nature, short story

Gulf Fritillary Facts

gulf fritillary butterfly perching on flower
Photo by Jonathan Borba on Pexels.com

Common to the southern part of the United States, onward through Mexico, Central America, the West Indies on to South America as well as Florida this butterfly-known as the Gulf Fritillary-moves to the north in the spring and breeds in the southeast. Florida gets large numbers throughout every county of the state.

As an adult, the Gulf fritillary is medium in size, with the female being the largest, and has a wingspan of 65-95 mm. What you will see are bright orange wings with black marking, females are a little darker and have more markings.

Each year brings multiple generations of the Gulf frittilary and they are always in Florida. Small yellow eggs are found on or near various passionflowers, larvae have a voracious appetite for the host vines.

Source: Gulf fritillary facts

This weeks prompt for Six Sentence Story was “Gulf.” To join in on the fun go to: Girlie on the Edge

non-fiction, poetry

Circling to my Soul

orange vinyl record
Photo by Stas Knop on Pexels.com

Around the turntable the vinyl spins, the little circle spindled
Needles tracking and magically, sounds of Kansas reach my ears
Dust in the Wind plays to my soul, creating thoughts and sending electric vibes
Dropping another hit mix to the table Janis belts out her heart
Cat waits his turn while I sing along with my girl
And this is how it is when music speaks to my soul

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This is a combination of prompts of my Kansas prompt for National Poetry Month and of the weekly Six Sentence Story prompt by Girlie on the Edge.
Who knows what tomorrow might bring.

non-fiction

Barred Owl Facts

Photo by Stephanie LeBlanc on Unsplash Barred Owls
Photo by Stephanie LeBlanc on Unsplash

Barred Owls have a rich baritone sound, often heard in southern swamps, calling to each other in the pleasant noises of friendship.

Nightly, hunting and calling is most frequent, but these owls may also be around during the day, especially at dawn and dusk when food may be more likely found.

The Great Horned Owl, being a larger owl and a bit more aggressive, their territory may encourage the Barred Owl’s movement away from open wooded areas.
Mice and small creatures, including squirrels, rabbits, opossums, shrews are fair game to owls; And just in case you didn’t know, they also may eat birds, frogs, salamanders, snakes, lizards, some insects and crayfish, crabs, and fish.

Nesting is established with both male and female, a duet of sorts, sometimes in old nests left by other creatures and perhaps alternating nests with some hawks. Mother owls stay in the nest with the eggs and the male takes care of the female and the young start flight at about 6 weeks old.

Source: Audubon.org

There you have it! That is my Six Sentence Story. Want to going? Go to: Girlie on the Edge

short story

Appreciating Beauty – It’s Complicated

59299279_10161655261660203_1372984204240879616_n Photo Credit: Lisa Tomey

Delilah viewed the carefully placed bricks on the pavement, walked on for many decades at the palace grounds, the history being that these bricks were installed by labor much like those of slaves, although it was not clear if these were actual bricks placed by slaves.

Edward pondered the history, about how this beautiful arrangement came about and set out to research the facts, delving into the stories from several sources, still uncertain which of these stories were true or where the gray area was; It became a mash up of many words, none certain to be true.

Solving the question about the origin of the bricklayers was a dilemma both Delilah and Edward faced and both agreed on one thing: regardless of the history, the crafting of these bricks was beautiful and skillfully accomplished and both appreciated the fine quality.

Intricacy being what it is, it’s probably safe to say that slavery was involved in creating the many pathways, looking at the dates of installation and the known history of those times it’s probable that there were slaves used in the making of these walkways; Interesting, is that there were free people of African American ancestry who lived and worked in the region, while slavery was still occurring.

Great stories come from the history, even if muddied, of the time these bricks were placed and ever since; Tourists come from all over to learn of the history and pay their respects to the area, complicated by the varied versions of the same story, each pointing a different direction, but all the same, stories of the past.

Needless to say, but saying just the same, it’s important to research stories and keep an open mind to the possibilities that historical research will always have gray areas, no matter how much a scholar claims to know the facts; Such is the case, even today, as when you inquire about current events and hear several versions of the same event, much based on one person’s point of view versus another’s; So it is important to understand the need to document that which is factual and, goodness knows, the facts are often based on empirical research versus theory so it’s hard to gain any true designs of what is real and what is not, meaning there is no black or white, only more shades of gray; Going back to the design of the bricks, the answer is: Who Knows? And the question becomes: Does the beauty of the brickwork change with the history of the laying of the bricks?; And that, my friend, raises more questions.

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So, there you have it! This is my Six Sentence Story
This is based on the prompt “Design” provided by Denise every Sunday.
Click on this LINK and join!!