My brother is a nature photographer. More specifically, he’s a butterfly photographer, but he also snaps pics of birds, bugs, squirrels, and more.
In a recent email from him, he said this:
"Here’s what’s new with me: a Hackberry Emperor Butterfly. I had never seen one before yesterday, May 28, 2026. In fact, I didn’t know such a thing existed. I had never heard of it, and yet there it was staring back at me from a leaf as I took these photographs. My car needed an oil change and a safety inspection which brought me in the vicinity of the “butterfly trail” that I occasionally visit. That trail never lets me down. Not only because of the Hackberry Emperor, but I also saw my first Monarch sighting of the season. As I was leaving the trail I saw it touch down on a Common Milkweed plant and I believe it was laying eggs. I only managed two partial pictures before it flew on in search of other milkweed plants. So, they are in the area! As for the Garden, it is beginning to blossom now that we have some sunshine. I predict butterflies in our future. What’s new with you?"
In a recent email from him, he said this:
"Here’s what’s new with me: a Hackberry Emperor Butterfly. I had never seen one before yesterday, May 28, 2026. In fact, I didn’t know such a thing existed. I had never heard of it, and yet there it was staring back at me from a leaf as I took these photographs. My car needed an oil change and a safety inspection which brought me in the vicinity of the “butterfly trail” that I occasionally visit. That trail never lets me down. Not only because of the Hackberry Emperor, but I also saw my first Monarch sighting of the season. As I was leaving the trail I saw it touch down on a Common Milkweed plant and I believe it was laying eggs. I only managed two partial pictures before it flew on in search of other milkweed plants. So, they are in the area! As for the Garden, it is beginning to blossom now that we have some sunshine. I predict butterflies in our future. What’s new with you?"
What’s new with me? Collocations. I had never seen the word before yesterday, May 31, 2026. In fact, I didn’t know such a thing existed. I had never heard of it, and yet there it was staring back at me from a webpage as I explored something to do with Dickinson. LOL – I don’t even remember what I had typed into the search field to land on “collocations.”
Is the term new to you too? Here’s info from an entry in Wikipedia:
“A collocation is a series of words or terms that co-occur more often than would be expected by chance. In phraseology, a collocation is a type of compositional phraseme, meaning that it can be understood from the words that make it up. This contrasts with an idiom, where the meaning of the whole cannot be inferred from its parts, and may be completely unrelated.”
And check out this info:
“There are about seven main types of collocations: adjective + noun, noun + noun (such as collective nouns), noun + verb, verb + noun, adverb + adjective, verbs + prepositional phrase (phrasal verbs), and verb + adverb.”
Let me pause here for just a moment and toss out a few questions: How well do you know grammar? How important is it to know grammar? Should grammar be taught in schools?
Well, first of all – in a nutshell – our system of grammar is descriptive, not prescriptive. In other words, it describes how we use language; it does not prescribe how we should use language. And you know – or at least your brain knows – grammar sufficiently if not skillfully or expertly. If your brain did not understand the rules of grammar, you would find it very difficult to communicate.
When you speak, though, you don’t pre-plan each and every subject and each and every predicate. You don’t stop to think about verb tense or agreement. You don’t map out the order of modifying adjectives for a noun. It just happens.
Maybe you think you don’t know and understand grammar, but your brain does. Yes, you – as we all do – might fumble with an occasional its/it’s, a who/whom, a dangling participle, or a whole host of other common grammatical missteps; however, overall, you know grammar – just like you know how to drive a car. You might not have a mechanic’s comprehensive knowledge on how the vehicle operates and/or what to do if there’s a breakdown, but you know how to get in, buckle up, start the engine and get from point A to point Z.
Where am I going with this? LOL – I’m not sure. After stumbling upon the word “collocation” and reading about it, my plan was to examine common collocations, find examples of said familiar collocations used by Dickinson, and explore how she might have added a poet’s twist of inventiveness or inspiration to various “compositional phrasemes.” It seemed to fit in with what I’ve been writing about over the past few days, a poet’s mission (as expressed by poet Ocean Vuong): “We’re out here to write sentences the species has never encountered.”
And then, when attempting to find common collocations, I saw this:
YIKES! I’m more a grammar person than a math person, and after staring blankly at that formula for much longer than I should have, I decided to pause my delve into collocations and careen completely off course:
Yesterday, I visited a drug store to purchase a tube of toothpaste. I could not get over how many options there were. There must have been at least ten brands to choose from, plus they each had options for mint or cinnamon, paste or gel, and single, double or triple packs. I also had to decide on cavity protection, whitening therapy, extra whitening, “maxfresh,” gum health, pro-health, sensitivity protection, whole mouth protection, ultra flavor blast, cooling crystals, and more.
Very quickly, I accessed my “Notes” app on my phone and set up a mathematic formula to work through all of the variables with “x” being the brand & type of toothpaste I would settle on (or, for all the grammar pedants out there: "on which I would settle"):
LOL – no, for this type of problem, I actually remembered that the formula would go something like this: 10 brands x 2 flavors x 2 consistencies x 10 features – or at least 400 available options to choose from to clean my Pearly Whites.
Ohhhh , by the way, “pearly whites” is a very common English collocation – AND – “pearl white” is a butterfly found along the north-eastern coast of Australia. I don’t think my brother has a pic of one of those.
NOTE 1: You can follow my brother on Instragram: @butterflygardan (garDAN, not garDEN -- his name is DAN).
NOTE 2: Many have asked which toothpaste I landed on: Crest Pro-Health, single pack, Advanced, Deep Clean Mint, 100% Whole Mouth Protection, 24 Hour Anti-Bac Protection ("dentist designed" to deal with cavities, gingivitis, enamel, sensitivity, plaque, tartar, and whitening -- PLUS -- it freshens breath).
And why did I select this particular tube. It was frickin' affordable -- have you seen the price of toothpaste lately????
NOTE 3: I've had a brainstorm that could make me millions: Margarita- and Mojito-flavored toothpastes and gels. Other adult-themed flavors too! I'll update you on this as things progress!
NOTE 2: Many have asked which toothpaste I landed on: Crest Pro-Health, single pack, Advanced, Deep Clean Mint, 100% Whole Mouth Protection, 24 Hour Anti-Bac Protection ("dentist designed" to deal with cavities, gingivitis, enamel, sensitivity, plaque, tartar, and whitening -- PLUS -- it freshens breath).
And why did I select this particular tube. It was frickin' affordable -- have you seen the price of toothpaste lately????
NOTE 3: I've had a brainstorm that could make me millions: Margarita- and Mojito-flavored toothpastes and gels. Other adult-themed flavors too! I'll update you on this as things progress!
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