When I was trying to come to terms with the fact that my husband had just been placed in Hospice (only for a while, thank goodness!), I was thinking of the symbols for longevity and the aspects of the world around us that my husband loves so much. Combining bamboo (the Chinese symbol of a long life) in silverpoint with the bird life we daily see along our saltwater creek, I was reflecting on the complicated circle of life as we were experiencing it then, a moment as fleeting as the life of butterflies.