Sunday, January 1, 2017

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2005. We took Mattie to Boston to visit Peter's parents for Christmas. While there, snow was on the ground, and Mattie got to experience sledding. Unlike me, Mattie had no problem with the cold and enjoyed the cold weather adventures. 



Quote of the day: God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it. ~ Pope Francis

 We visited Butterfly World today. One of our favorite attractions near Ft. Lauderdale. We visited it many times with Mattie (in fact this photo was taken in 2006)! Butterfly World opened in 1988, and is the largest butterfly park in the world, and the first park of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. The facility houses around 5000 live butterflies.

After retiring from a career as electrical engineer, Ronald Boender started raising butterflies and their food plants in his home in Florida. In 1984 he established MetaScience to help supply farmed butterflies to zoos and universities. After having visited England in 1985, where he met Clive Farrell (founder and owner of the London Butterfly House), he decided to create his own facility in Florida. Boender and Ferrell entered into partnership and started planning the facility, which was to be a public attraction, but also a research facility and a butterfly farm.

Entering Butterfly World is a total sensory experience. Besides walking in the aviary, with thousands of butterflies fluttering around you, there is piped in music. The music is serene and tranquil and it almost feels like going on a spiritual retreat. Along the pathways are these wonderful benches. I love reading each of them! 

This bench says.... We will always have hope in our hearts. Naturally hope could mean many things here. Hope was the person this bench was dedicated to, but it could also signify the hope we all need in our lives. 

Butterflies diet on ONLY liquids. They consume the liquid of fruits and nectar of flowers through a long straw like proboscis connected to their heads. 

This beauty landed right on me! Butterflies do not land on everyone, so when it happens, it makes you feel special. To me, this is a special Mattie visitation. 

The vegetation inside the aviary!

Another bench, in which I admired the saying..... Your light now shines from above and within. With blue morpho butterfly fluttering by!

This is a birdwing butterfly. A first for me, and a true beauty. 

Peter had a visit and landing today as well. 

Glorious no? You can get so close to these beauties and for a moment in time, you feel like you are living in their world, rather than the other way around. 

These butterflies seem to be friends, as they all travel and flutter in groups. These yellow and black butterflies are called longwing zebra butterflies. 

The aviary is so beautifully designed and provides all sorts of vegetation and flowers a butterfly may need. 

My second visitation by a blue morpho butterfly! This is an incredible butterfly. Its outer/underneath side is brown for camouflage. However, when it opens its wings, it is a glorious iridescent blue! Only something this beautiful could be created by nature. 

Gouldian Finches and other birds fly amidst the butterflies. In fact, Butterfly World has the largest free flight hummingbird aviary in the United States.

More of the aviary!

Another beauty!

We visited the lorikeet area today. Lorikeets are small to medium-sized arboreal parrots characterized by their specialized brush-tipped tongues for feeding on nectar of various blossoms and soft fruits, preferably berries.

Mattie loved to visit the lorikeets and to feed them. For $1, the caretaker will give you a small cup full of nectar. These birds LOVE nectar and will sit all over you to scoop some up. Peter made several friends today. 

This fellow seemed to be pecking at Peter's shoe. Another one was nipping at his face. 

This is a Honeycreeper, a type of bird. They are typically found in Mexico down to Brazil. These birds specialize in nectar feeding with their long curved bills. Their coloring is glorious, such a vibrant blue and purple. 

These long tailed finches are attracted to people and like to sit on heads. Butterfly World advises you not to swat at the birds, but instead to stand still and eventually the birds will fly off.