying to his buddies, "C'mon fellas, humor her a little and hold still down here a while. This poor human doesn't know how to operate a camera."

Before becoming butterflies tho'--have you seen the plump-looking caterpillar? I remember my sister ran around the yard collecting them in a little box. One of our church young people who was over helping organize Sunday School supplies and helping taking care of my sisters and myself too--we were in elementary at the time--came out where we were.

"What do you have in that box?" she lightly asked my sister, who happily opened the lid, showing the caterpillars inside, squished up and crawling all over each other.

Why did she shudder and run?

A DUCK BY ANOTHER NAME

What I'd been calling a spot-billed mallard is really a mottled duck, I found out today.

I remember seeing a mother at the park pointing to the greenhead in the pond and explaining to her children how you could distinguish the brightly colored male from the plain brown female, pointing to the mottled duck. Inwardly, I said, "She's teaching them something WRONG!" But if I'd have said, "that's not a greenhead female; that's a spot-billed mallard", I WOULD'VE BEEN WRONG TOO!

Isn't that like what we humans do, pointing fingers at others' errors? They've got it all wrong, we smile inwardly.

Here is today's sketch of a foraging...mottled duck. Today, a dragonfly came--probably the last to make its appearance before the onset of cold--as well as a butterfly, so I decided to put them into the picture. It seems a carp nearby wanted to be included too, so I managed to squeeze her in on the side. After all, the place is named "Carp Walk". But what's in a name, right? A rose is a rose; a duck is a duck...

I don't really know what you look like!

"Please come back," I said to the brown butterfly. It had looked so pretty sitting atop the bright red hurricane lilies, but now flitted away and wouldn't come back. And I didn't get what I needed to do the sketch. The flowers were much harder to do the actual drawing too--I couldn't do either B-fly or flower right; maybe I should just scrap it. No--even the butterfly wouldn't expect more than my best, I decided.

SPIDER SPIN

 Time for another Photo Story. These were taken at the bushes around Deeper Pond.

1 He said he was interested in

2 What was on the inside, not just the outside,

3 So I trusted him.

4 I forgot he was a SPIDER

3 BUTTERFLIES

I stayed home for the past few scorching days.

When I went back to the park, a butterfly came wanting to be sketched. When I told it I'd draw its picture if it held still, it stopped on a water lily pad--much too far away to see it clearly.

I wish this butterfly would've seen the next one. It stayed nearby plus opened its wings for me! It was a tiny thing, the kind that welcomed my sisters and me to the resort in Okinawa. If you didn't look carefully, it looked gray; but it was actually dusty blue and silvery mauve.

When I went home, yet another butterfly came to the bush along the back wall. It had pretty red-yellow-black wings but didn't stay very still. I must say tho', it was easier to sketch than the first one!

Perspective Changes Lots of Things

"You sketched the blue Kawasemi and the blue-vented butterfly. Can you draw me? I'm blue too!" I seemed to hear, "...but you can't see me, can you?"

Oh. There, near the bottom of the twig in the water, was a dainty damselfly the thickness of a thread.

"Most people won't draw or photograph something as small as me either..." Did I sense the damselfly sigh? "Oh well; just thot I'd ask."

"Okay; okay. Tell you what. I'll draw you up close, so you'll look real big." The damselfly wasn't sure she should let herself hope.

And...see? The tiny thing looks bigger than the butterfly or Kawasemi!

THAT B-FLY! "That Human!"

Remember the black butterfly in the April 21 post? I can't say I'm sure insects talk to each other, but...

Several days ago during my walk thru' the park, I saw and began sketching another beautiful black butterfly with blue vents. Well, a man came walking down the path, scaring it away. I said to myself it had been too good to be true and was about to put away my things, when the butterfly came back! I resumed my drawing, but a woman came from the opposite direction, making the butterfly flutter away. This footpath was made for humans; I berated myself. I couldn't expect to draw a butterfly...but I found myself open-mouthed as it came back to the same spot almost as if to say, "Draw me NOW!"

This butterfly...people can call me funny in the head; I really have no other way of explaining it but to say it intentionally, consciously, wanted to be drawn. And is it in my imagination? Having seen how black butterflies usually act, I think the other one actually told it there was a human--me--who will draw its picture. As I oohed and aahed at the pretty design, it strained to hold the wings open for me, which I then sketched as quickly as I could.

It still awes me how God could come up with so many different colors and patterns I see in wildlife...I wonder if critters ever marvel at how there are so many strange types of humans?

Disappointed? They'll be Happy!

The neck was too thick, the tail much too long, the iridescence wasn't showing...the pigeons are actually beautiful--what was wrong with me...why couldn't I get it right...why was it looking like this?!...I wanted to throw away my drawing.

"Just finish it. I can talk to them," the Lord whispered to me. "I'm sure they'll be perfectly pleased to know there's an artist who cries not to be able to portray them as beautiful as they deserve, June."

I added the little yellow butterfly I'd seen flying around the pigeon and showed her the drawing the next time I went to the park, hoping she wasn't too disappointed with it. Actually, I'm hope it was the same bird.

FLUTTERING ABOVE THE CREEK

I remember reading how King David heard sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees and took it as a signal to go out to battle.

Well, I never do anything big like that. I see movement on the top of reeds and know there's a bird or dragonfly there! Or I see irregular ripples in the brook and know there's either a carp or turtle underneath. (There used to be lots of crayfish too, but not anymore.)

The other day, I sensed fluttering above the creek and stopped dead in my tracks, stared hard. Could it be? Yes, the black butterfly that rarely holds still long enough for a photo seemed to be settling down at a place I call Corner Cove.

"Oh please don't run away," I found myself thinking; "Can I draw you? Please?" It looked so pretty on that island of green grass and tan soil. Sometimes I wonder if these living things purposely move around in places they know make them look beautiful--then I realize that's the way much of wildlife was made: beautiful. I just wish I could draw it that way. I was glad and grateful the butterfly would hold still to let me sketch it--probably stayed there for half an hour--when those things usually do not stay in one place longer than several seconds at a time.

David was a STRONG warrior who could fight and win battles, but my Heavenly Father sees--and blesses--weaker souls like me who need even butterflies to hold still for them.

YELLOW BUTTERFLY

Almost forgot to show you what these yellow butterflies look like. They came out super early and made me really happy. I was thinking it was still too cold, since the mallards, who are winter birds, are still here, warm-weather living things wouldn't be making their appearance yet.

But last week, I saw my first yellow butterflies!

Last year, I'd tried my hand at acrylic painting and drawn my first butterfly. But when I painted the background, I got the shade wrong. Instead of a softer salmon-like hue for a background for a yellow insect, I mistakenly used a bright orange, so decided to do the butterfly in a neutral white after all--yellow would "fight" the loud orange and make the eyes hurt.

But when I went back to the park, it seemed the yellow butterfly was disappointed with the news, uncharacteristically came fluttering really close, so close I could almost touch him--only dragonflies let me get that close--as if to say, "There: NOW can you paint me, and paint me as I really am: YELLOW?"

I had to work into the night to do it, but he seemed happy when I showed it to him the next day.

Aren't you glad God accepts us as we really are...even if we ARE YELLER? Yeah, I know that means something a little different.

SISTERS

As part of our time together in Okinawa, my sister Janice used some points to treat Joyce and me to an overnight stay at the ANA Intercontinental Hotel.

The actual treat began before even approaching the entrance lobby, as we picnicked on the grass near the front beach. A friendly little butterfly welcomed us, doing its best to keep its pretty wings open for us even when landing altho' they usually fold them, knowing humans usually enjoy seeing their pretty colors on the wings.

Our room was up on the 7th floor of the resort, where we were able to relax, reminisce, pray together, and enjoy the beautiful Okinawa scenery as evidence of how our loving Father would continue to bless us, His own.

Here is a drawing of the day God gave us. That's Janice reading from a book of memoirs; Joyce holding a laptop on her tummy while listening to her; and yours truly standing in front of the blinds--there's a story behind that.