We raised and released two monarch butterflies. The second one flew away this morning, through the sunflowers in the garden.
****
“There is never a day so dreary,
There is never a night so long,
But the soul that is trusting Jesus
Will somewhere find a song.”
Anna Russell
Exciting!
We have three black swallowtail chrysalises in our butterfly nursery and the first one emerged today and unfolded its wings.
“I think this is how we’re supposed to be in the world
~present and in awe.” Anne Lammott
homemade rolls, warm from the oven
There’s the pretty-pretty pinterest way (which I love)….and then there’s the “I took old bread down to the chickens and used the empty bag to gather the eggs” way. (which I also love).
Happy Monday, friends.
You are loved. 🙂
It’s ordinary to love the beautiful,
but it’s beautiful to love the ordinary.
“…use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence:
Love others as you love yourself.” Galations 5
*****
I went and got my nails painted dark bright pink today. They are soooooo pretty!
House is clean and Caleb should be home soon and then an hour later the little kids will be home and then. . . . .David has his very first soccer game! So exciting.
I want to post the photos we took when we took Grace to college. It’s been a few weeks now and yes it is strange to not have her presence in the home. . . .we miss her. But those feelings of “missing” are balanced nicely with feelings of “so proud of you.”
We drove the truck as she had lots of stuff. She arrived before her roommate did and we were greeted by a nice group of people who promptly carried her things inside for us.
This cozy communal living room is just outside her dorm room. I imagine lots of fun will be had here all school year long.
In no time at all, she had her things put just where she wanted them.
So many times she has stood in the gap for us as big sister/babysitter when necessary, and they have a close bond. They know she loves them.
I say this all the time to the kids only I say it in modern English:
“You’re going to be fine.”
I feel that I must try the medieval way next time.
I told her if she ever feels lonely to just go to the library and….. “all shall be well, all manner of things shall be well.” After all, her mother has been dragging her to libraries her entire life.
Meet the roommate!
Bless them.
*****
The college is close to where Rich and I grew up, so we have some connections to some of the people. When I was a little girl, my young parents spent a lot of time with an older couple from church. Our families at that time became very close and they had an older, teenage son who was such fun, my brother and I adored him.
Well, all of these years later, through our FB connections, we found out that our kids would be attending college together. Literally, as I was moving in Grace, I went on Facebook and “randomly” discovered that Mike was moving in his son Caleb at the same time. So of course we had to meet up later!
*******
Rich spent the entire next morning with Grace continuing to help her out with last minute things like what to do with her iPhone that she dropped and smashed right in the midst of moving in.
And then we had to say goodbye for a little while. (Although we are always only a text away.)
One last family photo in the parking lot of the school. Makes me laugh out loud. I am being motherly and “helping” Caleb get in the photo.
“Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.“
Galations 5
Grace, you’re an original! And I love you.
I invite you to gaze upon my caterpillar nursery! I put it together for myself and the family and anyone who comes over to visit. . . . . . .
Year after year, indeed for the last 11 years we have lived on this property (four acres boarding state land), I have kept watch in the later summer days for monarch caterpillars. (They are only ever on milkweed). If I see a caterpillar, I collect it and bring it home to raise on the counter in a big jar or a fish tank. (We used to have a different fish tank but it broke when someone tried putting rocks in it).
We were fortunate to find perhaps 4 caterpillars, and sometimes none at all. This year, however, this epic summer of 2017, we have found over 20 of them. If I were more scientific, I would do a precise count, but it is rather difficult and confusing to try to count caterpillars when they are all over the place and in various sizes.
I am a busy mom and wife, it’s a wonder that I have time to sit and watch a caterpillar nursery at all….or write a blog! But these things give me much needed rest and enjoyment, they are interests that I have……and no matter what your interest and passion is….big or small….it should be pursued and nourished.
I picked these five off their milkweed (which was almost gone) and put them on the floor of the tank so I could give them fresh food. They looked so cute all in a row that I had to take a photo of them.
Every couple of days I replace the leaves from the three small bud vases I have in the tank with fresh milkweed from the garden, which is conveniently right outside the kitchen door. Caterpillars are naturally very hungry and grow quickly. It’s fun to watch their little heads go up and down the edges of the milkweed like tiny machines. I bet if it were quieter in my house I might even hear them chewing.
Can you see the difference in this caterpillar? Grace and I found two of them on Queen Anne’s lace down by the pond. We are almost positive that they are the caterpillars of Black Swallowtail Butterflies.
An urge that I have so far neglected this summer is to get out colored pencils and draw these beautiful patterns that I see. . . .(maybe today?)
I clipped some cut-to-size screen (from an old window) to the top edge of the tank with clothespins. When the they have eaten their full and are “ready”, the caterpillars go to the screen to “dangle” for a day or two, before bursting their caterpillar skin to reveal a most beautiful green and gold chrysalis beneath.
This one’s small but they start out even smaller…..
I have to laugh when I go out to collect fresh food for them because I inevitably end up bringing inside even MORE caterpillar babies. David says, “Mom, how many do you NEED?” He is probably the child who is most interested in them and I love to see his face peering into the tank.
“Oh no this one looks different, what’s wrong with it?” I watched it closely and realized it was molting. It was gripped to the leaf with it’s “end” and wriggling the skin down, rather like when you or I take off stockings with our hands, and “stepping out” fresh and clean.
Almost done!
Ah, it feels so good.
“fresh and clean”
An empty chrysalis next to six green ones.
This caterpillar is getting ready to “dangle” by finding the perfect spot on the screen and attaching itself to it with its homemade silk. The children get nervous if I move the screen, they are afraid the chrysalises might fall off, but they are firmly attached and “just think, outside they would be safe even in the winds and rain”. So I move the screen in confidence.
This one had attached itself to a milkweed leaf, which wasn’t a good choice, because eventually the other caterpillars ate the leaf causing the chrysalis to drop down to the bottom of the cage. I picked it up and dangled it over the edge of the tank. When I hear the children say, “Mom, one of them is black!” I know that we will soon see a butterfly.
In fact, as I am writing this, a butterfly has newly hatched right in front of our eyes, and three more black ones are ready to come out any minute.
Why just put milkweed in the tank when you can also add flowers?
They make lovely strands of silk. I took a picture right after this caterpillar molted. You can see its bunched up rag of old skin up at the top of the photo.
They eat so much I wondered what I would do if we ran out of leaves (it won’t happen this year) and then I noticed that where I picked the leaves off, new ones are growing!
new leaves!!!
I know, this is a simple gardening concept, but I never thought to apply it to my milkweed! The resilience of growing things is amazing.
Milkweed grows outside the kitchen door, mingled in with our lilac bush.
And more milkweed (tall stalks with long oval leaves) is in the side garden.
I had to laugh when I saw a chrysalis outside in the lilac bush, I guess I missed bringing this one inside!!
I can move the chest of drawers around to get a better view, or better lighting for photos.
It stays like this most of the time. Better than any TV show.
It’s fascinating to watch them split, revealing a bright green underneath.
These changes are done so silently and quickly that we miss it most of the time.
It wriggles in such a strange fashion and the bunch of skin drops to the bottom of the tank.
I did a short video while I was blogging this post.
They first come out with their body much bigger than their wings. I always think of origami when I see them emerge……it’s sort of like reverse origami. Only God could package something up like this and have it come out as beautiful as a butterfly…
The butterfly hangs and dries, once in a while a drip of fluid will fall. Once I see them opening their wings for the first time I will take them carefully outside on a stick and put them up on the lilac bush.
“I look upon a year lived as a year earned; and each year earned means a greater treasury of experience and power laid up against time of need.” Anna Botsford Comstock
“God created the heavens and the earth to be experienced, not just read about or lectured upon.” Bob Schultz
And the third? Coming soon. 😉
*****
I liked this quote:
“I never saw my mother sleep. In fact, she only sat down during dinner and later for about three minutes in the tub of our one bathroom. Although Mom was perennially pregnant, she was always on the move–a blurry blue Sears housedress topped by a wavy blond perm and supported by two sturdy speed-walking legs. She had bulging varicose veins that grew with each child, and I was always worried they were going to pop, but they didn’t.
“On any given day, Mom could be found in one of two places: the outside landing, where she hung the laundry, or the kitchen, where she jogged between the ironing board and the oven. It seemed my mother could do a hundred things at once, all the while keeping at least one of her blue eyes on her ten children.
“‘Watch yourself, Eddie!’ she’d shout down from the landing to my oldest brother in the side yard. ‘Remember, you’re a born leader and all the boys are watching you!’ Then she’d vroom down the fourteen wooden steps, hip the laundry basket through the banging screen door into the kitchen, and dump it onto the table.
“‘You’re the absolute best helper, Ellen,’ she’d say as my eager sister did the folding, ‘You’re going to make a wonderful mother!’
“Shortly after noon, Mom would begin preparations for dinner, served nightly at six o’clock sharp, ‘Barbara Ann!’ she’d yell down the basement stairs as she peeled potatoes. ‘Come on up here and take Florence, Tommy, and Mary Jean. They need some entertainment and if you’re going to be a star, you’ll need to practice.’
“And that was my mother’s genius. She kept her house going by putting her finger on the special gift she saw in each of her children, and making each and every one of us believe that that gift was uniquely ours. Whether it was true or not, we all believed it.”
~Barbara Corcoran, in her book Use What You’ve Got
Oh what peace we often forfeit,
Oh what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer.
“I trust You. Give me wisdom. Give me love to spill over. My life is Yours.”
*~*~*~*~*~*
A simply DRENCHED bumble bee, waiting out the rain on a bee balm blossom.
I don’t know…..but again, drenched.
close up of a zinnia.. .. .gorgeous color pink.
My nature studies have gone from birds to bees and other insects. It’s such a pleasure to walk around the outskirts of our lawn, where the mowed grass meets the wilder grasses and flowers and look for insects. There are always interesting things to see.
I still like to watch for birds, too. In fact, I keep seeing a yellow warbler (wearing a black mask) peeping at me from the bushes, it must be distracting me from seeing a nest because it’s a typically shy bird. I’ll try to photograph it today.
breathtaking greens and yellow
I showed Sarah the photos and when she realized what she was seeing, she said “Delete it!”
This is my favorite photo of the bunch. The wings! Did you ever guess there would be wings like this on a tiny bug? (it’s on a yarrow flower, a common wildflower in our area)
It’s not a very clear photo because just as I was taking it I felt a cold thing go across my bare big toe………
It was a big juicy worm.
This gorgeous bug, if it senses an enemy near. . . . .
….drops down and plays dead. It literally plays dead! It had me fooled for a moment.
Yesterday I was on the porch and saw a Monarch fly by. I walked around to follow it and discovered it busily laying eggs on the milkweed that I let grow in the garden. See how it presses it’s tail to the leaf?
It leaves an egg behind, a teeny white egg. When it hatches, the caterpillar will be all set because it simply LOVES milkweed leaves.
By gently turning the leaves over on the plants I have found at least 5 eggs. We plan on collecting them after they hatch and watching them grow. It’s one of our favorite summertime nature studies.
****
A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Proverbs 31:30
I want to blog every.single.day. If I don’t blog, it’s because I have writer’s block, I’m sick, or I’m too busy…..even now I only have fifteen minutes.
I just love sitting here with my laptop, typing and sharing my photos.
I took this picture of a spider and then noticed a butterfly. (or is it the other way around?)
Yesterday I went for a walk and a pair of old friends pulled up next to me in their car. They had brought us vegetables from their garden, including a turnip the size of a bowling ball. Oh it was such a happy, quick visit. They asked about the children and we stood out in the hot September sun, by their car, chatting and smiling. When they left we hugged each other and then the Mr. stopped and said, “I hear a Flicker”, while looking up into the treetops by my house. Nothing. The Mrs. and I heard it too, but we both thought maybe it was the squirrel we saw. “No, it’s a flicker, remember, we had one at our place the other day?” he said to his wife.
We looked for it, just for a moment, but then it was time for goodbye.
We’ve almost eaten all the watermelon, and it’s that juicy and pink.
Today I did something for the first time. I’ve arrived late for Doctor’s appointments, I’ve completely forgotten Doctor’s appointments, I’ve showed up for the wrong day, but today was the first time I was exactly an hour early. I could not believe it. What a mother I am (this was a check up for Grace). We had time to leave and go to Barnes and Noble (double discount days for members!). She had a hot chai and I had a hot cider and we spent some time browsing the nice books and magazines.
We went to get Cassandra to bring her back home with us, and we made chicken enchiladas for dinner.
(Have you noticed the bug theme?)
After my vegetable friends left yesterday I wandered around with my camera and it was like a dizzy dream…..the sun was soaking into my bones…I was tired…buzzing sounds filled my ears….the smell of wild plants was the best potpourri ever imagined. The stinging bees and hornets and wasps were busy all over the place, they got along just fine as they each found a spot to gather from the flowers. They especially love the goldenrod.
I like to lean in very closely and just observe. They have such interesting ways, wings, eyes, legs……movements, every where I looked there were more and more flying insects, crawling, working, such tiny things almost unnoticeable unless a person stops to look for them.
The sun continued to bake everything under it, including myself. You know that feeling when you first get into a hot tub and you say “ahhhhhhhh” and close your eyes?
The experience was like a lullaby and I became so tired I lay back in the grass for a minute or so.
Looking up, I saw a bird way up high in the dead tree.
It was a Flicker.
“This is my commandment,
that you love one another as I have loved you.” Jesus’ words in John 15:12
We had a house FULL from Friday night to Saturday morning. We had our own seven, plus seven extra teenagers. They were staying the night in order to be at the church bright and early.
This is camp week for our teens and Rich is also there as a team leader.
I’m spending the week here at home with Caleb, Seth, and Sarah. My oldest son, Jacob, is also home because he is now too old for camp. He’s driving up on Friday to see everyone, though, and keeping himself busy with work, music, friends, and helping his mama at home.
This morning I am taking the kids to the one dollar movie and then to get the boys’ their football cleats because tonight Football practice starts for Caleb and Seth….and I am so glad because they need activity at this point. No more lazy-daisy summer evenings for them!
On Saturday morning I drove the campers to the church to get on the bus and then Seth and I went to the bakeshop nearby. The gardens on the property were stunning! I wish my front beds looked like this! Dreams for next year…….
full and luscious flowers beds.
Seth chose a cupcake and we took home a blueberry pie.
For whatever reason, I am determined to keep moving and stay extra busy & active this week while Rich and the kids are away…perhaps to keep those “I’m missing you” feelings at bay? And to get so tired I have no trouble sleeping in the big bed all alone? So on Saturday I took the kids on two walks. It was pretty warm outside so we kept them on the shorter side, but we still saw some pretty sights, the kids climbed big rocks, and the boys found sticks to sword fight with.
Aren’t pond lilies pretty?
That photo which Caleb took that made me realize just how tall and how big my youngest is getting!
When I was a little girl, a happy time for me was going for adventure walks “up to the big rocks” in Grandma and Grandpa’s woods. We would all go, Grandma, the aunts, mom, and the cousins. We had the best time exploring the rocks and daring ourselves to jump over the crack between two tall rocks.
The rocks we discovered on Saturday reminded me of those days. My own children loved the experience just as much as we did years ago.
Soft, dappled sunlight over moss and leaves.
Caleb helped keep Seth from getting lost because our boy Seth runs ahead and OFF the trail just from the joy of being free…….
Sarah Joy took this photo of me….it’s the best, out of focus!
She always has to be holding my hand. It makes her feel stronger and safer.
This is Seth making a “tough guy” face when I asked to take his picture. He is nothing but muscle and bone….he’s the one who gets cold first when they go swimming…has boundless energy and his Dad calls him “Scrapper”. Our very own state wrestling champ!
Yesterday I spent the day with my brother and his wife. We went out shopping, had drinks from Sonic, bought chocolates, ate donuts, and generally ate more sugar than usual. Back at home, we played a game, drank coffee, ate pie (!), sandwiches, and watched a movie with the kids.
Before they left we took a couple of photos outside in the sun.
The kids were flopped on the couch, tired out, while I walked down to our stream to see the Cardinal flowers.
They are a yearly event for me (perhaps I’ll start throwing a party) because they are such a GORGEOUS wild flower, as red as can be.
They liked the wetness of the earth by the stream and at this time of year the stream is low and it is easy to get down the bank and stand on the rocks to take photos.
The wild day lilies are almost done.
Queen Anne’s lace and goldenrod is everywhere. I like to stop and study them because they are almost always entertaining bugs, which if you stop to see them, can be very interesting indeed.
**Queen Anne’s lace remind me of Great Grandma’s crocheted doilies.
Each season, each month of the growing months has its own flower-time. Starting with the tiny spring flowers up until the sturdy flowers of fall. I love to welcome them each year and watch them come and go and come again…… year after year.
God’s creation is always exciting, but also solidly dependable, too.
Swallowtail off in the distance, tiptoeing all over this tall, wild “Joe-Pye weed“.
My house, my gardens, my rock wall, my ferns = I love it here. We’ve been at this place for ten years now and my heart is home. I thank God constantly for our life here.
I don’t care if Anne (of Green Gables) thought zinnias were stiff and horrible….I LOVE THEM!
“Look at that wave of poppies breaking against the garden well, Miss Cornelia. Susan and I are very proud of our poppies this year, though we hadn’t a single thing to do with them. Walter spilt a packet of seed there by accident in the spring and this is the result. Every year we have some delightful surprise like that.”
“I’m partial to poppies,” said Miss Cornelia, “though they don’t last long.”
“They have only a day to live,’ admitted Anne, “but how imperially, how gorgeous they live it! Isn’t that better than being a stiff horrible zinnia that lasts practically for ever? We have no zinnias at Ingleside. They’re the only flowers we are not friends with. Susan won’t even speak to them.” ~Anne of Ingleside, chapter 15
I love them because they last practically forever. So there, dear Anne. (I’ll always love you)
Back in the house, I admire my own dear sturdy boy, snuggling with a very loved and spoiled Gentleman Gray kitty.
So thankful for these children o’ mine. Can you imagine if we stopped at four?
**Queen Anne’s lace reminds me of Great Grandma’s crocheted doilies.
YOU ARE LOVED, dear friends.
A very happy August 1st to you!
I shut my laptop after the last blog post,
took a shower, got dressed,
went back on the porch……..
…..and discovered a new monarch butterfly. Our first to emerge, out of the four caterpillars we had collected.
I sat and watched it for a long time, thinking about how much life is growth, so much growing and changing. Butterflies only get to do it once, we get to do it over and over. There are dark times when we are in our little stuffy cocoons, lonely, maybe perfectly willing to be all alone, needing *something* but not really knowing what it is. It is a waiting time. Then comes the “break through”. Suddenly we have had enough of cocoon time and find that it’s time to get out from the covers, get out of bed, get out of our own minds, oh how it hurts to start breaking down walls but it feels so good at the same time….new air, new sights, drying wings…….freedom.
After the struggle to emerge comes the strengthening time…….those who are waiting for us almost lose their patience, we ourselves often lose heart, forget that God does indeed have a purpose for everything, but our Father knows, He understands, His children are ready (not in our time, not in their time) but in HIS TIME……..
Every thing is as God made it; not as it appears to us. We have the world so much in our hearts, are so taken up with thoughts and cares of worldly things, that we have neither time nor spirit to see God’s hand in them. The world has not only gained possession of the heart, but has formed thoughts against the beauty of God’s works. We mistake if we think we were born for ourselves; no, it is our business to do good in this life, which is short and uncertain; we have but little time to be doing good, therefore we should redeem time. Satisfaction with Divine Providence, is having faith that all things work together for good to them that love him. God doeth all, that men should fear before him. The world, as it has been, is, and will be. There has no change befallen us, nor has any temptation by it taken us, but such as is common to men.
Matthew Henry
When we are finally strong again.
We can enjoy life. We can fly.
Yes, the family and I have been spending a lot of time by the aquarium, watching & waiting for the butterflies to hatch and fly away. Three of them have gone now, but the fourth seems to be stuck in the cocoon. We think maybe it died inside. We can see the wings through the (now clear) casing, but it should have come out a few days ago.
morning glory leaf
It’s been so fun to see my flower garden become a butterfly sanctuary AND a bird feeding station.
The most darling little goldfinches come to get a sunflower seed, but they are shy and at any hint of my eyes watching them they fly away making a chirping distress sound.
As we have morning glory vines twirling up the sunflowers, it makes for a very lovely photo opportunity. I had to take these photos from inside the house through the glass and screen doors……..
fledging
my darling (while mama sits on one end, oftentimes they will be on the other end playing with their little toys).
I find myself watching butterflies, birds, and children every where I turn.
Hosta flowers
*****
currently reading: Never Turn Your Back on an Angus Cow, by Dr. Jan Pol (good book, I love animal stories)
plans for today: Grace and I are going out with David. We are picking up her ring from Tiffany (left for cleaning) and then have to go to Target to get things for camp next week.
I just want you guys to know that I love you all and that you are so special. I’m thankful for the friends I meet and greet along the way. Friendship and connections of all kinds make life sweet.
look around and be distressed
look within and be depressed
look at Jesus and be at rest
Good to be Home 