Western Tiger Swallowtail

A few months ago, our neighbors Ann and Paul invited some of the people on our street for coffee and treats on a  Sunday morning. We met Daniella and Federico who live down the dirt track at the end of Wildwood Trail. Although it is only a few hundred feet back and near the creek, it is like a different world...

 Last night we were invited to there for 'happy hour' and a belated birthday celebration for the coffee giving neighbor. We alll sat on the porch, wreathed with white roses, drank prosecco and were served a delectable succession of appetizers, crostini with olives, home grown peppers stuffed with rice, saffron and cheese, tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella and basil, prosciutto e melone,  zucchini and mushrooms with foccaccia, and more….we declined the pasta in favor of dessert which was the most delicious tiramisu I have ever tasted. We agreed that we should call it 'The Restaurant at the End of the Road' and staggered home replete with great food and good feelings. 

It is our turn next….will it be coffee and pastries on the deck,  apperitivos and spritzers on the port or lunch on the patio or something completely different?  Since Ann is from South Africa, Daniella is from Italy and Federico is Spanish, it seems that perhaps we should have an All American barbecue….

For several weeks I have been tracking a large, fluttering swallowtail which seems to favor the zinnia bed, but I always arrive up there without the camera, and the swallowtail has moved on by the time I fetch it. It,  must, like the zinnias, be getting to the end of it's lifespan since today it fluttered less, sat on a single flower more and waited for me to go down the 25 stairs to the house and return with the camera. It even allowed me to snap away with my camera, so today I give you what I hope is one of the better of about seven hundred butterfly shots.