Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer…

Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer

To see this beautiful creature in black and white visit Monochromia for my Thursday post.

A Chase Around the Garden

Just one of the images I posted on Monochromia today.  To see others, please visit Monochromia.

Cocoons

I usually don’t post twice in one day, but today is an exception because I am filled with child-like excitement.  Remember the swallowtail caterpillars I posted on September 18th?  Well, the kids thought it would be cool, and I did too, to see what would happen if we kept the caterpillars in Gracie’s bug catcher.  We carefully placed the caterpillars in the bug catcher and gave them handfuls of parsley.  We diligently checked on them, replenished their parsley and even gave them water.  After a few days I worried that maybe we were hindering their natural process and decided it best to put them back on the parsley plants.  Two of them left the bug catcher with grace, not to look back.  The other two  however, were stuck to the bug catcher.  At first I thought maybe they were dead and I felt terrible.  But, after closer observation, I noticed they were both still moving when I jarred the catcher a bit and they were stuck to the catcher by what looked like silk threads.  Sure enough, this was the beginning of the process for making their cocoons.  One caterpillar made his/her cocoon first and several days later the second is snug in his/hers.  I’m posting images, not artistic, but more scientific in nature, for you to see.  I feel like we have successfully completed a science project!  We are now anxiously awaiting the other two, who are still fattening themselves on parsley, to make their cocoons. We can’t wait to observe their transformation into butterflies.  Just hoping we don’t miss it.

Such a miracle we are blessed to be witnessing!  Honestly I think I’m more excited than the kids.  And, to think we didn’t even have to buy a “butterfly kit”!

One cocoon. Notice the light shining in. It was a beautiful day when I took this image. The cocoon looks more green. It really was pale green in color at first, and I think the reflection of the green wire enhanced that.

Two cocoons. A much cloudier day for the second day of existence of the second cocoon. Notice the silk strands holding the cocoons in place.  So amazing!  

 

The Moth’s Discovery

“Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.”  – William Inge

 

 

A Moth Visiting a Celosia Caracas Flower and Discovering Something Beautiful, and Something True

Swallowtail Caterpillar

The Uphill Climb

Hide and Seek

The Contrast in Motion

The End of the Line

This evening when I went out to get parsley from the herb garden I found these interesting, beautiful creatures.  I was not sure if they were caterpillars or some type of pest similar to a tomato worm just visiting to take what remains of the summer herbs.  I  ran inside to research my find and found that the Swallowtail Caterpillar apparently loves to eat Parsley.  The Swallowtail Butterfly drops her eggs on the Parsley plant in July and by mid- September the caterpillars have grown and live off of the plant until time for their transformation.  Nature is so amazing.  Little miracles exist all around us and are just waiting to be discovered.  Keep your eyes open, they are often in disguise.

Just a side note about the photographs.  This afternoon was rainy, and cloudy, and very, very windy.  With that said I wanted to keep the shutter speed as high as possible, wanted to avoid additional noise so kept the ISO at 400, and therefore had to have the aperture pretty open at 5.  As a result, the shallow depth of field and some motion blur give way to images that are not quite crisp, but I don’t think this fact takes away from the overall capture.

Everything in it’s Own Season

Everything on earth has its own time and its own season. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Our thoughts shape our lives….

“Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.” (Proverbs 4:23)

If only all thoughts could be as beautiful as this butterfly on the lavender……

Flowers on the Roadsides of Buck’s County

“The tender words we spoke to one another are stored in the secret heart of heaven and one day, like rain, they will fall and spread and our mystery will grow green all over the earth.” – Rumi

If words could fall like rain, I would want them to grow and look like the flowers I see adorning the roadsides during Spring in Buck’s County.

Yes, it is the same winged creature from my post on Saturday, just on different flowers. It has no bias for colors.

This week in Buck’s County you don’t drive far without seeing these flowers alongside the roads. They are so cheery and catch my eye every time I pass by them. Wouldn’t it be nice to rest in a field of them and day dream under the warm rays of the sun?

 

Happy Mother’s Day

A few quotes to celebrate all of the amazing women in my life who have inspired me as mothers. 

“A suburban mother’s role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after.”  – Peter De Vries

“I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.”  – Abraham Lincoln

“Some mothers are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together.”  – Pearl S. Buck

“All women become like their mothers.  That is their tragedy.  No man does.  That’s his.”   – Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”  – Washington Irving

 

 

Butterfly or Moth? Flower or Weed?

 

Good Advice – Pass it On

“The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on.” – Oscar Wilde