My lovely butterflies in flight

If there was ever an iconic flower that represented my love and passion for the rare and exotic, it would have to be the fleeting flowers of the regal Hippeastrum papilio, dubbed as "The Butterfly Amaryllis".




You can read about it on my website about where it comes from and how to grow it, but I've been infatuated with this amaryllid ever since I first saw it on a Wayside Gardens catalog many many years ago. They hyped it up so much in their catalog as being exceedingly rare and a new species to cultivation. I saved up my allowance to purchase a single bulb 15 years ago and over the past few years, I've tried to order some in to sell or pot up to showcase and display them when they flower because they are absolutely a sight to behold.

Bpeaking of butterflies, I'm again reminded of something that personifies this beautiful creature. This time, it's a piece of music I fell in love with after watching Chen Lu, a former world champion and two-time Olympic medalist from China, skated to a Chinese folk piece called "The Butterfly Lovers". It's a famous story of forbidden love, much like "Romeo & Juliet", from China that's also a full violin concerto I tried to learn when I was still actively playing the violin in high school.

Have a listen:



While we're at it, here's Lu Lu's performance at the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games:



I had a chance to meet Chen Lu when I was in China in 2005. I actually got to skate and get a lesson with her (my first time in a Olympic Size rink!)



R