Around A Cold Quabbin

Magic On The Wing

Last Saturday we traded the sub zeros of a frustratingly snow-heaped winter wonderland for another visit to the encapsulated jungle-like environment of Magic Wings butterfly conservatory, in Deerfield.

We checked our burly coats in the coat room... stepped through a pressurized hot air isolation room... now just a few minutes for the cold camera to de-fog...

...and voila'. We realized we were in our tee-shirts and sweltering in the tropics. Arriving faster than any jet could take us.

It's been almost two years to the day since we last visited this place. And under similarly brutal New England conditions, if memory serves.

But in this glass enclosed world the marches of time distance and weather seem to hold still...

...even as it's residents race about like it's just another balmy mid-summer morning.

The shock of a winter-acclimated body to soaking, extravagant levels of thick humid air is trounced by heaping eyefuls of color and design, courtesy of a nature at full swell.

It's a place to bring your camera and cheat winter. To look ahead to the summer.

Even while it looks back at you.

It's always a long slog getting through this darker half of the year, and the fight can at times seem bitter and unending.

A break from the battle can be healthy to body and mind. And especially during this particularly 'challenging' January...

...butterflies are a bit of a treat.