Sunday, September 19, 2010

Smart Cars and Butterflies!

Ohhhhhh I had such a good time Saturday morning! A friend of mine is a member of the DFW Smart Car club and invited me to be her
"navigator" for the Smart Car Butterfly Rally! (no, I will not share with you how many times we got lost!) This is Sheri, and her car "June Bug." Have you ever seen anything so cute! The Smart Car club was teaming with Texas Discovery Gardens to provide scholarships for children to participate in some of their programs.
"All sponsorships benefit Texas Discovery Gardens’ 2010-2011 education programs by giving our community’s under served youth a day of environmental learning. These programs teach math in nature, the study of botany and insects, the science of soil, composting and how to lead “greener” lives in the real world through direct, hands-on experiences. "
About 23 cars participated in the rally. Some were decorated with just a few butterflies..

..while others were decked out completely in their butterfly finery! But of course,
"June Bug" was the hit of the show. As we drove from one end of Dallas to the other, heads turned and everyone waved. We went to butterfly gardens, farmers markets and community gardens. Unfortunately there was not enough time to stop and take pictures, but we did enjoy passing by and seeing all the various gardens. The two projects that impressed me the most were the butterfly garden at White Rock Lake's Bath House Cultural Center (created by Dallas Master Gardeners!) and the Lake Highlands Community Garden. This community garden is big. The gardeners incorporate organic and water wise gardening principals and I will tell you the plants were lush and healthy. Very impressive!
After the rally we headed back to the Texas Discovery Garden to the Butterfly Conserva-tory.
We were each given a little sack that contained a live butterfly (raised at the discovery center). On a count of 3...we all opened our sack and let our butterflies go. Mine sat on my finger a while, then I moved her to a leaf to get her strength. Before long she was flying with the other butterflies. If I was a butterfly, think I would enjoy living here!
Sheri, thank you so much for such a wonderful morning-and for such a good cause! Our children are the future. I was very happy to support the Texas Discovery Garden as they educate these future caregivers of our world!

"We have not inherited the earth from our fathers, we are borrowing it from our children.
(Native American Saying)

16 comments:

Racquel said...

What an adorable car! :)

Susie said...

What a great program. I bet you had a wonderful time being the navigator Linda. Those cars are decorated really cute too!

JenningsJunk said...

Soooooooooo glad you posted!!! I was hoping and hoping, since I missed it due to soccer games. Should we be on the lookout now for the Monarch migration? Isn't this the time of year that they fly thru headed south?

Meadowview Thymes said...

Racquel--it is such a cutie!

Susie--not only are they cute, they are so very gas efficient!

JJ--I have been seeing monarch's for some weeks. They are laying their eggs on the milkweed so keep your eyes posted. :)

tina said...

I bet it was fun riding in a smart car! I've never even the inside of one but they look small and cute. Too neat on the butterflies. What kind was it that you released? It is lovely.

misterreereeder said...

I'm glad to hear a followup on the event. No doubt you had fun and it was for a good cause too. I liked the quote you used at the end of your post.

Lola said...

What a wonderful program.
Love that little car. I want one. lol

Meadowview Thymes said...

Tina, it is fun riding in smart cars--but they are small. I am so short, it fit me pretty good.
I don't know what kind of butterfly I had. They have so many unusual ones it didn't look like the typical swallowtail, but may have been.

MR--thank YOU for the link. I could have googled it, but thanks to you I just clicked! :)

Lola-those little cars are all so very cute!!! :)

Jan said...

That is the cutest little car I've ever seen! Just adorable. My daughter would probably love to have it;-) Wow, about the butterfly--it's a pretty one. How on earth do they manage to survive in a skinny envelope like that without flapping their wings and hurting themselves?!?! Obviously people knew what they were doing...but I can't seem to wrap my head around it!

Meadowview Thymes said...

Jan, I wondered the same thing, but the person handing them out was obviously a butterfly man as he seemed to know exactly what he was doing. These were fresh from the cocoon butterflies and not moving too much. Most of them when released, stuck around to gain strength before flying off.

Anonymous said...

Now that's my kind of day, but I think I would have insisted at stopping at the gardens regardless of the time issue. How fun to release a butterfly! I am a real butterfly geek, and was so appalled to see a preying mantis eating one in my garden. My camera is a Canon Powershot SX110, and I love it!

Skeeter said...

What a wonderful program! We discovered the Smart Cars in Germany over 10 years ago. We were surprised it took them so long to get to the USA. Adorable all dolled up in butterflies and June Bug does indeed rock…

meemsnyc said...

Those cars are so cute.

Meadowview Thymes said...

meemsnyc--they are cute, and so much fun to ride in!

Andrea said...

hello, i just came in from Tina's In the Garden. It is really amuzing me, as there are already 3 sites i opened, and these sites are not my former followed blogs, and lo and behold...all of them say about butterflies. Will you not be thinking if you are "me" and that you just have posted butterflies in your site before opening these butterflies serendipitously. Is that mind over matter working at full force??? wonder really! thanks.

Meadowview Thymes said...

Hi Andrea--welcome! Guess we all have been thinking of butterflies lately. We are waiting the arrival of the second group of monarchs. Their journey is so fascinating! I looked at the butterfly pictures on your blog--oh my goodness, they are beautiful!