Butterflies, Orange Blossoms, and Mary Stewart

Mary Stewart Moment #1

I had a delightful and unexpected “Mary Stewart" moment this week—a perfect way to celebrate the author’s birthday anniversary on September 17th. In my previous blog post here, I’d named Mary Stewart as my favorite author to reread.

Hiking along a trail a few days ago, I stopped to admire a butterfly. Fortunately, I had my camera with me and the butterfly obligingly posed for a series of pictures.

Returning home, I meant to do some research and see what kind of butterfly I’d encountered. I failed to investigate right away, however, becoming caught up in writing a Mary Stewart tribute post.

When I finished my blog, I did embark on an internet search for a butterfly—the namesake of one of Mary's characters, Vanessa March. This is what I found:

And this is my own picture—the butterfly I saw sunning herself on the trail: