A monarch and a matriarch tie for 'natural beauty.'

My brother, Paul, is visiting for a couple of days, and often times when the three remaining members of our original family unit get together, there's some reminiscing about times and places and people. Our pilgrimage to Ireland in 2001 was one of my recent posts. And our last trip to 'Niagara Falls' is also a classic tale.

My youngest niece had never seen Niagara Falls. Paul booked a room at a hotel in Canada that advertised it was 'overlooking the falls with direct access to the casino'. Perfect for Mom who would happy about a shorter walk to the falls, and she has always had an affinity for casinos and a wee bit of believing she might be 'winning enough money' to share with friends and family. My son joined us for the festivities, as well as my niece's best friend who took the virtual tour by phone. As a typical teenager, her cell phone was permanently attached to her ear, and we often asked how her friend was enjoying the trip!

We visited the falls, and the casino, and had a nice dinner at a festive restaurant. We decided to go to the 'Butterfly Conservatory' the next day before leaving for home. And so back to the room we went where others had a view of the falls. We had a view of the back of a wing in the building! Oh well, it was a one night thing, and we settled in for some sleep. Sleep?? At about 3 AM there was a repetitive series of alarms that sounded to me like the fire drill alarm from school. Flo heard it too, and we woke Paul up, who proceeded to call the front desk.

Paul: "There's an alarm going off...what is that?"

Desk: "That's the fire alarm."

Paul: "Is it for real?

Desk: " Well, yes. Fire trucks are here."

Paul: "What should we do?"

Desk: "RUN!!!

To which Paul says,

and ..."What is your name?"

"Robert."

So, Paul left the room to look out a hallway window with a view to the front, and he returned and verified that fire trucks were indeed there. Now we [4] are quickly getting dressed not really knowing what to do. I stepped into the hall, and there were people's heads popping out all of the doors, but it was apparent that English wasn't necessarily a common thread among us. So I retreat back into the room while trying to remember what floor we were on, and where the stairs were, when I see Flo...

She looked exactly like Estelle Getty with her jeans on under her mid -knee nightgown, and her pocketbook hanging off of her folded arms. And I knew she was thinking, "I'm too old for this s***!" If the building wasn't possibly on fire, I would have probably taken a picture for posterity! Priceless!

At the same moment, an announcement repeatedly came over loud speakers in the hallway saying that everything was under control and to:

"Stay in the room."

It didn't really inspire confidence, but maybe was the lesser of two evils. [???]

The next day, the front desk shared that they had been having a problem with false alarms being pulled, and they apologized. We really did want to meet Robert. There was no excuse for his stupidity!! And in the future, our hotel room won't be above the second floor, for sure!!

The butterfly conservatory was the only place that I really wanted to see. After Jer returned from the Buffalo region, we had all breakfast together and proceeded on our way to find those 'fluttering beauties' down the road.It was certainly worth the trip [especially considering the escapades of the night before at the ******hotel!].

It was a 4-5 story building where we entered the butterfiies' habitat. There was lush vegetation, and feeding stations with a variety of fruit for Mother Nature's whispers of color! There were instructions to 'Please do not touch the butterflies.' Many people were trying [unsuccessfully ] to get them to land on them, and settled for pictures instead. My brother's sense of humor may have lead to a heart palpitation or two from the people around us when he stamped his foot on the ground and yelled, "Got him!!" Can you believe that there were many who were not amused?!!

My mom decided to take a little rest, and told us as she sat on a bench , "Just come and get me when you want to leave. Don't shorten the visit because I am sitting down. I'll be watching all of the beautiful butterflies from here."

And then, very slowly and serenely, a Monarch rested upon the Matriarch! My niece was close by with her digital camera taking pictures, and she was able to record this for posterity. I sent the photo into the Post Office, and got stamps made out of this pair of beauties, and sent them to all family and friends of Flo...who then sent them to her on their Christmas cards! She was so surprised !! What fun!!

So glad that the short little trip ended on a positive note. A very natural Kodak moment. God bless ya! and...