Flower Friday ...

... Emperor's Crown Tulip.

At least that's what I think this beautiful tulip is called.  It's better than calling it a two-toned tulip!

Today was beautiful but slightly windy ... lots of sunshine!  We are still super busy getting ready for our holiday which starts tomorrow.

The adventure begins in one more sleep ... if you even want to call it that ... it's more like half a night.  We have to be up by 3:00 a.m. to be at the airport by 6:00 a.m.  These early morning flights are brutal... especially since we live at least an hour away depending on traffic.  I'm not the early to bed type of gal so it's going to be a short night for me I'm afraid. 

I've spent a lot of today doing all that needs to be done so that we are ready to leave bright and early tomorrow morning.  But I still took some time to sit in the sunshine getting my SquirrelsEtc World Book Day pictures.

And then as I was returning into the house from the backyard I saw that another of our overwintered Eastern Black Swallowtail butterflies had eclosed (emerged)!  I'm so happy that some (hopefully all) have survived the long, cold winter but I'm also sad that we may miss out on a lot of them eclosing whilst we are on vacation.  We told our house/pet sitter about this second one so that she can watch out for more.  I just hope there are some left by the time we return home next Saturday.  

I've added an extra of this second swallowtail that eclosed today.  He is so different (yet the same) as yesterday's.  We released him into the backyard after we had returned from a nice walk at Housenick Memorial Park.  Hopefully he will stay out of the wind and cold during the night. Although tonight isn't supposed to be as cold as last night. 

Thanks to Bikerbear (Anni) for hosting Flower Friday each week.