Sally Weaver Glick
  • Home
  • Spiritual Guidance
    • What is spiritual guidance?
    • When should I seek it?
    • Individual or group?
  • Groups
    • Inklings
    • 2020 - 2021 Schedule
  • Individuals
    • Spiritual guidance for individuals >
      • Locally
      • At a distance
  • Sparks of Light blog
  • Martha Mary Mosaic
  • Writing
    • In Tune with God: the art of congregational discernment
    • Resources
  • About me
  • Contact

Sparks of Light

Monarchs

6/11/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
For years my friend Mary has been finding monarch caterpillars and bringing them indoors to raise and then set free. Her enthusiasm is catching, and so for years when the milkweed came up, I would search for monarch eggs or caterpillars, to no avail.

Daddy-long-legs, as in the picture above, yes. Red bugs, yes. Holes eaten in the leaves, yes. But no trace of monarch caterpillars for years and years, until finally, one fall, on a young and tender milkweed shoot sprouting in the middle of our yard, I finally spotted a teensy-tiny caterpillar and a couple of eggs.

We brought them into the porch and kept them supplied with milkweed, watching with fascination the cycle of egg to caterpillar, through the five instars -- skin-shedding molts, where the caterpillar stays pretty much the same except for getting bigger and bigger -- and then the creation of the chrysalis, and finally the hatching.

The picture below is from the fall of 2009 and shows two chrysalis hanging from the jar lid that we had been keeping the caterpillars in. One still looks like jade jewelry, the other has just hatched and the butterfly is resting and strengthening its wings.
Picture
That was three years ago, however, and since then I have searched milkweed plants and again had no luck finding monarchs.

That's why the discoveries this past week were exciting. First, up at the Hermitage, I found caterpillars on three different milkweed plants. The Hermitage is the only other place I've ever successfully spotted a monarch caterpillar. Two years ago when I was there for the Opening to Grace retreat, I saw one munching away as I neared the end of walking the labyrinth there. Then during this year's retreat, I saw several, including the one below.
Picture
Then last week, as John and I took an evening walk along the millrace, I stopped to take some photos of the milkweed blossoms, just beginning to open.
Picture
And lo and behold, there was a monarch caterpillar chowing down, large as life and twice as natural. And then, on our way back, from the other side of the path, I spotted a second one. We left them there, taking only the photo along home. Since then, I've continued to check the milkweed around our house. I've seen monarch butterflies, but so far, no eggs or caterpillars. I'll keep looking.
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    My approach to contemplative photography --
    "Pay attention.
    Be astonished.
    Tell about it."

    Mary Oliver in "Sometimes"

    Enter your email address to receive email updates:

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Alberta
    Babies
    Bee
    Berries
    Birds
    Branches
    Bread
    Broken And Blessed
    Buds
    Butterflies
    Calendar Garden
    Calendar Garden
    Cancer
    Candles
    Canning Jar
    Caterpillars
    Children
    Clouds
    Color
    Colors
    Consolations
    Darkness And Light
    Dawn
    Dawn Mist
    Death
    Deer
    Dewdrops
    Dried Plants
    Dried Plants
    Family
    Fence
    Fire
    Fishslippers
    Flowers
    Frogs
    Frost
    Gestalt Pastoral Care
    Glory
    God As Potter
    Grasses
    Heidi
    Hildegarde
    Holy Week
    Icon
    Ignatius
    Insects
    Julian
    Lament
    Leaves
    Lent
    Light
    Light And Shadow
    Light And Shadow
    Mary
    Moon
    Mountains
    Names
    Ocean
    Pathways Retreat
    Patterns
    Peace Lamp
    Plants
    Poetry
    Prairie
    Prayer
    Rain
    Raindrops
    Reflections
    Retreat
    Retrospective
    Rosebuds
    Roseleaves
    Rose Leaves
    Sandhill Cranes
    Seasons
    Seeds
    Shore
    Snow
    Song
    Spring
    Stones
    Sunrise
    Sunset
    Sunshine And Shadow
    Sunshine And Shadow
    Tesserae
    Transitions
    Trees
    Turtles
    Vegetables
    Water
    Winter

Website thanks to Weebly -- all rights reserved
  • Home
  • Spiritual Guidance
    • What is spiritual guidance?
    • When should I seek it?
    • Individual or group?
  • Groups
    • Inklings
    • 2020 - 2021 Schedule
  • Individuals
    • Spiritual guidance for individuals >
      • Locally
      • At a distance
  • Sparks of Light blog
  • Martha Mary Mosaic
  • Writing
    • In Tune with God: the art of congregational discernment
    • Resources
  • About me
  • Contact