I'm jealous again. Love those Red-Spotted Purples. And they love puddling. The first one I ever saw was in Louisa, Kentucky when we were visiting the old family cemeteries. We stopped at a Wendy's to have lunch and as I was eating I could see this dark butterfly out by the parking lot. I was tired so I thought, "If it's still there when we go to leave, I'll check it out." And it was still there and it had been drizzling so the ground was moist. It was puddling in the gravel outside the parking lot; the gravel was a bit smaller than Dave's photo, though. I took so many photos as it is such a beautiful butterfly.
That's one of the hazards of traveling with me - I will chase butterflies anywhere. Tiger Swallowtails nectaring on a thistle outside McDonald's. I found a Black Swallowtail caterpillar in a bunch of Queen Anne's Lace outside a Wendy's somewhere in Virginia. (I was like, "Give me five minutes and I bet I can find one." It didn't take that long.) Even when we were headed to the family reunion one year Grandma had to go to the ER (turned out to be just a UTI but she only has one kidney so we worry). I told everyone, "I'll be just past the parking lot in the field." I saw Monarchs on native milkweed and my first Red Admiral. Grandma was ready to go and my family was yelling at ME that it was time to leave. That ER was too darn fast! Grandma was all apologetic about ruining our day and I was like, "I saw a Red Admiral! It was awesome!" So at least I'm easily amused and can pretty much entertain myself. Although, Grandma still doesn't understand why I wanted to raise a "Catalpa worm". I showed her the picture of the moth it turns into in my book and she was all surprised. And I had to explain the difference between worms and caterpillars (I have this conversation at MOSI at least once a month).
