How FUN! How was Caleb? :)

Is Caleb his dog? He was locked up.

Isn't it fun to get together with butterfly friends? Sandy comes to OKC every two weeks, and we usually get together then to talk about and share plants and seeds. I haven't made it to Tulsa, but I doubt my old car would get there.

We have become what we call "BFF" "butterfly friends forever"!

Susan

Yep, Caleb is his elderly German Shepard Dog. Bummer. I have pictures of him. Lovely gentleman...I'm sure like his master. :)

mcronin, aka MDN, and I get to meet (our significant others, too!) for dinner, usually once a year. This is one of MY highlights in March. :) It is truly a marvelous time and although we met here on the forum, we ALL feel (SOBs, included) as though we have known one another forever. I know DH looks forward to when Mike & Karen come to town...

Penny, I must apologize for chewing your ear off but I don't get to talk "butterflies" with very many people and you are a really fun person to talk to anyway. The new cats and eggs are all doing fine and since Thursday quite a few of the other guys have gone into chrysalis. Actually I am very relieved to see it because those little people have kept me delightfully busy for a while now. For years I have been trying to get a resident colony of Pipevine Swallowtails established in Vallejo and you have made it happen. Thanks so much.

Wouldn't it be great if someday we could all meet and put faces to the names that have become so much a part of our lives. There seems to be an instant connection one experiences when in the company of another butterfly enthusiast. Murray

In the Cottage forum I met a lady from Vietnam. It just so happened her daughter lived down the street from me. We finally met face to face and had such fun. What a small world we live in.

"Wouldn't it be great if someday we could all meet...". I think that would be so much fun. I live in Walnut Creek.

Edna

A lot of flower societies, e.g., the National Begonia Society, the Gesneriad Society, The Daylily Society, all have regional and national get-togethers.

I thought it was pretty cool when Sandy, Linda, Marilyn, Faith, and I all got together in Norman, since we are all avid butterfliers. It was like a "regional" get-together, even if for a short time.

We all had the opportunity to put a face with a screen name. And, of course, talk butterflies.

If some of you from Florida could arrange to get together, some of you from California, Texas, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, etc., you would actually be creating a "regional" get-together to talk butterflies. Doing so at a Farmer's Market or Butterfly hotspot, or native plant nursery, or butterfly count, is a great way to schedule a get-together.

I used to belong to the National Begonia Society and going to nationals was great fun. We scheduled seminars on different topics, showed plants (well, the locals did), sold plants, sold trinkets and stuff related to growing begonias, had lunches, dinners, field trips, and it was such fun. Not everyone can affort to do it, I know, but if we planned well enough in advance, we can start saving for a trip. You can usually schedule a "national" event at a hotel that will offer discounted rates and as many as possible could attend just for the fun of it (I vote for California or Florida, of course!). Winter time in one of these states, when not much is going on in our gardens, is a good time to do something like that. Altho I know that people in the southern parts of these states are still butterflying - but then they would be close to home!

Well, I like to dream.....

Susan

Believe me, I enjoy butterfly talk. I am still marveling over the number of containers you have and how many cats you are raising. I hope mine do the J pretty soon too so I don't have to set up the outside tent over the pipevine.

Penny

Today I put my jacket on to take a walk down to a neighbor's house and when I grabbed my zipper handle I felt something soft and strange and before I knew it I had a caterpillar in my hand which had attached itself to my zipper and was getting ready to pupate. I don't think I injured it at all so I placed it down into a screened-in bug container and will have to attach it to something as soon as it pupates. I try very hard to keep them from getting away like that but some of them do. The other day Caleb was lying on the kitchen floor and watching a caterpillar pass by in front of his nose. He kept looking at me waiting for me to put it back into its cage. He is used to butterflies and caterpillars now and doesn't pay them much attention anymore. I am so glad after the time when he was young and tried to turn one over that we saw at the park. Dogs who weigh 120 lbs. are not gentle enough for that. Fortunately, I was able to rescue the little fellow.

Penny, I wonder how many I actually have. I have no idea. In fact, with this many I have not been able to practice the usual steps for preventing the spread of germs etc. but so far no problems. I am very grateful for that.

Susan, hopefully your thoughts will one day be more than dreams.
Murray

I'd love to meet some of you butterflyers! So far, the only one I've met is Carol/Biophila in south Alabama.
I'm sure we could talk until we were hoarse!
Sherry