Butterflies

Butterfly at Callaway by Jim

Sera loves butterflies. She has them painted on her wall. For about a week, she had a tattoo on the back of her hand, and she had a pair of shoes with a butterfly on the toe. Everytime she wears something with a butterfly on it, she proudly points it out.

"Daddy! Fufferfly!"
"Mama! Fufferfly!"

When we visited Callaway Gardens for Christmas, we spent one afternoon at the Butterfly Conservatory. Sera loved it. You walk into a huge glass domed greenhouse-type building filled with greenery, benches, and thousands and thousands of butterflies. They're flying everywhere. You can feel the brush of their wings as the brave ones get a little too close in passing, or if you're lucky, one will land on you.

I'm pretty sure this experience is what cemented Sera's love for this brightly colored insect.

Snow in our Driveway by Magi

When I moved up here to the frozen north, I had a lot to learn. I guess that's not surprising when you realize that I've spent most of my life living on the gulf coast. One thing I've learned is that the snow that is so beautiful in November isn't so pretty by March. That seems true this year more than ever. It could be a couple of reasons.

This is our first winter with Sera. It seems she was sick more weekends than she wasn't over the last few months. Not seriously sick. Runny nose, slight fever, cranky. Just enough that I didn't want to take her outside unnecessarily. We tended to hunker down at home. This could mean I just developed a serious case of cabin fever this year.

Or it could be the news our weather forecasters shared last week. In the previous 90 days, we had only 13 days that were precipitation free. We had mainly snow, then some rain that melted the snow and flooded the area badly, and then more and more and more snow.

Another thing I learned that I would never have realized from reading or movies is how snow looks when it's falling rapidly and you're driving in it. I've seen plenty of television or movie scenes of people driving in snow, but they never catch this aspect. When the snow is falling and you are in a car, it looks like the snow is flying at you. It looks more like scenes from space when they go into a wormhole or something. It's beautiful.

Since our visit to Callaway, we've had several snow storms. Sera has had plenty of opportunities to see this image. And when she does, she calls out,

"Daddy! Fufferfly!"
"Mama! Fufferfly!"