Long awaited lady

Best viewed *larger*

I saw it take off from the warm stone path where it was sunbathing & crept up slowly to get a shot, unfortunately I only got the face & a bit of the detail of the wings, I tried to slowly move behind it but it took off & disappeared over the hedge. This is a painted lady butterfly - my dad's favourite butterfly - & a migrant... I didn't see any of these last year, so hopefully this is a good sign of things to come. :)

And a sparrow & a blackbird...

I'm not looking!

No gym today, too busy painting, knees are still pretty poor, but I must go tomorrow, even just to do an hour on the weights & 3 minutes on cardio through those weights... I feel so guilty when I don't go! xxx