B is for Butterfly. Okay, and Burglar.

I took this photograph of a Beautiful Butterfly in our Back yard (I WILL NOT write back       yard as one word, and you can’t make me!!), next to the asparagus Bed.

When #4 daughter was wee, she became enchanted by small blue-and-black caterpillars. She pretended there was only one, who got around a lot, and she named him Bluey. Then, when she saw little blue butterflies, she decided those were Bluey after he came out of the cocoon. I never see a little blue butterfly without getting just a little bit excited and thinking, “Look! It’s Bluey!” She was a fun kid, and she’s a fun grownup.

Guys, I actually met Sue Grafton, author of B IS FOR BURGLAR and the other Kinsey Milhone. I know, a lot of people have met her; she’s a very friendly and approachable person. She was the keynote speaker at Magna cum Murder one year. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, do. It’s a treat and an education.

But the Best Burglar Book I ever read was James Kirkwood’s P.S. YOUR CAT IS DEAD. Kirkwood writes strange, strange books, y’all. And he does it very, very well.

WRITING PROMPT: Your character catches someone in the act of burgling his or her home or place of business.

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “B is for Butterfly. Okay, and Burglar.

  1. Akseli

    April 2, 2012 at 9:13am

    What’s wrong with one word backyard? 😛

    Butterflies are timid insects: they fly away easily. I think you photographed this with zoom lens.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 2, 2012 at 9:30am

      Akseli, I have what my friends and family and critique group call “things”. Maybe a tiny little touch of OCD? We write front yard and front seat, so why shouldn’t we write back yard and back seat? Drives me NUTS. Nuts-er.

      And I don’t have a zoom lens. It was just a dopey butterfly. 😉

      MA

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  2. mylatiu

    April 2, 2012 at 10:04am

    HI Marian,

    Me and my family planing to visit a butterfly paradise near our place! Butterfly are one of the beautiful creature of God! Butterfly were very much amazing!!!

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 2, 2012 at 2:16pm

      Mylatiu, that will be a wonderful visit! I would love that place. Take lots of pictures. 🙂

      MA

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  3. Charlotte Henley Babb

    April 2, 2012 at 11:41am

    It’s funny how we choose to write our words. I like compounds like backyard, streetlight, taillight, and such. Often my spellcheck does not agree. 😉

    I bought your turtle feathers book just now on my phone, and it looks like lots of fun. Happy a – Z i-ng

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 2, 2012 at 11:58am

      Charlotte, I like compounds, too, but those two just … well, they’re “one of my things”. lol Babydoll. Puppydog. My spellcheck doesn’t like those, either. 😀

      Thanks for buying TURTLE FEATHERS! I do hope you enjoy it!

      MA

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  4. The Writing Goddess

    April 2, 2012 at 1:07pm

    Butterflies and Burglars – not a combination I was expecting. Lovely story about your daughter and Bluey.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 2, 2012 at 2:19pm

      My brain tends to skip sideways like that. Yes, #4 daughter was a funny little kid. She used to make piles of dirt and claim she was building houses for ants. 🙂

      MA

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  5. Liz Brownlee

    April 2, 2012 at 3:17pm

    Lovely! And really enjoyed your poem under ‘A’. I shall try and follow you but your follow things says it is not enabled.

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 2, 2012 at 4:38pm

      I’m so glad you enjoyed the poem! Thanks for telling me about the broken thingy. I’ll try to fix it. 🙂

      MA

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  6. Claire Hennessy

    April 2, 2012 at 4:45pm

    I’m sorry I have to disagree – it’s not back yard, it’s back GARDEN!! LOL Love the bluey story – isn’t it lovely how kids think and that the magic can last a lifetime. Special.

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  7. michelle

    April 2, 2012 at 4:58pm

    Delightful post!
    It reminds me of one little toddler learning to speak, who kept on saying flutterby… not so far off the mark though, since it does flutter by as it passes…
    Lovely idea… prompt at the end of your post!

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 2, 2012 at 10:16pm

      Kids so often get things right when they get them wrong! That same daughter thought Tupperware containers were called tug-o-war because it was so hard to get them open!

      Glad you like the prompt — I’ve had one at the end of almost every post for two years now. 🙂

      MA

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  8. Gail Baugniet

    April 2, 2012 at 7:14pm

    Your comment about refusing to write back yard as one word makes me think you had a bad experience with a critique comment . . . those seem to be the ones that stick with me the longest. I’ve never met Sue Grafton (read all the books, though) so you are at least one up on me. Luv the butterfly picture.
    http://gail-baugniet.blogspot.com Theme: A World of Crime
    (B is for Bungled Burglaries)

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 2, 2012 at 10:18pm

      lol! No, Gail, it just bugs me. I think it’s the disharmony between front yard and backyard, front seat and backseat. Why? Why? Can anyone tell me why?

      MA

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  9. Patricia Stoltey

    April 2, 2012 at 11:22pm

    I sometimes go to Magna cum Murder because I used to live in Muncie. Have we talked about this before? Anyway, I’ll go again when I can. It’s one of my favorites. Okay, I’m off again to make more A to Z visits. See you later, Marian.

    Patricia Stoltey

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 3, 2012 at 8:33am

      See you, Patricia! I hope you come to Magna this year. If you do, let’s meet up!

      MA

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  10. Jeremy Bates

    April 2, 2012 at 11:47pm

    Hey, get that beautiful butterfly out of the garden! You trying to kill that poor, lovely creature with asparagus?

    Ok, I am calm now. Here’s the story in brief.

    My sibling and I were eating steak, potatoes and….yech, asparagus one evening when we were young.

    Dad noticed we weren’t eating the yechy thing. He made me take a bite. I vomited. He was angry. Because of that, I couldn’t go roller skating on that Friday night and meet my sweetykins.

    Now you know why I detest asparagus.

    Don’t make me call the SPCA! lol

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 3, 2012 at 8:35am

      LOL! I used to loathe asparagus, too, until I ate some of the real stuff, not that mush in the can. Although ~whispers~I like the mush in the cans now, too.~/whispers~

      But I feel your pain, dude.

      MA

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  11. Su

    April 3, 2012 at 12:33am

    I love love love caterpillars and butterflies. I used to try to name them all when I was small, & I would get so upset that I couldn’t tell them apart! 🙂

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 3, 2012 at 8:36am

      Su – lol! Sara solved that problem by declaring them all the same one. 😉

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  12. Lisa donohue

    April 3, 2012 at 6:38am

    I once had a pair of blue wellington boots, and would be followed round the fields by a cloud of little blue butterflies – I would love to know what they were thinking- hound the giant out of town, or all hail the butterfly goddess? Hope it was the latter! My daughter once formed an attachment to a small grey slug- love how carefully children look at stuff! 🙂

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 3, 2012 at 8:38am

      Lisa, that sounds like a kid’s book to me: The Wonderful Wellington Boots. 🙂

      YES, children are wonderful role models in that way. I hate to see a grown-up on a “pleasure” walk with a kid, impatient when the kid wants to stop and inspect something “insignificant”.

      MA

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      April 3, 2012 at 8:41am

      I absolutely LOVE Praying Mantises! My kids think they’re creepy, but I think they’re super! #4 daughter and I found a cocoon outside once, where it had fallen off a tree, and brought it inside. Fortunately, I had the sense to put it in a jar with a tissue rubber-banded over the top, because it hatched out eleventy-gazillion miniscule Mantises! I was in heaven!

      MA

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