Flutter By Butterfly

PULELEHUA (Butterfly in Hawaiian)

Sometimes Phil is having so much fun down in his tool-packed wood-work-shop I don't see him for hours...and then, I'll be walking by with a load of lava, or cinder, or green waste and he'll call out for me to "come see."  This is the second butterfly he has made, and is now working on a moth! Look's like he's found yet another creative use for his stacks of local wood...and, he's still got a few treasured pieces of redwood from Humboldt County.  The wings of this butterfly are redwood with the body in koa.

The other colorful picture is of the wild raspberries Phil picks for breakfast on his morning walk. Today we drove by to scope out the location and plan to go back with our shovels to transplant some in our yard in the shady location they seem to like.

Yesterday's task was weeding the pineapple patch of nearly 40 plants  More than half of them have baby pineapples growing already with lots of our famous white pineapple. Our lime tree is loaded, in fact all but one citrus have blossoms and we have bananas maturing too.  Breakfast anyone?

Groundhog Day

Early mornings I like to take my cup of coffee outside to stroll barefooted around the back yard enjoying the delights of the garden.

Last year although we discovered the Monarch butterflies had laid many eggs on our Crown Flower plant, the hatched caterpillars all disappeared before we could witness the magical transformation (maybe eaten by birds?)

Yesterday, however, I found a solitary pupa among the munched leaves and hollered to Phil to "come see." 

He brought the camera out, and while we were standing there, we were surprised to see the thin translucent layer of the pupa "pop" open. 

And, right before our eyes, we witnessed the emergence of a brand new Monarch butterfly! The pupa (because of the diet of Crown Flower leaves) is spun green. However as the transformation occurs, it becomes more translucent.

If you look carefully at the pupa photo -- you can even see the bold stripes showing through.

We were both surprised as the butterfly emerged to think it had been cramped into such a small space.

Watching the origami-wings slowly unfurl took about five minutes. We watch while the new butterfly stretched them out to dry in the warm sun.

The final four pictures document the final stages of the process we witnessed on Groundhog Day.

NOTE: The caterpillar on the left began to "curl up" during the day -- and next morning -- we got a photo of the brand new (translucent) pale green pupa.) Of course we will be hoping to catch another emergence --- if we are lucky.

My sister died on the first of February -- not unexpectedly. Over the years, as such losses occur, we have planted something in our yard as a tribute to each person.

When Phil's mom passed a few years ago, we planted two baby ohia trees in her memory. Now, the Crown Flowers will always remind me of my sister and our shared journeys through life.

All change is loss of one kind or another; witnessing this process was a lovely metaphor and reminder of the on-going process of life -- and death -- and new life.