I am dearly mesmerized by the beauty of the butterfly.  The beauty, the strength and the fragile nature of the butterfly does something to my spirit.  I can’t explain why, but to say, I am at peace when admiring God’s grander.  I took this picture while at the Houston Museum of Science, Cockrell Butterfly Center, an indoor rain forest built for the sole purpose of raising and harnessing the beauty and natural habitat of the butterfly.   
 Morpho Achilles Butterfly

“The genus name Morpho comes from the Greek epithet of Aphrodite, goddess of love. Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character of Homer’s Iliad. Achilles’ downfall was his love of the cousin of Paris, the Prince of Troy during the Trojan War.   Legends (beginning with a poem by Statius in the 1st century AD) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. Because of his death from a small wound in the heel, the term Achilles’ heel has come to mean a person’s point of weakness.” 

I was lucky to get the picture of the Blue Morpho butterfly’s upper wing surface, which is really not actually a color.  The color seen is actually “due to the reflection and refraction of light from tiny ridges and pits on the scales covering the wings.”  It took lots of patience and stillness to wait for this baby to spread its wings, but the wait was well worth it to see the brilliance of Gods creation.  I am continually in awe!!!

So you say, what does a butterfly have to do with sewing.  Well for me, I continually work to morph fabric into a creation all my own.  Something I can wear with pride.  I have had fabric sit in my stash for decades, yes decades, waiting for the day I can think of an outcome which I would look forward to wearing.  Sometimes, it can be as complicated as a formal fully embellished garment with all the bells and whistles, then there are the times its as simple as a skirt.  I am thankful to God for the gift he has bestowed upon me to be able to sew, to use these talents to transform a piece of fabric.  No matter how simple, I am always delighted at what I can create.
On our “Fun-day Sunday” I took mini-me and a relative from Chicago to the butterfly center an a stroll about at Houston’s famous Herman Park.  I wore this skirt I whipped up of an old eyelet fabric I had in my stash. Nothing special about this skirt, yet something very special about the day.  Albeit, it was HOT!!! as with any summer day in Houston, and extremely humid.  My cousin insisted it was comfortable for her.  I warned, you don’t live here, so this is a welcome change to the cold of the Chicago.   

I was trying to get these pictures in before I started sweating too badly.  We were not planning to be outside for very long, just from the car to the museum, but she insisted out strolling the park.  Midday in Houston is in the 90s, so I was more than gracious to entertain her.  Yayy me, for my hospitality!!

I let the hem down for the pictures, since I wasn’t wearing my heels for this outing.  During the rest of the day, I just had it pinned up in strategic places to the lining in order to give it a bubble affect.

That red mass behind me is a homeless person sleeping in the shade.  We live in a big city, and it is not without its homeless population.  It is sad, and no matter how much we try to contribute to helping others, sometimes, it just seems there are “some” who are happy with their state of affairs, or are just too dismayed to the point of not trying anymore.

Here are a few more pictures of the gorgeous butterflies inside the rainforest.  I didn’t get the names of all of them, because it was either enjoy, or study, and I chose to enjoy.  Let me know if you know the names of the those I missed.  Please enjoy.

Rice Paper Butterfly


Tiger Butterfly

The yellow is the Julia Butterfly the red & black ones are Postman