Krohn Conservatory, Butterflies, 6/10/14

Janice Standing In Front Of Krohn Conservatory

Today was a wonderful day of sight seeing and being with my oldest daughter, Janice. Last weekend was our daughters yearly sisters' weekend and this year they were at our daughter Joyces' home in Long Island, New York. So, Janice stopped here to spend a week and Father's day with me as she goes back home in California. It doesn't get any better than this. Despite the rain and some stormy weather we took off for the Krohn Conservatory to see the Costa Rica Butterfly exhibit. The Krohn Conservatory was built in 1933 and offers spectacular programs throughout the year and is a must see. You really need to go at various times of the year to see how exhibits are changed. The butterfly exhibit started April 12 and runs through June 22, 2014.

Costa Rica, which means "the rich coast " in Spanish, was the name given to this Central American country when Spanish explorers, led by Christopher Columbus in the early 1500s, were meet by native people adorned with elaborate gold jewelry. These pre-Columbia civilizations are credited with creating many fascinating and mysterious relics. Among the most curious are the spheres - or bolas - carved from stone. I took a photograph of a large one but it has vanished in our cyber world. They range in size from a few inches in diameter to six and one half feet in diameter. Legend has it they came from Atlantis and  were made by the god of thunder. pre-Columbia jewelry, pottery, and stone carvings dating back thousands of years all created curiosity due mainly to their depictions of animal and natural elements such as  frogs, Jaguars, birds, crocodiles, snakes,and even butterflies.  It is interesting that today only about 1 % of Costa Rica's 3 million people are native. In 1949 Costa Rica abolished its standing army. This allowed more money to be spent on education, culture and conservation. Costa Rica is a " rich coast " with a wondrous amounts of natural resources. Over one quarter of the country has been reserved for protected areas and natural parks.Tourism creates $2 billion dollars a year.  A popular expression in Costa Rica is " Pura Vida " which literally means " pure life ".

Me In Front Of Krohn Conservatory

Desert Trail Inside Conservatory

Trail Inside Conservatory. Always A Kid, Janice Is About To Stick Her Tongue On A Cactus Needle.

Gentlemen Working On A Bonsai As He Has Done For 20 Plus Years. I Forgot His Name 
But He Was Very Eager To Tell About His Work And How He Does This Work.

Buckeye Butterfly From North America.

Butterfly Perched On A Little Girl's Finger.

Butterfly Resting On A Rock

Butterfly Resting On Someone.

Butterfly Resting On A Plant

Enlargement Of Butterfly Resting On A Rock

Butterflies Eating In A Bowl

Buckeye Butterfly Sitting On A Card Held By A Small Boy.

Postman Butterfly Perched On A Paper On Janice's Shoulder. A Place Was Available Where Children Could Color These Circles Of Paper With Bright Colors And Hold Them Enticing a Butterfly to Land. In This Case Janice Got Tired Of Holding The Paper And Tucked It Under Her Sleeve.

Even Grandpa Bill Enticed A Butterfly Onto His Card. I Carried This One Around For A Half Hour And Finally I Gave It To A Little Boy Who Was So Frustrated That He Could Not Catch A Butterfly. So What Did He Do? He Promptly Started Thumping It With His Finger And Guess What. It Flew Off.

Sometime By Just Holding The Paper Out In Front Of You A Butterfly Would Light On It But 
The Surest Way Was To Find A Butterfly Sitting Somewhere And Gradually Slide The Paper 
To A Point Just Touching One Of It's Feet  And It Would Generally Crawl Onto The Paper.

Beautiful Creature

Tailed Jay Butterfly Lands On Janice.

Janice Sitting On A Bench Minding Her Business And A Butterfly Lands On Her Thumb.

Eight Butterflies Eating In A Bowl. It Looked Like There Were Cantaloupe Rinds In The Bowl. When A New Butterfly Would Attempt To Join The Party Three Or Four Would Spring Into Action And Chase It Away And Would In Fact Chase It All Over The Display Room And Would Do So For Several Minutes.

I Think This Is Another Buckeye Butterfly. Where It Was Sitting It Really Looked Sinister 
Looking Out At Us.

More Butterflies In A Bowl Eating.
One of the major problems the Conservatory faces is keeping the butterflies from getting out of the viewing room. When you first enter you go thorough a door into a holding area. Once the outer door is closed they then open the door into the viewing area to permit you to enter. There is a different person personally opening and closing these doors. When you exit you go through the same procedure except you have to turn around so an attendant can see that you don't have a butterfly sitting on you that you are not aware of. If you don't have any hitchers the outer door is opened and you can leave, Again, two persons man these doors.

Entrance On The Right Into The Rain Or Cloud Forrest.

Janice Is Getting Ready To Enter The Rain Forrest Area Of The Conservatory. As You Can 
See It Is Getting Foggy And It Is Raining. The Rain Is Generated By Overhead Sprinkler Systems. Even With An Umbrella You Get Pretty Wet.I Think She Is Saying Oh My Hair Is Getting Wet. I Found It Interesting That Umbrellas Were At The Entrance But People Either Ignored Them Or Just Did Not See Them In Which Case They Were Sure To Come Out Soaked.

Waterfall In Rain Forrest.

Waterfall In Rain Forrest. What Magnificent Plants.

Waterfall In Rain Forrest. What Magnificent Plants. I Was Ready To Come Home And 
Work On My Back Yard.

Deep In The Rain Forrest. Sounds Spooky Doesn't It.

Coming Out Of The Rain Forrest.

Clock Opposite The Entrance To Krohn Conservatory.

I cannot see displays such as this without coming away just in awe over and over again about the power and majesty of our God and the world that he has created.

Remember what I always say. God loves you and so do I.

Grandpa Bill

Guest Blogger Janice 

Butterfly Exhibit…..Beautiful!  A couple of years ago when we had “Sister’s Weekend” in Cincinnati, all four of us “Sister’s” went to this exhibit and it was Joyce who had a beautiful bright blue butterfly perfectly perched on the side of her head as if she had placed it there!  I was hoping this time; I might have some luck, but to no avail!  Butterflies are one of my most favorite things!  I never get tired of seeing or admiring them, their colors or their lightness and flight.  I loved that butterfly chair; I wonder where I can get one?  I wonder if my husband would mind if it just showed up in our backyard. 

The rest of the exhibit…Dad is right; I had just curled my hair and then Rain!  So, no more curls…..  But the green and lushness was so beautiful in that rain forest exhibit.  As we exited that part and turned in our umbrellas, we went into another part of the botanical garden and tucked into the lush greenery were these wonder brightly colored bird cages in lime green, bright purple, lemon yellow, orange, and inside each of them were parakeets, love birds, cockatiels, and other birds which complimented the cages which set off the colors and were so beautiful.  I thought to myself; bird cages have come a long way since, we purchased those little cages for our girls when they had a pair of love birds and parakeets when they were young. 
It was a fine day……I told Dad he needed to make himself a “Butterfly Garden” in his back yard and  put out some melon rinds like the one we saw to attack butterflies.   Here in my yard in California, I have a beautiful blue glass bowl shaped like a flower with a bright yellow luffa type thing in the middle on a long black stake in the middle of lots of roses and other blooming flowers.  In the center of it is some sweet stuff (sugar water) to attract butterflies.  [So far, I am just attracting ants! But, I am hopeful that butterflies will show up soon!] 

Do you have a special tip to attract Butterflies to your garden? Let us know!
Janice 

“The Pleasant Oldest Daughter Living in Pleasanton, California”

Janice's beautiful  Photographs follow:

Gentlemen Working On A Bonsai As He Has Done For 20 Plus Years. 

 Bonsai Tree That Has And Is Being Shaped 

 Beautiful Mix Of Foliage Plants

 Waterfall With Beautiful Plantings All Around It. 

 Stone Carvings Such AS The One In The Upper Left And Upper Middle Dated Back Thousands Of Years Created Curiosity To Early Visitors To The Country. Carvings Depicted 

Of Animal And Natural Elements Such As  Frogs, Jaguars, Birds, Crocodiles, Snakes, And Even Butterflies As Well As The Stone Spheres.

 Butterfly Feeding Bowl

 I Think This Is Another Buckeye Butterfly. Where It Was Sitting It Really Looked Sinister.

 Flowers And Foliage Plants Around Waterfall And Stone Carving.

 Beautiful Butterfly Feeding On Blossom.

 I Got One On My Card.

 Beautiful Butterfly Feeding On Blossom.

 Little Girl Has Butterfly On Her Card. These Were Colored By The Children As They

Entered The Exhibit.

 Amazing Combination Of Colors

 Wonderful Color Combinations

 In This Photograph Are Two Of The Gorgeous Blue Winged Butterflies.

Butterfly On Light Green Plant

 Isn't This An Amazing Combination Of Colors.

 Another View Of Feeding Bowl With Several Butterflies Eating.

 Close Up Of Feeding Bowl With Several Butterflies Eating.

 Butterfly Chair

 If There Was Any Doubt Janice Got Her Wings.

Also here is a photograph taken  on sister's weekend 2009 when they visited the Krohn Conservatory Butterfly Exhibit. Janice 

Blue Butterfly On Joyce's Head.

Thank you. Janice for your input and beautiful photographs but most of all thank you for 

coming to spend a week with me.

Dad