Emergence

A butterfly emerged last week... I photographed it, and then three more followed suit!

Drinking Gatorade

It was very exciting to wake up one morning to a fresh butterfly! I had to move it out of the small cup that the caterpillars had arrived in, and cocooned in. Now they are all in this larger glass bowl with the coffee filter on top, which has the last cocoon dangling from it. Two of the butterflies were released yesterday and flew away beautifully! The two we kept have damaged wings because they were born in the night and I wasn't able to get them onto anything before their wings dried. I feel really terrible about it. Now there's a branch in there, for the last butterfly to attach itself to. It was just kind of a shock to have one butterfly come out, then three more almost the very next night. The last one will take longer since it didn't cocoon until quite a bit after the others.


Anyway, Spring is officially sprung, and I took a wet, spring walk the other day...

New pink rain boots!

I'm so glad that it's finally warming up again. It's been a bizarre "winter". Cold, yet no snow to speak of, and now that it's spring earlier than last year, it stayed kind of chilly... we've had freeze warnings the past couple weeks. 

Forget-me-nots

Dogwood blooms are out, but smaller than last years

Also, I thought I'd found a meteorite and was very excited! I researched and thought that I had been the lucky finder of a space rock... check it out:

Turns out that it's probably just slag. But it sure had me fooled for a while! I'm keeping my eyes open, though! You just never know!!


I hope you're all doing well... happy and healthy! I'm spending lots of my free time hiking and connecting with nature. Getting grounded. I really need it.


xox

Celebrating Spring & My Birthday

First of all, I have to show you what my best friend, E, got me for my birthday... It arrived early, so I got it about a week and a half ago...

The caterpillars were quite active, at first. They squirmed around, ate their food, and scaled the walls of their little cup environment. Jimmy Boo was extremely interested in them. Beckham paid them no heed whatsoever.

Can't stop watching the caterpillars

After a while, the activity in the cup slowed, then nearly stopped. Although I could tell something important was going on...

The caterpillars were pupating. You can see the chrysalises above! I'm very excited to see the Painted Lady Butterflies emerge from their cocoons! We have a larger container for them that was for lizards or fish, and which we can use to house the butterflies while they get strong. I will definitely post photos or video after they have metamorphosed!


Anyway, as the weather has been gorgeous and warm, we've been taking advantage and going for some nice nature walks...

Which includes climbing around near the river!

And my birthday was full of nice surprises! A photo texted to me by my sister... 

My friends and sister, wishing me a happy birthday!

All the way from California! Loved getting this message while I was being treated to a delicious meal with K...

Oysters on the half shell... mmm...

Grilled salmon on roasted cauliflower & mushrooms

Butterscotch pudding with candied pecans &whipped cream...

It was delicious and romantic, and I think I hurt my face smiling all night! Thank you, K, for a fabulous treat!! It was a very memorable and lovely birthday! 


xox 

An Early Fall Walk

I had some time today to take a little walk... I haven't visited my cemetery in a while, and thought I'd pay a visit to see if there was anything exciting going on. (Ha ha) Well, as it turns out, there was!


As I walked into the cemetery, I saw a great bird swooping below the branches of the old trees... it was a hawk! She was on the prowl for prey...

I tried to get a photo of her flying, but none of them turned out. So I finally caught up with her while she was perched in a tree. See above.


Most of the trees are still green, but a few oaks are starting to turn.

I collected a few acorns to use as decorations in the house. I love the acorns from the pin oaks. They are small and have little stripes!

I noticed this little bunch of fur while I was acorn-collecting. I think it's from a squirrel's tail. Could be that there was a scuffle, or maybe the hawk got a little too close to one of the little nut collectors?

I saw some cool flowers along the way, too...

Also, there are a few trees that have truly started turning... one stood out from a distance, as it's amid its greener brethren!

Almost looked like it was on fire, right? And I almost missed this monarch while looking up at this golden tree...

It was a very lovely walk that I'll be taking again later today, after a couple hours at work. K is excited to go for a walk together... the weather has been warm, yet not humid, and is perfect for leisurely strolls. I am loving this autumn!

Santa Cruz, CA - Day 1

K under the eucalyptus

Our first day in Santa Cruz, I took K to Natural Bridges State Park. It's a beach that used to have some natural rock formations that were shaped like a bridge. However, a few years ago, the center collapsed, and the bridge was gone. I used to come here with my artist's sketch board, paper, charcoals, pencils, etc, and made drawings of the rock formations in the water. That was when there was still one bridge left. Erosion doesn't discriminate, and it's effects are visible everywhere along the coast. Quite dramatically, at times.


This park is interesting for more reasons than the bridges, though, so it still sees many visitors! There are trails you can walk under pines, cypresses and overgrown eucalyptus trees. These eucalyptus trees are the favorite resting place for monarch butterflies, too, actually, and every year, around the beginning of October, thousands of monarchs come to rest here!
We got here just a bit early for the huge numbers of them, but we saw a few... maybe around 50 or so, as they feasted on pollen, fluttered around, and hung out in the warm, California sun.

A few monarchs on the wild roses

There's actually a wonderful wooden pathway that was built so that the land wasn't affected by all the visitors to this place. I've been coming here since I was a teenager, having discovered this place when I was around 14, on a school outing. Many schools bring their kids here for a field trip, as there's also a visitor's learning center near the monarch resting area.

Description of the migration of the monarchs

Pathway towards the monarch viewing area

Since we weren't able to show you that many monarchs on this trip, I'm including this photo of another time when I came here by myself. It's a good reason to visit this park in mid-October... it's just amazing!

Fluttering monarchs

Look closely... there are many!

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into Santa Cruz... more to come tomorrow!

A Rainy Day Walkabout

Irene does some damage on Market Street

Good morning, Friends! It's raining, it's pouring and the old man is definitely snoring. After Irene, I didn't think we'd see much rain again for a while, but it started yesterday, and hasn't really stopped. 


I went for a rain walk yesterday, and I picked some moss for some terrarium building. I spotted a few interesting things along the way, too! Unfortunately, the photos didn't turn out that nice because I was so worried about getting my phone wet while I was trying to focus. I'll show you what I found, anyway. 

First, these flowers at right smelled soooo good! I was walking down Penn Street when I got a whiff of a sweet, mellow perfume. I looked around and saw this flowering vine on several different fences. As I walked closer, I realized that it was also the source of the scent! I love these flowers anyway because of their resemblance to a starry sky at night, and they always seem to grow with such wild abandon. I hadn't actually caught the full strength of their power until recently! Their heady fragrance is enough to lift me off to another planet!

Gingko saplings

When I got to the edge of the woods by the cemetery, I started looking around for some nice moss. I saw some gingko saplings that I took note of for a future excursion with K. He's been doing some serious bonsai research! He's amassed some of the more common accoutrements, and is ready to start controlling those little trees... so we've been keeping watch for some starters. A little maple tree planted by a squirrel would work fine, but people tend to pull them out as soon as they find them. Squirrels don't always choose the best locations for their plantings.

A baby bunny!

I also saw something that I at first took for a squirrel hunkered down in the grass. It turned out to be a baby bunny! It was pretty well hidden for a while, then as I stood there, it resumed eating and I could tell exactly what it was. I had to do serious digital zoom to get a close enough image... so it's a bit pixellated. Sorry! It was so cute!! I just adore rabbits, most especially after finishing Watership Down!


I did see lots of squirrels cavorting amongst the trees and hedges. They seemed to be very busy, but at what, I can't imagine.


The birds were singing overhead, and robins were bob-bob-bobbing along beside me, looking for some fat worms brought out by the rain. I never feel lonely when I'm out walking! There's just too much going on around me!

Ferns? Could be nice in a terrarium...

I saw a few plants that I considered for my future terrarium... things that looked like tiny ferns, but which could end up being some type of weed. It could have been a kind of yarrow... I'm not that familiar with all the wild plants of Pennsylvania yet. I took photos and noted their locations if I decide to return for them. They were growing all over the place and wouldn't be missed.

I lifted up some segments of moss, and placed them in my plastic bag that I'd brought along inside my canvas bag. I also picked up some litter as I walked. I figured that I was taking something, so I should also give something, even if the giving was a taking of garbage. K and I both try to help out by picking up litter on our walks. (If we don't like to look at it, then why not pick it up and throw it into a recycle bin or garbage can? Makes sense, right?)

You all know I love seeing wild mushrooms when I'm out walking... and I wasn't disappointed! Of course, I was looking for morels! but alas, I found a few interesting little shrooms in a patch by a tree. K's parents have a little trailer for their truck out in their backyard, and underneath are growing these same little mushrooms. It looks crazy there because they only grow in the shade of that trailer, and no where else... like a white shadow! I should've taken a picture, but forgot.

Sorry so blurry...

And I saw this one, bright, lone tangerine dream. I tried to get a good picture of it, but with the rain coming down, and me not wanting to ruin my phone, I didn't succeed. Still, you can see how it contrasts brilliantly with the green moss! So pretty! Less blurry in person. Ha ha.

And the last thing I wanted to share with you all today is this little gem that I took on my way to work a couple days ago. The sun had been out since Irene hit, making the world a bright place for all... and drawing out Mother Nature's smaller creatures... including two monarch butterflies that I haven't seen here until that day.

It was feeding on the nectar from  this wild butterfly bush (doing its job!) and let me get quite close to it. Its partner was up too high for me to try to photograph. But this one was right at my level... and it was stunning. I felt so lucky to get close to these colorful butterflies! I hope you enjoyed the little nature walk with me. I'm off to get ready for work, and take a walk in the rain! I'll have my yellow boots on, of course!

xoxox