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
huntress
April 3, 2012 at 6:43ami’m the same way about Praying Mantis.
Marian Allen
April 3, 2012 at 8:41amI 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
Lisa donohue
April 3, 2012 at 6:38amI 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! 🙂
Marian Allen
April 3, 2012 at 8:38amLisa, 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
Su
April 3, 2012 at 12:33amI 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! 🙂
Marian Allen
April 3, 2012 at 8:36amSu – lol! Sara solved that problem by declaring them all the same one. 😉
Jeremy Bates
April 2, 2012 at 11:47pmHey, 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
Marian Allen
April 3, 2012 at 8:35amLOL! 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
Patricia Stoltey
April 2, 2012 at 11:22pmI 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
Marian Allen
April 3, 2012 at 8:33amSee you, Patricia! I hope you come to Magna this year. If you do, let’s meet up!
MA
Gail Baugniet
April 2, 2012 at 7:14pmYour 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)
Marian Allen
April 2, 2012 at 10:18pmlol! 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
michelle
April 2, 2012 at 4:58pmDelightful 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!
Marian Allen
April 2, 2012 at 10:16pmKids 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
Claire Hennessy
April 2, 2012 at 4:45pmI’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.
Marian Allen
April 2, 2012 at 5:45pmAbsolutely, Claire, on all counts! 🙂
Liz Brownlee
April 2, 2012 at 3:17pmLovely! And really enjoyed your poem under ‘A’. I shall try and follow you but your follow things says it is not enabled.
Marian Allen
April 2, 2012 at 4:38pmI’m so glad you enjoyed the poem! Thanks for telling me about the broken thingy. I’ll try to fix it. 🙂
MA
The Writing Goddess
April 2, 2012 at 1:07pmButterflies and Burglars – not a combination I was expecting. Lovely story about your daughter and Bluey.
Marian Allen
April 2, 2012 at 2:19pmMy 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
Charlotte Henley Babb
April 2, 2012 at 11:41amIt’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
Marian Allen
April 2, 2012 at 11:58amCharlotte, 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
mylatiu
April 2, 2012 at 10:04amHI 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!!!
Marian Allen
April 2, 2012 at 2:16pmMylatiu, that will be a wonderful visit! I would love that place. Take lots of pictures. 🙂
MA
Akseli
April 2, 2012 at 9:13amWhat’s wrong with one word backyard? 😛
Butterflies are timid insects: they fly away easily. I think you photographed this with zoom lens.
Marian Allen
April 2, 2012 at 9:30amAkseli, 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
L. Diane Wolfe
April 2, 2012 at 9:10amNo blue butterflies, but we have the swallowtails here.
Marian Allen
April 2, 2012 at 9:23amAren’t they beautiful, Diane? They make me so happy! 🙂