The butterfly counts not months,
but in moments and has time enough. ~Author Unknown~
The Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park has a lovely exhibit of called Butterflies and Blooms. The exhibit will run until October 20, 2013.
Yesterday, we made the first of several trips to see the butterflies.
The exhibit is a pretty neat way of welcoming a long awaited Spring, which also coincides with Titanescu’s birthday. Well, his “scientific” estimate of a birthday anyway.
Marshal Titanescu, Герой Советского Союза, well into retirement after a lifetime of service of the people followed by twenty (cat) years in the Gulag, would probably not be bothered by butterflies alighting on his Hero’s cranium or arthritic haunches.
He’d sleep through that.
Tito and Jenny are another matter, but neither was there to wreck the exhibit room in carnivorous pursuits.
The Butterflies exhibit is housed in the West wing of the Conservatory, where most exhibits are set up. You enter in the same way as you enter a server room, through heavy clear plastic curtains.
When ready to leave, it is best to have someone check that you have not picked up any hitch hikers, as Butterflies will sometimes settle on you…
Suspended netting is strung along the rafters to keep the Butterflies from disappearing into inaccessible recesses. There are many species of flowers, as well as water sources for the Butterflies’ sustenance and visitors’ viewing pleasure.
The air is noticeably warm and humid but circulates adequately for maybe a dozen people. It’s best to pace yourself through the room as Butterflies will sometimes land on the most succulent visitors…
Ah. The sweet nectar of shoe leather…
Most of the Butterflies were very accomodating models, remaining still long enough to take several shots with a variety of settings. This one above is a close up, the Butterfly was well up high on the netting by the ceiling.
The next few photos show them in various stages of nourishment and need no commentary, until we get to…. Wait for it…
… Wait for it…
… Wait for it…
… Almost there…
…. Yes. Butterfly pr0n!
As I said, it was warm in there, and then it got hot… These two were doing “the beast with four wings” while humming some Al Green…
.. And others were probably fantasizing of a little inter-species Ooo-la-la…
