Day: July 23, 2026

Butterfly Among Zinnias

Published on by Russell SmithLeave a comment
This is the time of year that I love most! Note how the skipper is deploying its proboscis, also known as a coiled tube. The butterfly eats like a person sucking on a straw in a milkshake.

There’s a lovely online field guide for butterflies. This is a skipper, a silver-spotted skipper to be exact. It’s scientific name is Epargyreus clarus. I took these photos less than an hour ago. I’ve been relying on my iPhone quite a bit lately. I vow henceforth to carry my Cannon Rebel with me everywhere I go.

Ragtag Daily Prompt: Silk

Published on by Russell SmithLeave a comment

From day one of her ascension to the throne, Pirouette made clear certain changes to court etiquette. While both men and women were still required to wear wigs, men were now allowed to wear either white or black wigs. The shiny, silky black wigs could extend down to the shoulders. Women, on the other hand, were still required to wear white, powdered wigs. The heavy white foundation, the mouche here or there (chin or cheek were also still required by both sexes. Probably the most onerous and expensive change was the requirement for all men and women to wear silk stockings.

When Pirouette assumed the high office of Queen, all stockings had to be imported, making just a few pair equivalent in value to a small house. Ever the economizer, Pirouette managed to smuggle the necessities for silk manufacture into the Kingdom: silkworms, mulberry trees, harvesters and so on. Pirouette maintained a strict monopoly on the silk trade in her kingdom, thus making it an indirect tax on the nobility and wealthy commoners. In years to come, Queen Pirouette would be given the sobriquet of “the Wise.”