The Beautiful Visitor

Right now I'm in the middle of refinishing a kitchen cabinet that was given to me by a friend.  It's 35 years old, was covered in layers of enamel paint, and had a grease stain on the inside.  It was a total and utter mess, and was living in her garage for the longest time (hence, the stain).  She moved about a month ago to another state, but before she left, she asked if I wanted this pine cabinet.  If I said no, it would've gone into the trash.  I had the funny feeling I needed to take it, but didn't know why.

I took it, not knowing exactly what I'd do with it.  First it was going to be a part of Fred's office once it got refinished, but it's not the right size, and would require a lot of modifications in order for it to work.  We both worked on stripping and sanding it down to its original naked pine life.  I did have "before" pictures on my Facebook account, but when I decided to tear it down in favor of this format, I didn't save any of those pictures.  All I have is the current view, which shows we're almost done with the sanding.  Next comes some modifications, then I can go ahead and give the piece some character and polyurethane, which I want to have done very soon so I can shut it up the garage and let the piece dry without all kinds of garbage in the finish.

As I was running a palm sander, a beautiful visitor flew over and spent the longest period of time sitting next to me.

The poor thing...you can see is left wing near the top and bottom have both seen better days.  As far as I know, he's still out there on the blanket, resting away on this beautiful fall day.  He stayed put easily 5+ minutes while I ran the sander.  I almost can't believe he wasn't scared away with the noise.

In my prayers, I've often thanked Father God and my Lord, Jesus Christ, for allowing me time on earth to witness some of His most beautiful creations, including the beauty and delicate nature of a butterfly, who scientists still continue to trap an study because a creature so small, so "simple" still manages to outsmart them on his way of life.

Just before I posted this, I looked out in the garage, and saw he was still there - 15 minutes and counting!   :)

UPDATE:
He crawled into a pile of toxic shavings, so I fished him out.  He stayed with me over a half hour and allowed me a good photo shoot.  When I was done, I let Fred take him across the street so two small girls could fall spell to his beauty.  The girls were excited, and their mom took pictures of them with "Ralph" before they opened up the patio door and he flew away onto the fence.