In the Good Ol' Summertime

Tomatoes and Butterflies

Only a few more days to enter my Celebration Giveaway for my new book, The Innocent. Entries have to be in by midnight EST Saturday night, July 3, 2015. For more details, check it out on my website. I invited those who entered to share a summer story or something they especially love about summer and I've gotten some great stories and favorite things. I shared some of those favorite things on my Mailbag Tuesday feature on my Facebook page. One thing most of us could agree on was how we love those tomatoes from the garden in the summertime. And I might add seeing butterflies when I go walking in the fields. I'm always wishing I could see more. 

Some of you shared how summer was for you when you were a kid and I'm going to share Sandi's tonight. Sandi has a way with words. She'll have you running along with her in her summer fun and I would guess that many of you might have known similar summer  memories from when you were kids. I know I did.

Summer Memories from Sandi

We were a poor family...but only in terms of money. I was number six out of eight children. Our house was small and in the summer, my mom would, often, open the door and yell..."scat." She didn’t have to tell us twice because she had quite a list of things we could do inside–like dusting or washing dishes or cleaning under the beds–jobs no kid would want to do.

What we lacked in toys, we made up for in imagination. One year we had a zoo–with every bug we could catch lined up in jars for all of our paying customers to see...however, no one showed up in spite of our advertising. (Or perhaps it was because of our advertising). 

We younger kids were delighted when we’d find a dead bird or even a large bug because then we could get our older sister, who had plans to become a nun or a majorette, depending on the day, to come out and do a funeral service. She’d read scripture and we’d sing and wail a little if we felt a particular affection for the deceased. (The wailing was usually reserved for one of our many pets). 

We spent several days building a Ferris Wheel–needless to say, that went about as well as the bug zoo.

The grape arbor held endless possibilities and served as a grocery store (with cans we took out of the trash) or a fort that had to be defended against the Indians...or cowboys or just each other. We had an old shed on the property and one day one of the oldsters from the County Home (which was about a mile up the road) moved in. We didn’t notice until he had thrown nearly everything out onto the lawn and was sitting on a rock smoking a stogie (cigar). He was an interesting old guy and we learned several new words much to my mother’s chagrin and ours, if she heard us repeating them. 

My brothers had a basketball hoop (a bent hanger) attached to the shed and one day the ball landed on the roof–I watched as they climbed up to get it and both fell through at the same exact same moment. I can’t remember which was more exciting–watching them land or the chaos when my parents found out what had happened. They had plenty of kids, but only one shed.

The days seemed endless back then. My grandmother lived very close to us (on the same lot) and although we weren’t allowed to "pester" her, we’d go and sit on her porch with her, when invited and she was a wonderful source of love and entertainment. She had a very deep belly laugh and if she laughed, we laughed, so we’d go through all kinds of antics to make her giggle–which was fun all in itself.

We would catch lightning bugs at night and Dad would put up a tent and we’d declare that we were going to sleep in it–we’d make it about two hours before someone would bring up a story about a ghost or a mass murderer who had been seen lurking in our neighbor’s garden... Then, we’d all run screaming into the house and climb into our safe warm bed until the next time. Ghosts were one thing, but mass murderers were pretty scary.

We had none of the things kids have today. One bicycle was shared by all and I don’t think any of us had been to a real swimming pool until we were almost grown. The closest we got to water outside was if we turned on the hose and sprayed each other. We had a wagon and we’d take turns being the pusher or puller. Dad made us a seesaw/merry go round and it was great fun until someone would get in the way and...well, that’s another story.

I don’t ever remember being bored. When Mom would get out the Sear’s catalog and start thumbing through it for school clothes, I knew it was almost over. Oh well, there was always next year and time truly does fly...when you’re having fun.

More Stories to Come

Thanks for sharing your childhood summers with us, Sandi. I'll share some more of the stories in the weeks to come. 

Also watch for a big announcement Sunday. Of course, I am announcing the winners of my Shaker prizes in my Celebration Giveaway, but there will be another announcement as well about a little change going to happen here.

As always, thanks for reading. 

Butterfly Season

"Butterflies are self-propelled flowers." (R.H. Heinlein)

I'm taking a break from birthday stories tonight to think about butterfly season. As autumn begins to cool the air and paint the trees, the butterflies start appearing more and more in the hayfield where I often walk with my dog, Oscar. Sometimes I can get them to sit still long enough to take a picture there, but the butterflies tend to flit away just as I get focused in on them. I have better luck sneaking up on them in the garden where the zinnias are blooming profusely.

"Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine." (Jeffrey Glassberg)

I wrote a book about butterflies. Well, at least butterflies played a part in the plot. The book for young adult readers was titled Only in Sunshine since butterflies need sunshine or warmth to be able to fly. Butterflies can't move their wings at all if they get too cold. So if you feel energized by a beautiful day of  sunshine, then you can claim kinship to a butterfly. 

How does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar. (Trina Paulus)

 Here are some things you might not know about butterflies. First a group of butterflies is called a Kaleidoscope or a Flutter. I like both of those names although the butterflies in my field are often loners. The little white and yellow ones do sometimes gather in a Flutter. That name fits them best. The Kaleidoscope might fit the Monarchs all in a bunch in their winter quarters. I've seen a few Monarchs this year, but none that will pose for me. They stay on the move. 
 
Some butterflies are very tiny, only 1/8 inch. Others can have a wing span of 12 inches. They see red, green and yellow so those flowers attract them. However they do like those orange milkweeds. Many butterflies can taste with their feet to find out if the leaf they are on will be good caterpillar food and thus a good place to lay their eggs.

There are 24,000 species of butterflies. I've only seen a small percentage of them. Moths are even more numerous with around 140,000 species discovered all over the world. If I leave the porch light on at night, it looks like at least half of them gather at my door to sneak inside, but actually it's probably not over a hundred or so. :) Talk about a flutter. Some moths are beautiful. Some are plain grays. Moths can race along at twenty-five miles an hour while butterflies top speed is twelve miles per hour.


Two more interesting insect facts to end with here. First, there are more types of insects in one tropical rain forest tree than there are in the entire state of Vermont. Then, in 1958, 
entomologist W.G. Bruce published a list of Arthropod references in the Bible. The most frequently named bugs from the Bible are: Locust: 24, Moth: 11, Grasshopper: 10, Scorpion: 10, Caterpillar: 9, and Bee: 4.  I would have thought there would be more than that. What do you think? (Some of the butterfly facts listed and more can be found here.)

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it turned into a butterfly. (Proverb)

You do still have until the end of September to get your name in my birthday celebration giveaway. Check out the prizes on my website event page. You can enter by leaving a comment here with a way to contact you or by sending me an e-mail at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches.

Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.

Some people say that when the black bands on the Woolybear caterpillar are wide, a cold winter is coming.

The top butterfly flight speed is 12 miles per hour. Some moths can fly 25 miles per hour!

Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 2,000 miles, and return to the north again in the spring.

Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees.

Representations of butterflies are seen in Egyptian frescoes at Thebes, which are 3,500 years old.

Antarctica is the only continent on which no Lepidoptera have been found.

There are about 24,000 species of butterflies. The moths are even more numerous: about 140,000 species of them were counted all over the world.

The Brimstone butterfly (Gonepterix rhamni) has the longest lifetime of the adult butterflies: 9-10 months.

- See more at: http://www.thebutterflysite.com/facts.shtml#sthash.vgVN8dSj.dpuf

Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches.

Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow.

Some people say that when the black bands on the Woolybear caterpillar are wide, a cold winter is coming.

The top butterfly flight speed is 12 miles per hour. Some moths can fly 25 miles per hour!

Monarch butterflies journey from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of about 2,000 miles, and return to the north again in the spring.

Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than 86 degrees.

Representations of butterflies are seen in Egyptian frescoes at Thebes, which are 3,500 years old.

Antarctica is the only continent on which no Lepidoptera have been found.

There are about 24,000 species of butterflies. The moths are even more numerous: about 140,000 species of them were counted all over the world.

The Brimstone butterfly (Gonepterix rhamni) has the longest lifetime of the adult butterflies: 9-10 months.

- See more at: http://www.thebutterflysite.com/facts.shtml#sthash.vgVN8dSj.dpuf

Spotted on My Walks through Nature's Garden

There are always flowers for those who want to see them. (Henri Matisse)

I usually take a walk every day if at all possible. My dog, Oscar, would be disappointed if we didn't, although on some of the hotter days in summer, he sometimes looks at me as if he thinks I might have lost my mind wanting to walk when it's 90 degrees in the shade. Actually I try not to walk when it's that hot unless I can keep to the shade. Not for me, but for him. His black fur coat is hot.

But I love spotting gifts of nature when I walk. A couple of days ago, I found this beautiful pink flower. One stalk with all these blooms. No others anywhere around. I've never seen one like it before. It looks like a flower that belongs in a cultivated flower bed, but there it was on the edge of the hayfield in nature's big, wild garden. I haven't tried to look it up. Maybe one of you will recognize it and give it a name. 

I enjoy walking in Nature's garden. There are weeds too and sticktights or what some of you call beggar lice. You hear the whine of a mosquito now and again and flies can be worrisome when you get around the cows. But always there are sights to see and things to spot when I take a walk. 

I like sharing some of the things I spot on my Facebook page. It's like taking my friends for a walk with me. So tonight I'm asking you to walk along and see what we can spot. 

 

I always keep an eye out for flowers. The daisies are a favorite. They bloom with such determination and so cheerfully. It doesn't matter if I pick a few to pluck the petals. Another will pop up in its place. Tiny, more delicate looking flowers scatter color through the grasses.

 

 

 

Sometimes the blooms are small but so plentiful they carpet the whole field 

 

 

Then Kentucky's state flower, the goldenrod lights up the summer with color.

And among all the flowers are the butterflies. Beauty on wing.


Hope you enjoyed walking with me and spotting a few of the things along the way.

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today. (Dale Carnegie)

Butterflies on Thistles

Life is butterflies and thistles.
Hummingbirds and bumblebees.
Sleepless nights and sleep-in mornings.
Blooming flowers and chomping worms.
Truth and fiction. Sorrow and joy. 
Butterflies on thistles.

I'm off my schedule this week, but wanted to stop in to thank you all again for all your prayers and thoughts this last week as I had to tell Mom goodbye. Now my house is full of sleeping grandkids. That would make Mom smile. 

THANK YOU LORD FOR SIMPLE THINGS (Anonymous)

 Thank You, Lord, for simple joys… 

Homemade cookies, handmade toys.    

Cotton clouds in bright blue skies; 

Buttercups and butterflies,

Kitties, puppies, birds and squirrels; 

Little boys and little girls,

Starlit nights and sunny days; 

Words of hope with love and praise.

A smile, a friend, a big warm hug; 

Cocoa in my favorite mug.

Peanut butter on a spoon; 

Winds in March and flowers in June.

A cherished book, a special song; 

All the places I “belong.”

Feet that dance and eyes that grin, 

And a heart to hold my memories in.

What small things are you thankful for today? No small thing, but I'm thankful for you.