We visited the Franklin Park Conservatory this past Sunday, Sundays now being my field trip/family outing day of choice; we are already halfway to Columbus when we attend Church, so it works well for us. Every year the Conservatory has a portion of their glass houses filled with exotic butterflies and some informative discovery areas where you view the process of chrysalis to butterflies ready to fly.
I don’t think anyone is ever too old to gaze in awe and wonder at swirly groups of flitting butterflies- they truly are like flying flowers. I can’t remember where I heard that- but the observation is apt. This time the large blue ones decided they liked my blue jeans and landed there repeatedly for me to examine. A boy found one with green markings that loved the shoulder of his sweater. That is an experience you won’t often find in your yard. Although you might!
We walked through the array of climate replicas with their different plantings and humidity-temperature variations- I always like that part so well, especially the mountain breezes that are simulated. The outdoors are not yet ready for primetime, but many of the flowering trees have been coming into bloom and were lighting up the grounds. We had a short, but entertaining couple of hours spent on a bright Sunday afternoon.
Kylee, ‘Our Little Acre’, of more northern reaches of Ohio had an informative report on her trip in June of last year.
On an unrelated note: everyone is talking about the earthquakes we had here in the Midwest. I just didn’t feel them at all- and I was up throughout most of the early morning hours of 4:00 AM to 6:00 AM. You’d think I would have experienced something, but …nope, nada.
I find all the conflicting ruminations of scientific prognostications interesting, but they are all pretty inconclusive. The one tidbit of info I picked out of the lot is that our earthquakes here are potentially stronger than on the coast. Something about how the bedrock causes the shaking to be more severe. we always consider this sort of thing to be confined to the West Coast and the Pacific ring of fire.
Be sure to see Gardens in Ohio and A Botanical Wedding.
