Friday, October 30, 2009

Too Late for Freedom

If you have been to my house in the summer, you have likely seen monarchs on my kitchen counter in one or more stages of the life cycle.  We have hatched many monarchs in our kitchen for the past 10 years.  We've witnessed the caterpillar hatching from the tiny egg, the making of the bright green chrysalis, and the hatching of the beautiful butterfly many times; but we have never ceased to be amazed by God's creativity with this creature.
Each time we've hatched a butterfly, we have released it outside the same day.  This year has been different.  In early October our weather turned cold--too cold for butterflies to survive.  We had four caterpillars left to hatch and weren't sure what we should do with them.  The butterfly specialist at Iowa State University's Rieman Gardens encouraged us to keep them in our home to enjoy for their short life, rather than send them outside to certain death.  We were able to release two of the monarchs during a stretch of warm days in mid-October.  We are hoping that they made tracks to Mexico and made it far enough south to escape the cold temperatures that came within a few days. The butterfly pictured here is the last one of the four.  He will likely die on our kitchen table.  He spends all day on the window screen, apparently longing to do what God intended him to do.  We would love to see him fly away, but he was born too late for freedom.




Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Delight...

If you live in Huxley and happened to put this lovely treasure out with your trash this morning, then you have brought me much delight

I have been on the lookout for a vintage bicycle for several years.  How wonderful that one turned up a few blocks from my house at the curb with someone's trash.  A BIG thank you to my friend, Lisa, who gave me the head's up!  She told me where she saw it, and I left my lunch on the counter, grabbed my keys, and jumped in the van.  Let me tell ya...she didn't have to say it twice!  I was already at the end of my driveway when she said that I should go look at it soon, before the trash truck picked it up.  I snagged this beauty and had it loaded in my van within minutes of her phone call.
I plan to plant flowers in the basket next spring and find THE PERFECT SPOT in my yard for it.  Just think...I can move it around whenever I want--its a portable garden sculpture!  Oh happy day!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Goals and Birthdays

Today is my birthday. One of my goals for 2009 was to start my own blog. Since 2009 is almost over, I decided that today would be a good day to begin this new endeavor. Beginning a blog on my birthday will make it memorable and give me a sense of accomplishment. I look forward to the new things I'll be required to learn, the preserving of memories it will allow, and the outlet for writing that it will provide. However, since it's past my bedtime...(yawn)...I'm going to go to bed. And what a sense of satisfaction I'll feel as my head hits the pillow. : )