Tiger Swallowtail on Cone Flower Canvas Print

A Tiger Swallowtail butterfly with prominent black, light yellow, and orange patterns is perched on a coneflower. The background is softly blurred with varying shades of green.

I hale from middle class America, a true, blue collar family, the son of a carpenter and stay-at-home mom. My parents, both gone now, came from rather poor families, and grew-up during the Great Depression. Both reaching adulthood during World War II. They were good people, hardworking, salt of the earth, Christian people. Dad was a strong, handsome, quiet man. His word was good as gold and there is nothing he loved more than his family and home. Mother, a petite woman, was fiercely protective of her children. Her face bore witness to her Native American (Cherokee) heritage; dark hair, dark eyes, and high cheek bones. She was quite beautiful. We didn’t have much when I was growing up, but hey, not many people did. As small boys tend to...