Common Wood Nymph, Mame's

I am at an advanced enough age that the very notion on getting on the trail—any trail—in search of wood nymphs is both monumentally futile and supremely delusional. Still, to be alive... at any age... is to be eternally hopeful, and so, on yet another torrid afternoon, I was wading through the parched and knee-high grass that was growing along the edge of a nearby forest where hope was springing eternal. Rumor had it that there were nymphs in these woods, and I was ready, willing, and able to find one. But what I sought, of course, wasn't quite the stuff of Viagra commercials. Rather, the object of this quest was a small, rather shy butterfly that often makes its presence known in midsummer. Cercyonis pegala is a pretty common species that is now cruising through the grasslands in search of appropriate egg-laying sites—a grass called Purpletop, in particular. This nymph was good enough to reveal herself—or himself—to me in all glory... no medication, before or afterwards, required.