My weight in ants

I should never again say, "I'll never do that." Previous real-life examples:
"I would never live in Texas."
"I never want to go to Canada -- it's too cold there."
"There are lots of things I want to do in Montreal, but I will never go to the Insectarium."

Although it was a chilly day (high 40s at best), I decided on a whim to go to the Botanical Gardens. However, when I exited the metro station, I accidentally found the Olympic Village (summer Olympics of 1976), and had to wander a new neighborhood before I succeeded in finding the gardens. Once I found them, I started with...you guessed it, the Insectarium. Not because I wanted to go in there, but because it offered something I needed: heat. I am not accustomed to walking around in the cold, no matter how bundled up I am. Once inside the building, I passed up nearly all the "icky" bugs in search of the so-called butterfly room. Probably because of the exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum, I pictured the butterflies being alive in there, but sadly for them, they're not. So, I braved the frigid cold (by my standards) and explored the exterior gardens for several hours. The highlight-- because, let's face it, most of the other plants are cold and dead by now -- was the Magic of Lanterns. It was really, really pretty. I've heard it's even prettier at night, and I considered hanging around outside in the dropping temps (supposed to get down to 27 tonight) waiting for it to get dark, but you know what? I like being warm, and I didn't want to end up cold and dead like the flowers. Lovely image, isn't it?

Here are some pretty pictures of my day if you'd like to take the walk with me from the comfort of your presumably heated room.

On an unrelated note, here's my movie update for you. On a whim last night, I emailed the slimy but handsome actor, Andre, to ask if he had a copy of the script yet. He sent me a long apology saying he got the impression I didn't want to do the "intimate scene" with him (YA THINK?) and they already finished filming last week. He opened the door for continued conversation by sending me a long list of questions, but I'm pretty sure slimy is still slimy. Perhaps they could find a space for him in the Insectarium.