butterflies!

A few weeks ago, I went to the Como Zoo to see this Butterfly exhibit... It was a big long room with plants and flowers and fresh fruit and BUTTERFLIES! They were flying around all over the place, so we had to be careful where we stepped and what we bumped into. The cocoons were also in one area so we could see some emerging, which was beautiful.


Paper Kite, Julia, Giant Swallowtail


Julia and unidentified, Unidentified, Giant Swallowtail


Malachite, Lacewing or Queen


Look at the bottom of the tree trunk... it's an Owl Butterfly!

So then, quite appropriately, I encountered a similar exhibit at the Natural History Museum in London, although they didn't have the handy identification card there so I don't know the kinds. Notice the friend that came to visit my head...

Slow Down Lizzie!

Well, it appears that I needed a knock over the head, or in the back in this case, to tell me to slow down the frenzied pace of my life lately. Saturday afternoon at precisely 2:57pm, I did something to my back that has kept me from being able to put on non-slip-on shoes until almost 2 days later. I feel old. But I am also coming to more appreciate the little things in life...like being able to tie one's own shoes.

international ads

I was in London's Heathrow airport earlier this month (further details to come as to the reason I was there) and I saw two things in the shopping area that made me sit up and take notice. The first was that the duty free alcohol section was giving away free samples of booze, just like they do at the grocery store for meatballs and pita chips. I found this very amusing.
Secondly, I saw these signs on the cigarette boxes... no beating around the bush there!