This week, the weather has been the best. Warm yet cool with a nice breeze and no humidity. The sky has been beautiful and the clouds perfect. There was a man at work who was waiting for his wife and he showed me an image in the clouds. We laughed and talked about how that is what you used to do to keep yourself occupied. We looked up instead of down at the computer.

Happy birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week. Big balloons go out to all the kids that celebrated.

Every once in a while I get customers who I get into a conversation with about their interesting jobs.

As it was on Monday when this couple came in and the gentleman asked if we had asclepius. I did not know what that was. But he saw it and brought it to the register. I giggled as I have only known it as butterfly weed and never had heard it called anything else. He went to look for his wife and, when they returned, she had two more that she thought were better. As she set it on the counter, her husband said he forgot to look for the eggs. So I took the bait and asked what eggs they were looking for. She replied that she and her partner hatch monarch butterflies. Turns out that she works at a University in Maryland and she and her partner raise the monarchs and release them for their journey. She is also part of the program at the University of Kansas.

The monarchs lay their eggs on the butterfly weed. Then they go through their cycle, transforming from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Then these researchers release them and the University of Kansas has tags that they put on the butterfly which has all their information so, when they reach Mexico, the researchers there can report back to the University.

When the weather is warm enough, the butterflies then return to the states and lay the eggs again and, after a few weeks, the butterflies die.

I found this interesting because I thought the butterflies only lived for a few weeks. As they say, you learn something new every day and I loved this lesson.

Congratulations to all the young fishermen who attended the kids’ derby on Sunday. By the pictures I saw, there many happy anglers.

Have a great week and keep the home candles burning.

Edgartown town news can be sent to kathleencase@comcast.net.