Yesterday, my day was entirely rearranged for me. I only did a few of the things I wanted/needed to do and a lot of other things I never planned on doing. When I hung the sheets out to dry, a monarch butterfly flew through the garden and a viceroy butterfly rested on one of the sheets I had just hung on the line. The link to the viceroy butterfly explains why it is called the viceroy and how it benefits by looking so much like the monarch. Here are pictures of the two together. Scroll down a little to see the pictures of each side by side. I am fascinated by monarch butterflies because the butterflies that have never been to Mexico migrate to the same area every year and the ones that come to Minnesota each year have probably never been here. I think that the ones that arrive in Minnesota are from eggs produced by ones that have left Mexico and die before arriving in Minnesota. Unfortunately this year, the monarch population is significantly down. One of the factors is reduction of habitat.

This morning, the day began with a very heavy thunderstorm. We were taken out of the swimming pool because of the lightening. The pool is inside the healthclub so I am not certain about the rationale but I guess the corporate management needs to protect itself. For me it was not so bad as I had only a couple more laps to swim but the people who arrived at that time eventually did not have much swimming time.