Sick Day

I've been almost bragging to friends that I haven't been sick this winter...I really should have knocked on wood! On Monday I started feeling a bit off and by Tuesday I was suffering from a full blown cold - sore head, sore throat, congested chest and lack of energy. I must have picked up something other than seeds at the event on Sunday.

So what was supposed to be my first Farmer's Market day yesterday had to be cancelled. It was a real let down but there was no way I was getting out of bed let alone try to hawk personal care products - I'm sure everyone would have kept a wide berth of me in any case. I do look forward to next week though and hope that I'm feeling better by then. In the meantime I'll be sipping on tea with honey and guzzling my herbal cough medicine - who ever heard of one that tasted good?

I won't be up to much today but felt that since I was stuck indoors that I'd start working on a little project inspired by crafts found on Pinterest - rock paintings. I've always enjoyed painting but have generally done it on flat surfaces such as watercolour paper or canvas. It's a different experience to paint on something textured and three dimensional and I'm pretty much hooked to say the least.

One of my favourite pieces I've painted recently was one of a butterfly. I'm not certain which one it is - maybe a Monarch? It got me to thinking that it might be fun to paint local butterflies to not only have a fun day being creative but to become more familiar with the ones I see in the garden. I've put a little collage of the main types found on the Isle of Man and will be working from those images (see below).

I think everyone loves butterflies (other than those pesky white ones who ravage brassica) but I wonder how many varieties can average people identify. Do you know many?