It Must Be Fall!

While, yes, the temperature has turned cooler, the leaves do not turn colors and only a few fall from the trees. Therefore, it's easy to forget that it's fall after all.

However, while hanging out in the backyard the other day, we were visited by a monarch butterfly. This reminded me that the Great Monarch Migration is underway! Every autumn, thousands and thousands of monarch butterflies make their way from their summer home in Ontario (and likely a few neighboring provinces), to the state of Michoacan here in Mexico, where they spend the winter. How miraculous is it that those tiny little bodies can cover so much distance? Never mind that they fly--they still don't go very fast!

This afternoon, as Clara and I were walking downtown, I noted more and more monarchs, here and there, slowly but surely making their way south. Thinking that we might have a treat in store for ourselves, I made an unplanned stop in the Alameda. Clara and I claimed an empty bench and, sure enough, we were blessed with a park full of butterflies if we looked to the tops of the trees. Although they certainly didn't congregate as closely as they do when they arrive at the Butterfly Sanctuary in Michoacan, we spent a good twenty minutes watching the butterflies, once after another, and often two or three at a time. What a treat!

OK, I spent a good twenty minutes watching the butterflies. Clara was more interested in her stuffed monkey and all the other people walking past us.

I know I'll be spending more time in the Alameda in the next few weeks!