In the corner of the garden close to the back gate, I found a wing that belonged to a Monarch butterfly. Poor tattered little one, colors dull and listless; I carefully picked her up to bring inside the house to spend eternity resting in a pretty box of similar treasures.

When I went back outside to finish a yard clean-up project, I had a visitor — this magnificent Monarch who stayed still long enough to spread her wings for a picture, vibrant and alive:

It’s a blueblue sky circle of life day here in SoCal.