A local garden store and greenhouse has, for the past two summers, been the site of a monarch butterfly pavilion.  This is two large tents full of a wide range of plants, and the tents serve as a home to monarch butterflies from the chrysalis stage to young adulthood.  Then they are released in late summer so they may start their migration to Mexico.  The entire migration from Maine to Mexico and back takes three generations of butterflies, but the always end up in their ancestral breeding grounds.  Truly amazing, and there is no solid evolutionary explanation for how this behavior came to be.

well today was the day Mark released them this year, and Sue and I were invited to take part in a couple different ways.  In addition to the release, the store hosted an art sale, and Sue set up a table of her paintings and hand made jewelry.  This was the first such sale Sue has attempted. I was invited to juggle ( what else).  Since there were heavy rains this morning, the release was delayed an hour.  This could have been a frustration for the hundreds of people who came to watch, but instead, I used that time to do some "walk around" performing, keeping the people entertained during the delay.  Once the sun was out and everything was dry again, it came time for the release. I asked Mark afterwards how many butterflies there were; he told me 1500 monarchs were sent on their way from his pavilion today.

most of the people who came were either not interested or unaware of the art sale,  but Sue did sell three pieces of jewelry.  Better than that, she got a lot of encouraging words, some tips from someone who has done art sales for years, and she has some ideas of,where else she could sell and how to display her work more professionally.

All in all it was an intriguing afternoon, a great way to see folks from the community, and share our gifts while others shared theirs as well.