Butterflies are free...sort of...

What in the world is going on?  Remember I shared that we were going to the Butterfly exhibit at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia?  Well, go we did.  It was like going to the tropics with the temps at 85 and the humidity at 80%!  Sweat dripped off of our bodies, dehydrated us and make my eyes burn, but we took off coats and extra layers and stayed with these magnificent beings for more than 3 hours!  It was a perfect place for my BE STILL philosophy to be in place - a perfect place.  When we first arrived, Chris told us about the place, a few guidelines and shared some common types of butterflies.  He said, "If a butterfly lands on  you, it means you are lucky!"  Can you imagine my glee when more than EIGHT landed on me?  Two - like the owl butterfly in this picture, stayed for a lengthy visit and Chris had to take them and send them on their way when we left for lunch.  For this adventure, I can use the word awesome and so look forward to return trips AND finding more butterfly environments in other places we travel!  We saw the chrysallis arriving, being sorted and hanging in a special incubator to grow and hatch - we saw some that had just hatched and others that were mating.  The only thing missing - there are no 'host' plants because it is a conrolled environment.  That my friends is for us to see in the natural outdoors - until the butterflies come again for the summer - this was close to perfection!