I have always been in love with the thought of having a garden. Spending time outside, digging, getting dirty, watching things grow, eating from the hard earned harvest. I never had a garden, though, until now. Thanks to my wonderful husband, he helped us plant strawberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, mint, basil, beans, and a ton of new plants to enhance our landscaping. It looks beautiful, and Wyatt and I love taking care of all of it.
We also loved taking care of our interesting butterflies again this spring. We've watched them grow from the tiniest caterpillars I've ever seen, to a chrysalis, to butterflies, so tame, they sit on your hand. Last year, I shared with you my lovely story of how I noticed nature was a little too close for comfort as there was a butterfly orgy going on in my kitchen. Well, they started doing it (literally) again, and as grossed out as I was, I allowed them to stay a bit longer. Why? I had 2 caterpillars left! In the 10 years that I have done this project, I've never had caterpillars at the same time as butterflies. They all changed around the same time together. But these little guys needed a little bit more love. They were "developmentally delayed" in teacher terms, and would have rode the little bus to school!
The more mature butterflies were getting restless. Once the 2 little guys turned into chrysalises, I decided to let the other ones go. This is always fun. Wyatt gets to hold them, we chase after them, wondering where they'll land and if they'll stay. All of them flew off, except for one. Poor guy, he came out of his chrysalis a little crooked, and his wings weren't straight enough to fly away. "This will be fun," I thought. "He'll be our resident butterfly." Wyatt spent 15, 20 minutes, holding him, moving him from flower to flower. It was a great learning opportunity for him. Wyatt placed his pet butterfly in our lemon tree, and went inside for a moment. Later, I came out, when Wyatt, very proudly, pointed out where his happy little butterfly was living.
But then, I looked closer. The butterfly wasn't moving. It was down in the dirt. "Wyatt? What happened? The butterfly's not moving." "Yeah, well, a bird came down to see the butterfly, and I had to yell at it," Wyatt explained. Then I examined our friend a little closer. The bird did indeed come to see the butterfly...and ate it's head right off!!!!!!! Just when I accept the whole mating thing, another form of nature comes slapping me in the face! Wyatt was actually OK with it, very much like his father with that "Its Nature!" kind of an attitude. I'm just glad there won't be more nature going on until next Spring!
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