Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Musical Butterfly

I have seen so many butterflies this summer, where I live near Binghamton, New York.

Or maybe I'm just looking out for them, because they make me feel free.

My wildflower expert identifies this as a fritillary, perhaps a great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele). I've only just started to learn about butterflies, and they seem so complicated.

As I listened to music at Sunday's Porchfest, I spotted this butterfly, and followed it through a garden of zinnias. 

I needed those minutes of freedom, to let go to music (where you become part of the music) and then be enchanted by one of nature's little miracles.  I needed those few hours without care, where my spouse and I could wander from street to street.  We ended up listening to one band for over an hour and a half, at the end.  Someone mentioned that the mayor of Binghamton was in the crowd.  I didn't see him but I would believe it.  In small cities, mayors do things like that.

The entire point of Porchfest, where musicians play on neighborhood porches, is to let yourself go, in a family friendly way, and have fun..

Children sell lemonade. People say "hi" to their neighbors. Some streets are closed and vendors gather in the middle of the street.  People ride bicycles everywhere.  It's like a giant block party.

I wish it came more than once a year.

Soon, the dreaded winter will be here.  Today, we have a heat advisory. 

But Sunday, we had butterflies.

9 comments:

  1. I've seen a lot of butterflies this year as well. Maybe we have a bumper crop.

    I think the mayor of a larger town/city would go to such an event as well. I could totally see the mayor of my city being at a porch fest if we were to have one.

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  2. That says it all: "Sunday we had butterflies".
    Porchfest. What a wonderful tradition! I've never heard of it before. We have myriad musicians in my home town and, once a year host the Blues and Roots festival. But this sounds so . . . homey! I'd love to witness it in person!
    And see your butterflies . . .

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  3. I love butterflies and love the saying, If you whisper a message a butterfly will deliver it to Heaven.In our town we have concerts in the park 5 days a week all summer. We go to as many as possible, they are so relaxing.The last one was last Sunday. I miss them already.

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  4. You've made me happy just knowing there are communities that still have such open, friendly, neighborhood events. What fun! And the butterflies... San Antonio's so close to Mexico, the home of the Monarch butterflies, so we generally see them, but not as many in the last decade. Lots of major wildfires in Mexico, logging and severe storms have severely decreased their population. xoxox, Brenda

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  5. Beautiful.....I love butterflies and Zinnias!!

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  6. What a great idea for a community, that porchfest.
    I haven't seen many butterflies at all this summer. Truly makes me sad, they are all so lovely.

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  7. I haven't seen butterflies in nearly a decade. I miss them.

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  8. I'm glad you have lots of butterflies. Where I live the count is waaay down.

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