Beyond the Bolder Boulder: Unveiling the Mythical Gryphonius Makemupius
Monday Mystery Morph! Gryphon Meets Blue Morph
This Monday Boulder Morning Gryphon Butterfly was not spotted in Boulder today, UNLESS you are visiting us at AboutBoulder.com
This first and possibly only appearance of this unusual creature was never reported beyond the screen of this notebook until NOW, when it is being shared for the first time anywhere. Monday morning is a great time to remind ourselves that thinking outside the box can be rewarding, and, well, outside the box of normalcy.
While it frequently seems easier to “stay in the box” with our thinking, and at times it is certainly what we want to do, it is not always the best, most rewarding way to greet the day. We certainly do NOT want to be thinking out of the box during a pre-flight checklist before taking off from a local airport. Imagination is the last thing we want in the picture. To the contrary, we want obsessive adherence to the list, no creativity, and no variation. That is the whole purpose and underlying mission statement for the pre-flight checklist. We WANT to and MUST follow the checklist every time for every takeoff and must do it the same way for every flight, whether we have 10 hours at the yoke, or 10,000 hours. Of course the list is different for a fighter jet taking off from an aircraft carrier than for a single engine 4 seat “run about” plane. The plane comes with the appropriate checklist for that plane. Our mandate is to stay within the box doing it the same way every time for that specific plane. “Familiarity breeds contempt!” In other words, the more you do the same thing, the easier it is to skip a step, or to, worst of all, skip the list because we think we remember everything that is on it.The more flight hours we have as a pilot, the more important the checklist becomes.
Pre-Flight Checklists
Have you EVER, even one time, pulled away from the curb in your car without fastening your seat belt? Using a pre-drive checklist would have avoided that error-omission. Additionally, if we were to draft such a pre-drive list, it would include things like a walk around the outside of the car, a visual examination, and a check of the various lights including brake lights, turn signals, and the rest. Is it best to check brake light every time we are going to drive, or just when we’re in the mood?
I have convinced myself that both newer and very experienced drivers should be using a pre-drive checklist. A future blog will be my attempt at creating a Pre-Drive Checklist for use before every drive. The extra 5 minutes is worthwhile.
Thinking Out Of The Box
Over the centuries, people have used many methods to nudge themselves into unusual and new thinking. Of course some our best “new” ideas are not new at all, but not for lack of trying. Methods have included meditation, day dreaming, drugs for better or worse, and perhaps the most powerful, paying attention. It is easier to imagine something new if you have been paying attention to what is already around us. It is easier to come up with something new if you have noticed what is already here, what is old.
For this Gryphon Butterfly, Gryphonius Makemupius, a friend who knew I was taking butterfly pictures yesterday jokingly suggested that I put bird wings on the butterfly. In my mind’s eye I could not make that work. I either lost the “butterflyishness” of the image, or ended up with something scary. I write for a audience of almost all ages. I do not particularly want to scare a youngster with an image of butterfly with legs sticking out the sides. I knew I wanted to apply the “gryphon effect” of combining creatures, and I wanted to preserve the bluish look of the blue morph butterfly. I hope you also enjoy the results!
For those who are interested in the back story, who enjoy more detail, here’s the explanation of the
Gryphonius Makemupius.
In the mystical realm of the imagination, the Gryphonius Makemupius reigns supreme, a whimsical testament to the boundless creativity of myth-making. With the noble countenance of a lion and the iridescent wings of a butterfly, this majestic creature embodies the art of the fantastical. The vibrant hues of azure that adorn its wings shimmer in the light, casting ethereal reflections that dazzle the eye and stir the soul. This gryphon does not merely fly; it dances across the heavens, leaving a trail of awe in the wake of its flight.
Scholars of the mythical have long debated the origins of the Gryphonius Makemupius, suggesting it sprang from the dreams of poets or the tall tales of travelers. Yet, in truth, it is a creature born of the human yearning for beauty and the inexplicable, a symbol of our own innate desire to blend reality with the tapestry of our imaginations. As the embodiment of both strength and grace, the Gryphonius Makemupius soars through our legends, inspiring those who dare to dream beyond the mundane and into the realm of the extraordinary.
Gryphon, or Griffin
Wikipedia tells us that the more “normal” mythical creature is “The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: γρύψ, romanized: grýps; Classical Latin: grȳps or grȳpus; Late and Medieval Latin: gryphes, grypho etc.; Old French: griffon) is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle with its talons on the front legs.” It is not generally thought to be blue. Whether or not the Gryphonius Makemupius is blue is a matter for existential speculation. I suspect that there is no direct connection between the Gryphonius and the Blue Meanies made famous by the also-not-blue Beatles in Yellow Submarine.
Happy Monday!
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