The butterfly bush has started blooming.

I spent time yesterday walking around the garden beds. Camera in hand, I wanted to record just what is blooming right now. And then I saw a Monarch butterfly.

I’m always so thrilled when I see them – usually around this time of year, and, I assume, emerging from our milkweed plants that are scattered around the property.

Anyway, that butterfly wasn’t about to sit still long enough for me to take a picture. He sensed my approach, even if I was far off. Not to be deterred, I kept up the ‘stalking’ while trying to water the porch plants at the same time. I finally captured a couple of pictures when he landed on the coneflowers on the far side of the house.

Then a second Monarch appeared and the two of them chased each other around the property. This one kept flitting around the area in front of the porch, never landing on anything for long, as if unsure where to go to get the nectar she needed. I found myself wondering if she had just emerged. It seemed that way – as if there might be a learning curve until she landed on a proper source of nourishment.

She landed on one of my hanging plants and, as I was trying to get a picture, she took off. This strangely wonderful photo emerged from that moment.

I’m completely fascinated by it. Her wings are beating furiously and I can see her body. Amazing!

I stopped off at Noble and Tina’s house to give them a little gift for watering my plants and we had a nice chat in their beautiful garden. Petey (their little dog) slept on my lap for a long time. He’s adorable.

And we officially paid our 40% deposit on the O’Keefe & Merritt stove. Huzzah!

We’re so excited about the stove but it will take a while until we get it. A bit more work needs to be done on it, then Antique Stove Heaven will crate it, then we have to call a shipper (recommended by them) and arrange pickup and delivery. In the meantime, our local plumbing and heating guy, Gino, will figure out where to put in a line for propane and get that ready. I also need him to trim some of the metal covering on our baseboard heating so that it doesn’t interfere with the placement of the stove.

Oh, and now we’re thinking of painting the kitchen a pale yellow. All of this came out of my suggestion that we paint the section of the wall behind the stove before it arrives so that we don’t have to move that heavy stove later. There’s lots to do and I only have less than two weeks here before I have to go to Hartford. Some of those days will be taken up with doing prep work on the text. Yikes.

We’re probably going to paint the kitchen a section at a time. Over time. So it may look like a crazy quilt for a while.

Happy Saturday.