Malibu’s Roma Downey is all-aflutter over her latest project. Her latest book is called “Box of Butterflies” and is due to be released next year. Like most things this Malibu angel touches, you can expect a little magic and a lot of beauty.
“Imagine being a caterpillar who thinks it’s the end of the world,” she exclusively told Malibu Seen, “then it suddenly becomes a butterfly. They are such a powerful and hopeful reminder that transformation is possible and that dreams do come true.”
As long as we are flying around on the subject of butterflies, there is still time to view their majesty for yourself in a lush outdoor setting. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles is celebrating the celestial creatures with its butterfly pavilion, which is on view through Sept. 4. The exhibit is located on the south side of the museum and features rest spots, plus lots of flight space and natural light. Bring your binoculars because you can see hundreds of these free flying beauties in an awesome gallery setting. You will also find plenty of butterfly specialists who will be happy to explain what makes these creatures so unique. You’ll learn all kinds of butterfly basics like how they use their tubular mouths to obtain nectar, how caterpillars feed on leaves and go through their fascinating transformation into adults. As a living exhibit, the backdrop is ever changing with more than 20 California native species, including the splendid Monarch, Mourning Cloak and Buckeye. Hunt around and you may spy one of the 10 species of subtropical varieties from South Florida to Texas.
As for Roma, she says there are a lot of life lessons in the beautiful simplicity of the butterfly. Come early 2018, she hopes her message will fly. She says there are life lessons on the lovely simplicity of the butterfly like, love life, change, hope and discovery, and “by doing what you love,” she says, “you inspire and awaken the hearts of others.”
ON PERSONAL NOTE
Whomever the wonderful woman is who let a little old lady (a complete stranger) with a broken leg into her shiny new black sedan for a ride from Las Flores across PCH last Thursday afternoon, I thank you. You have restored my faith in humanity and in Malibu.