They schooled us at Ft Dix, New Jersey. The cadre kept up a constant drumbeat, ‘You’re going to ‘Nam!’ Though I had my BS degree safely in the vault, I at the time, never heard of this Viet Nam? Where was it, and why was I going there? So, when they instructed us in the best ways to look for the ‘enemy’ in the bush, I paid close attention, for they were also saying that in this ‘Nam, they were making chopped meat out of our troops. (Went from Dix to Ft Sill in Oklahoma for my 105 mm artillery training, and then at that last formation when they called out the Orders, it was him ‘Nam, him Germany, him ‘Nam, him Germany (which meant ‘Nam but after a short time) . . . and “Zablow, Return to Home Unit (155 mm towed).” The crazy 287 arty was never called up. It was filled with 1/2 crazy NYC cops & fully crazy NYC sanitation guys . . . and me . . . maybe the VCong pleaded with us to not send us, is a possibility).

So here I am in the Butterflies & Blooms Briar Patch Habitat (Eatonton, Georgia), and its Summer ’16 and I am using those same techniques to not look for enemy, but for cooping butterflies in this very early morning light. Found some swell sleeping butterflies, especially those Eastern Black Swallowtails, featured in the panel at the top of your screen, ‘Jeff’s Earrings.’

Jackpot! too, when I locked onto this magnificent chrysalis. Now, this just makes me stare, and summons up my Biology degree background, and makes me think, Nice Job  Virginia C Linch! I mean, how do you wrap your understanding around such a miracle of life/engineering/survival/sculpture/design/ingenuity? And I get real religious when I find such as this. My former snarky New York City/NY Metropolitan area friends, many of whom believed that their huge $uccess was due solely to their own worthiness, are perhaps too early dismissive of the wonder of such as this chrysalis.

Now at this time I’m supposed to share my ID of this butterfly species. Truth be told, I am no authority as to chrysalis identification. So, out goes the call to Virginia?

Jeff