Saturday morning, after a restless night due to RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome), I headed outdoors with cup of coffee in hand to gaze upon the beauty that resides there. I'm continually amazed that all I do is plant seeds and everything grows without my assistance. The butterfly weed that came up voluntarily from seeds that dropped from plants that grew last year is now doing what I intended it to do -- supporting the Monarch butterfly caterpillars. Butterfly weed is a member of the milkweed family and thus is sought out by Monarch butterflies, which lay their eggs on the plants. The tiny caterpillars were barely 1/16 of an inch long when I first found them, but some are now fully grown, their bodies round and fat with pale green, white and black stripes. The striking feature about the caterpillars is two black antennae at the head and also at the end of their bodies, which makes them undesirable to predators such as birds. As they grow, they eat the butterfly weed and strip the leaves down to the thick stems, leaving dark, round droppings behind as they work their way down the plant. It's an amazing process to observe. Soon, they'll simply disappear and chrysalize, and hopefully I'll be able to locate those and show you what an incredibly beautiful thing they are, even at that stage.
I tried to attach a video depicting what greeted me Saturday morning, filling my eyes with beauty, easing my frustration at my lack of sleep, and refreshing my soul. As I filmed the butterflies and caterpillars, a hummingbird came to the feeder a few feet from where I stood and delighted me by allowing me to capture it on the camera. A real treat for sure! But the video was too long to upload. So I went out and took a shorter version, and I didn't know I had captured a very brief passing of a hummingbird until I watched the video. Our yard is a stage for dancing butterflies, which flutter and play with each other in the breeze, and darting hummingbirds, which zoom about at near supersonic speed, chasing each other as each tries to lay claim to the feeder. After waiting for well over an hour for a short 3.5 minute video to upload, again it failed. I'll have to figure out why.
So please enjoy the attached photos, and may you find rest and relaxation in the beauty of God's creation.
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