Friday, March 21, 2014

Shouting from the rooftop . . .

She's here,
She's here,
She is here!

Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness in the truth
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I'm happy
Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do



And, sometimes when you are so happy you might even find a tear or two flowing down your cheeks.
Anyone who really knows me, knows that I have a lot of passion in my heart, and along with that
often comes passionate emotion. I feel things very deeply. I wear my heart on my sleeve.

But, I even surprised myself yesterday afternoon when I spotted my first monarch, a female, on a mission
to lay every single one of her (almost 300-400) eggs in my front yard, on the milkweed yet to be planted.
I hadn't expected to feel so much emotion about the returning of the monarch on their journey north.

It's a bit hard to tell from the photographs but she has some definite wear on her wings, and loss of scales
and is quite faded compared to a freshly emerged monarch.



She would rest in between laying eggs,


and then back to work she went, and you know what? I was in just the right spot and for the first time ever
as I watched her lay an egg I saw it come right out on to the leaf! Sigh.....


before I left for my son's track meet I roughly counted 40 eggs! And I know there were all from her,
since I've been checking for eggs daily.


Oddly, I never once saw her drink any nectar. They will lay only one egg per leaf (at a time) but, and sadly as I watched her circle my cul de sac looking for more milkweed and not finding any, she came right back to the 4 one gallon, and flat of 20 4 inch pots I had on my sidewalk. I haven't gone out to count yet this morning
but I did see last night when I got home more eggs in places they weren't before.

** Update: I have just finished my official counting**

98 eggs!

I officially DO NOT now have enough milkweed...must get seeds planted and in the meantime go get more milkweed...when I'm done with this in fact before the weekend rush!

Yes, shouting from the rooftop ....I'm clapping and singing Happy.....

Go forth my friends and plant milkweed, they are on their way!!!!

Love, Kim xo

sharing with Friday Finds

32 comments:

Adrienne said...

Thank you thank you THANK YOU for sharing this journey with us! I feel like a whole world has opened up to me learning about this and sharing your joy!!

Kathryn Dyche said...

What a beautiful thing to witness . . . makes me want to go out and buy a whole bunch of milkweed.

Dotti said...

Happy Days!!! :-D

Brenda said...

Clapping for you and your mama Monarch from here in Ohio. Looking forward to the journey from egg to butterfly that you will share with us.

Beverly said...

Oh that is sooo exciting! I had no idea they preferred milkweed leaves to use for their eggs! I did hear on our news yesterday that the Butterfly Kaleidoscope started at our zoo today, and runs through Sept. 1st. I'm so excited to go and my camera as soon as it's warm enough! I hope you get to see the process of these beauties!

Michelle B said...

How wonderful to watch as the mama monarch lays her eggs! Keep us updated on the babies!

Linda said...

Yay! So exciting! I am officially on the lookout for a monarch in the vicinity of the milkweed!

Snap said...

YeeHaw!!!!!

Judith @ Lavender Cottage said...

Thanks for dropping by to see my "wild" post and leaving a comment.
This monarch IS exciting, especially to see the eggs being laid. I hope the monarchs make it to Ontario this summer, there were so few of them last year and we were very sad about this.
My butterfly garden has lots of milkweed and our rural area has it growing along the sides of the road.
I hope they come...

Karen said...

Oh how wonderful Kim!!! She's a beauty!I am putting in milkweed this year.

Sandra said...

Wonderful! I can feel your joy!

Margie said...

Great find - makes me want to plant Milkweed.

tiarastantrums said...

awesome!! We had wild milkweed growing all over our area and then the city came and sprayed and mowed it ALL down last year. I almost cried! I did not see one caterpillar or butterfly after that. Hoping some comes back this spring!!

thanks for the note about your lens!!

Sylvia said...

Great find, Kim, so exciting !
Enjoy the weekend,
Sylvia

Sarah Huizenga said...

So exciting! You definitely need more plants :)

Inspired By June said...

You're a nut, but a good nut and I love you :) So exciting!

Unknown said...

Wow! That is really awesome. And your photos are so pretty. Thanks for teaching me something new. Guess I need to buy some milkweed...Hmmm...maybe I should check and see if Monarch's come around here first.

Sharon said...

And how exciting! You captured clear, wonderful images of her too. I think you should let your passion show. Definitely. And thanks for sharing it with us. Dare to be as happy as a room without a roof. I love that mental image!

Ida said...

What fantastic news. It's fascinating learning about this butterfly through your blog. The only Milkweed I know about I wouldn't want to plant in my garden. It's an actual weed and not very pretty.

Marilyn said...

Wow, this early? We have to get the milkweed for our yard. I've been told it's the only thing they will lay eggs on….their only source of food.
So wonderful you were able to capture the little lady. She's beautiful even if she is a bit ragged.

Sherri B. said...

I'm so happy for you, Kim...gorgeous photos, too, as always. :)

Anonymous said...

I LOVE that song and I'm so happy that one of your beauties laid so many eggs. What a wonder!

Karen said...

Exciting, fascinating, and gorgeous!!

Barb said...

Beautiful story! When I was in AZ I went to the Butterfly Wonderland and saw the video about the Monarch - it was fascinating to say the least.

Unknown said...

EEEEE..that first shot is magic Kim!!! She's beautiful. Wish I could give all my milkweed.

Cathy H. said...

Oh, Kim, I'm thrilled right along with you and just a tad teary-eyed myself! You are truly a very special person!

Unknown said...

YEA!! How wonderful my friend! I can just feel the joy in your words! Happy day indeed!

Hugs~

Deanna said...

Holy cow 98....you must be giddy with monarch happiness!!

Liz said...

What a gorgeous post, Kim!!! Thank you for putting a smile on my face, today. I absolutely love your enthusiasm and I feel so blessed to have "met" you through blogging!

How I'm off to catch up on what I've missed since being away from blogging for so long. :)

Have a wonderful day!

selvänäkijät said...

Look's like someone visit your beautiful garden ,really a good capture to your visitor ,in Finland where i am an fortune teller i have also a garden and i have always a lot of visitors which make my garden really look beautiful.

Neesie said...

It's not very often that we're in the right place at the right time when nature's doing her thing.
Brilliantly captured. I feel privileged to see it.
Have a wonderful week ;D

Anita Johnson said...

And last summer we had tons of milkweed and no butterflies! Ugh!

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