It’s two weeks of birthdays, of friends, ending today, with my own: #76, an American patriotic number (1776!) and a nice composite of the really square 4 and the really prime 19.
The tally for the past two weeks:
23 August, Kim Darnell; 27 August, Ken Rudolph; 30 August, Ellen Sulkis James; 31 August, Benita Bendon Campbell; 2 September, Mike Jankulak; 6 September, me
(I now disregard my grand-daughter Opal’s half-birthday, on 4 September, since she’s now truly a teenager and past such things. Now in the 8th grade, how did that happen?) All names that have come up on this blog in the past.
Meanwhile, greetings come to me in droves, over 70 already, and it’s only 9 a.m. here. In several languages, some with images or texts. Notably, a Jacquie Lawson card from Bonnie (Benita) and her husband Ed, an animated card that introduces a set of British butterflies flitting over pink morning glories. The butterfly census:
I was much taken by the showy Purple Emperor. Only the males have the purple sheen (the females are brown, but interestingly patterned). But then I learned from Wikipedia that
Males … spend much of their time in the tree tops, defending their territory from rivals, though they will sometimes descend to drink from puddles or feed. Unlike most butterflies, the purple emperor does not feed from flowers but instead on the honeydew secreted by aphids, sap oozing from oak trees, and on dung, urine and animal carcasses. … the males’ penchant for roadkill can often cause them to be killed by cars.
Hey, it’s a jungle out there.
[Addendum: Max Vasilatos has been by to take me to lunch, and reports that this posting infected her with the marching earworm “76 Trombones” from Meredith Wilson’s excellent show The Music Man (and so also with the love ballad “Goodnight My Someone” (same tune, 3/4 time, slower tempo) from that show.]
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