Bearer of Life

Not the best photo, but worthy of a blip today because this is the first time in 7 years (since my first summer on Blip) that I've had a Black Swallowtail leave eggs in my garden.  Parsley is one of the caterpillar host plants of this species, so I usually plant extra just in the hopes of getting a female to lay eggs.  This year, I just planted one pot, intended for human consumption.  While playing Dominoes today with the besties, I glanced out and saw her perched on a flower.  I grabbed a camera and ran out the door...just in time to see her leaving me at least 3 eggs in the parsley!  What a perfect gift.  

Tomorrow I'll clean the parsley up, making sure to remove any small predators, and enclose the plant a mesh butterfly container.  Then, in another 3-4 days, I should see some tiny little caterpillars munching away on the plant.  As with the monarchs, I will raise these in a safe enclosure until they are ready to emerge as beautiful black swallowtail butterflies.  And, yes, there will be some blips along the way.  

Meanwhile, things in the Monarch nursery are hopping and I now have about 2 dozen 1st, 2nd and 3rd instar cats happily munching away on milkweed.  I'll be moving them to a larger container tomorrow and keep the smaller container for the eggs that are accumulating in the garden.

As I did last summer, I will be dedicating each butterfly that I release in memory of someone who has left this mortal world.  If you would like me to release a butterfly in someone's memory, please just leave me a message here, or email me (see my profile) with some information.  As some of you know, butterflies symbolize rebirth after death and in many ancient cultures are believed to carry the spirits of the dead who've come back to visit. I can't say if these legends are true or not; that's not for me to say.  But I like the idea of sending each butterfly on it's way carrying the memory of someone who was loved.  

A great time this weekend with my besties.  We ate, we laughed, we drank some excellent wine, we laughed some more, we reminisced; it was exactly what I needed.  I love these three women so very much.  

Treasure your family and friends.

xo
Debbi