I moved to Georgia in July 2017. Eatonton was to be my home there for a little more than 2 years. Established a fine natives Georgia butterfly garden in downtown Eatonton, just 2 blocks for the County Courthouse. We had much JOY! in that garden, with visits from Great Purple Hairstreaks, Zebra Longwings, Giant Swallowtails, Palamedes Swallowtails and Monarchs. lots of Monarchs.

My whole life, from way back in Brooklyn when we had a postage stamp-size back garden, I’d dreamed of have a luxurious garden, with butterflies and wildlife, lots of wildlife. I achieve that goal, briefly, in Sheffield, Massachusetts, on those 35 acres in the sylvan Berkshire Mountains, but treachery forced the sale of that rich wildlife private refuge.

Georgia enabled me to fulfill. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Success remained the driving force for me. Eatonton led us to reexamine, and Macon, Georgia beckoned. Now at home here in Macon, our backyard large and growing (just added today = Lobelia, Agastache, Bronze Fennel, Black & Blue Salvia & Coneflower), Georgia is all I had hope it would be, my Alamo, so to speak, my last stand. G-d has seen to it that I survived to this point, even overcoming the treachery of enemies note above, and Oh How I Hope G-d means for me to flourish this .68 acres, create an Oasis for Wildlife, and maybe, just maybe show it to those of you, whom I can get to visit us.

All the while you’ve been sampling this, you’ve been glancing at this affirmation of my affection for Georgia, my long sought after, finally achieved image of a Georgia Satyr butterfly, disregarding that I found it in nearby Big Bend Wildlife Management Area, across the Georgia border, in the Florida Panhandle (northwestern Florida).

My second trip to score a good Georgia image, and for me, affirmation, that despite what most say, I am a Georgian. A survivor of my own Alamo, I am. Thank Y-u.

Jeff