Last week was hectic. I already had a lot to do with framing and preparing my newest pictures for 2 different art shows. The ones going to the Cold-Blooded Creations Show had to be packed and sent to Florida. Two of my pastels were accepted into a local show that I was belatedly notified of, so I rushed to get them to the nearby library where they are included into a juried show for the month of August. I hope to visit soon & take a pic of them on display. When i do, I'll post it.
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Right as I was in the middle of all that, my computer tower got fried in some thunderstorms last Saturday, the 2nd. It was plugged into a surge protector electrical strip, and all the other items in the strip, including the lamp & printer still worked, so I wonder if the surge came in through the ISP cable? I found an HP tower on sale, but it took me 2 days of crawling behind the desk to set it up & get back online. My arthritis was making things difficult to attach the wires & such. The new computer has Windows 8 which is somewhat different than the Vistas I was using. And I still cannot get back into my one email inbox, nor will library ebooks download onto my Nook ereader. It's frustrating.
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On Friday, I stopped at the bank to put something in the overnight deposit for my mom and as I pulled into the parking space, I saw something dark on the ground next to the car.It was too dark for a leaf, but it was about that size. When I got out, I walked closer to it and it was a big, beautiful butterfly with satin black wings with metallic blue on the lower part. I'd seen photos of this sort of butterfly, but never saw one in real life. It didn't seem able to take off, though I couldn't see any injuries. I put my hand down so it could walk onto it, which it did after unrolling it's tongue & tasting my hand. I lifted my hand, holding the other up to shield it from the strong breeze and carried it over to a small flower bed with lilies by a tree & some pampas grass. I lowered my hand so it could hop onto a flower, though it preferred to hop onto a stem. I figured it was close enough to the flower blooms to get some sustenance & regain it's strength. Or if it was dying, flowers were better than cold human concrete. I hope that it was eventually able to continue onto where ever it was going.
When I got home, I discovered it was a red-spotted purple and photos don't do it justice, even though I've put one I found on Google on this post, so you have an idea of how beautiful it was.