Thursday, August 13

We got up early, but I skipped my exercises in order to get ready to go to the Extension Services office, where the Master Gardeners' educational program for this month was a NOVA film on DVD, entitled "The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies," which traces the 2,000 mile flight of Monarch butterflies across North America to Mexico. The film follows the Monarch from caterpillar to adult, to its treaterous journey, where they must dodge threats like predators, rain, strong winds, large bodies of water, and deserts.

Despite the perils, millions of the beautiful and delicate orange and black creatures arrive at their destination...a tiny high-altitude village in Mexico, where the villagers, who believe the Monarchs are the spirits of their dead ancestors, spend weeks preparing a festival in the butterflies' honor. The festival draws hundreds of people, who spend tourist dollars that provide a boost to the economy of the village.

The Monarchs cling by the thousands to the foliage of the trees in the village (this is the only place in the world that the Monarchs migrate to), where they stay, wings folded, for five months, before migrating north.

The flight back takes place in four generations, as the first group stop and mate around Texas, and then die. The next generation continues on, stops and mates and dies, and so on, until the fourth generation reaches Canada, and the cycle starts over again. The Monarchs that migrate from Canada have never been to Mexico, but they are somehow programmed to know the route, and when to begin their flight. As they fly, other Monarchs from different starting points join the flight south, until millions are aloft.

Naturally, man is a huge threat to the Monarch, because despite laws against it, loggers are decimating the forest in Mexico where the butterflies congregate. At one point in the film, a Monarch lay dying of poison, after a crop duster flew over, spraying chemicals on the plant the Monarch was resting on.

The film lasted an hour, from 9:30 to 10:30, after which Mother and I left, while Hubbie stayed to attend the business meeting.

Back home, Mother went to her house, and I cut up lettuce and veggies for chef's salads for Hubbie's and my lunch. He got home near noon, bringing with him a small box of pears...one of the Master Gardeners who has a pear tree brought a bunch of them to give away.

After we'd eaten, we ran errands...to the store that sells my favorite brand of cottage cheese, to the bank, and to the WDCS for a few groceries, particularly bread, which we were completely out of.

While we were at the grocery store, as I waited for Hubbie to run in and get the cottage cheese, I saw a young woman in a green t-shirt walking across the parking lot. On the back of the t-shirt in huge letters was printed "UP YOURS." What an unladylike statement for a young woman to be displaying on her back, I thought. Then she turned around, and on the front of the shirt was printed "MAKE 7." A 7-Up logo was on the sleeve of the shirt. So putting it all together, the t-shirt read, "MAKE 7 UP YOURS."

Back home, Hubbie bathed Shih Tzu for our trip to pick up the camper tomorrow. Mother will also go with us, and she and Shih Tzu will stay at Daughter's house, while Hubbie and I shop for a few things at the discount warehouse, before we have lunch at Daughter's and then go on to another town to get the camper.

Later, for supper, Hubbie and I had a Mexican casserole, along with bean dip with raw veggies. Mother didn't join us, because she's not fond of Mexican food. After supper, we read for a while before we watched a movie on TV.

Tonight, we watched "Whispers and Lies," recorded from Lifetime Movie Network. Cousins visit an island, where one of the women is interested in seeing a man she's recently met. The island is inhabited by people with a strange agenda, though, and one of the cousins is killed. While the other cousin tries to unravel the mystery of her cousin's death, she discovers that her own life is in danger from the island's inhabitants who seek a cure to a flu-like illness.