Wednesday, July 20, 2011

A Shimmering Heat



"...when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it.
This is what the Lord says to me:
"I will remain quiet and look on from my dwelling place,
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of the harvest."
Isaiah 18:4


I like that phrase "shimmering heat". It also describes the wings of some of these butterflies, they shimmer. This is because their wings are covered with thousands of tiny overlapping scales. Here is my mystery destination, we went to a butterfly exhibit! That tiny white speck on yesterday's leaf picture, it was a butterfly egg. There were lots of plants and butterflies, and we dipped our fingers in sugar water. The butterflies would sit on our hands and drink! They were so tame, they would even let us pick them up.  And here is an interesting fact. They cannot fly unless their body temperature is above 86 degrees. This is why we never see butterflies flitting about unless it is very hot, one good thing about this heat wave we're having!! Temps in the triple digits! Here's what God has to say about really hot summers.


"But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. They're like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers-Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf..."
Jeremiah 17:7,8 The Message

36 comments:

Arti said...

Beautiful place Ginny. Butterflies are so adorable, always loved them... They are so colorful and the patterns on them are so attractive...
Have a fabulous week ahead:)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos Ginny. Many years ago we visited the Butterfly Center at Callaway Gardens and had so much fun.

Chatty Crone said...

SO they like the heat and the sugar! I had heard the sugar part but not the 86 degree part.

Chatty Crone said...

PS Your photographs were awesome.

Karin said...

Absolutely gorgeous! What a fun thing to do - and educational!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Gorgeous little butterflies, Ginny... Of course they like YOU.. You are just so sweet!!!!!!

Great pictures.
Hugs,
Betsy

Shug said...

I kinda thought you might have gone to a butterfly farm. Fabulous pictures! I did not know that they required a certain temp before they flutter around. Very interesting.

Hugs

Ruth Hiebert said...

Oh,this must have been so much fun.Dipping the fingers in sugar water,explains the shiny fingers
tips.

Reanaclaire said...

hello Ginny, so that was where you went.. butterfly farm.. they are colorful, aint they?

Shanda said...

They have butterfly farms in Costa Rica and they export them all over the world. We went a few times and it was so interesting.

George said...

I didn't realize that the butterflies needed such a high body temperature in order to fly. It must have been quite an experience to have them eating from your hand.

Joanne said...

I learn so much from you! I never knew that about butterflies! I'll have to let my son know this...he loves them.
Blessings, Joanne

RoeH said...

I love butterflies. They are quite the miracle of nature. Along with many other things.

SquirrelQueen said...

That would be a fun exhibit to see, now we know your mystery destination.

I didn't know that about their body temps, no wonder they are all over my yard right now. You got some really great photos Ginny.

Tracy said...

Ahhh, you had quite the meangerie of guests, didn't you? I love butterfly gardens and didn't know the trivia about the heat affecting their flight....

Tammy@Simple Southern Happiness said...

Amazing, I would think it would feel like tiny tickles to your fingers as they feed. Interesting fact about the temps.

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

That looks like fun. How can you not love butterflies? :-)

pam said...

Butterfly exhibits are so wonderful. Your green shirt reminded me of when we went to such an exhibit in Chicago when the girls were younger. Our youngest had on a BRIGHT green shirt. She was soon COVERED with butterflies. No one wanted her to move because they all wanted to take pictures as the green shirt was an amazing background to be able to see them so well.
Hope you're staying cool.

MadSnapper said...

talk about enchanting, this is IT. I would so love to hold one like you did. maybe i should try the sugar water the next time i see them in the yard, they almost sit on my camera at times and on bobs head and even on the backs of the dogs, so it might work. a wonderful place to visit. the body heat thing must be why we see them here in the cooler temps and they sit on the bushes in the sun, maybe they are heating up so they can fly. very interesting facts

Anonymous said...

Hi Ginny, I was stumped! Ha! Glad you enjoyed that butterfly program. Have a wonderful day!

Fred Alton said...

Beautiful butterflies! And interesting and informative info about them and their habits. And you truly do let your light shine through the most amazing ways!

Stephanie V said...

You seem to have made a lot of new friends :)

Darlene said...

Very cool. Love the pictures. Interesting fact about butterflys and flying. I liked the scripture you used.

Rose said...

Oh, I would have enjoyed visiting that place!

Glenda said...

Beautiful, delicate little creatures! I would enjoy a butterfly farm.

I like the passage from Jeremiah that you chose.

Mary Bergfeld said...

I never knew that about the temperatures required for butterflies to fly. Re the rice cakes: 25 minutes should be fine for the first bake at 350 degrees, but you'll need another five minutes to melt the cheese. I hope you've had a great day. Blessings...Mary

S. Etole said...

Didn't realize they needed such warm temperatures. Great photos!

Regina said...

The last verse in Jer. is very similar to Psalm 1..what a place..they even let you pick them up? I've never heard of that..and sugar water? I mean they are so delicate! I've been reading about the heatwave and just as you've said, they do come out when it's hot-

Ann said...

what a fascinating place to visit. I had no idea about the 86 degree thing. very interesting

Annie Jeffries said...

Ginny, you and the catapillar MATCH. :-)

aspiritofsimplicity said...

what the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly.

LC said...

Loved your mystery garden tour and your butterfly adventure posts!

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

WOW! It is so nice that the butterflies actually landed on your hand! I took my grandson to a butterfly pavilion in Colorado and it was so beautiful but they didn't land on us.

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OOOH I love these photos...

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