Oh, the Butterfly Days of Summer

My husband's birthday was last week, and his recent birthday money purchases included some new shoes. THREE pairs, in fact. A hiking boot. A water shoe. And a jogging shoe. On this day, he decided to try out the new jogging shoe at the former Dry Hollow Camp property near Warriors Mark.

I went along, wearing my latest shoe/boot, and the new sports bra I'd gotten at Target over the weekend on clearance. So we had a couple of things we were trying out. The stories of the day: new shoes, green ferns, daisies, and butterflies!

The mosquitoes were fierce when we first got there, and I got bit up pretty bad. They even got me through my clothes while I was walking. My husband, the jogger, didn't get a single bite. He did, however, end up, quite accidentally, on the jog of his life!

As he passed me on the trail, he said he'd meet me at the car in 45 minutes. So I did my walk and saw some deer and all kinds of butterflies. The fritillaries were fabulously orange, and there is one in the extras wearing hearts on its sleeves!

And then I walked back to the car, startled a doe and two spotty fawns along the trail, used my key to get in and get my chair and my book, grabbed a drink, and sat down by the car in the shade to wait.

Well, my husband was nearly an hour late, and this was the reason: he chose a road up on top that didn't bring him out where he expected, so he ended up running a huge loop that forced him to do about 10 miles on this day.

We are happy to report that, though he had to do some bushwhacking through the ferns (not being able to see what your feet are walking on in the time of year of rattlesnakes being somewhat concerning), his new shoes did great and my husband did great too! (And my shoes and new sports bra did pretty well, too!)

When he finally got back to the car, my husband was met with a sigh of relief from this wife, who had begun wondering, if he'd disappeared somehow, WHERE exactly I should start looking. Neither of us has a cell phone and reception in many of the woodsy places we go would suck even if we did (and he says he wouldn't carry one while jogging even if he HAD a cell phone), but I'm thinking about getting a GPS tracker to put on him. Or a frickin' bell. Or something.

And then, exhausted (him) and relieved (me), we sat in the shade and had our lunch and talked for a while, and watched the butterflies. For there were many, many butterflies among the wildflowers and flowered bushes near the parking area. As I watched, a huge tiger swallowtail sailed past, and landed on a bush, where it sat and nibbled for a very long time, giving me some great shots. So I've chosen that as my main photo!

I've asked my husband, the unexpectedly long-distance jogger, to pick one of today's soundtrack songs, and he says his has to be about how butterflies are free to fly. So here is Elton John, with Someone Saved My Life Tonight. And now let ME pick one, for that butterfly in the extras, wearing hearts on its sleeves: Brooks and Dunn, with My Heart Is Lost To You. (Turn that one up. And DANCE!)