From my garden . . .

"No occupation is so delightful to me

as the culture of the earth, and no

culture comparable to that of the garden."

-Thomas Jefferson

It's been quite the busy week in my garden....

Both Monarchs and Queen butterflies emerged, in my dining room, although I think it now counts as an 

extension of my garden. This is one of the Queen's, not a Monarch, but a close relative. Their color

is much deeper and more brown in color. I was having trouble photographing this little lady on my plectranthus, so I clipped some of my pink penta and put it in a bottle. That's when I discovered something.

This little egg . . . I knew right away what kind of caterpillar this would be as when we first moved in

to our house, they completely devoured my pentas. Only then, I didn't realize what kind of caterpillar it was.

And, it hatched the next day. Just Check out that horn on his back end...it's harmless. This my friends is going to be a tersa sphinx moth. And I am going to try my best at keeping track of this little fella and hope he doesn't fall prey to something. After I noticed the egg, I went back to take a look at the plants and see if I could find more. Nope, nada, but I did find evidence that there had been some small caterpillars from the small chewed holes in the leaves. But so many lizards and assasin bugs...not sure what has a chance!

*(Update: I did this post last night, and upon checking this morning....it...is...GONE!

Can I hear a collective....AWWWWW! It was on my front porch because I read somewhere

NOT to bring it in the AC, so I left it outside against my better judgement.

I. Am. So. Disappointed!)

And then one afternoon after a good little rain fell, the sun came back out, and the butterflies were back out looking for food. This is a Grey Hairstreak Butterfly enjoying the milkweed . . . 

And let me tell you it has been an incredible week of close encounters. Not only did he let me get super close for a mug shot, but....he let me pick him up!

See....I have proof.

And then, he even let me put him back without flying away. It seems he must have more than one life, notice the little chunk out of his wings at the back? They were designed to still be able to fly with bits and pieces missing from their wings.

And as I was knelt down trying to see if there were any caterpillars under the milkweed leaves, this little guy pops out from the bush and comes over, curious they are. 

And it always delights me when my butterflies come home again!

And how excited am I that they finally found the feeder. But boy are they tricky to get on film...so fast!

This week is our monthly Photo Art Friday over at Pixel Dust Photo Art. The optional theme is sky. It's always the first of the month, and it sorta snuck up me this time and I didn't leave myself enough time to play with this theme since I remembered just last night. I used her textures Painting Maker, Muted Monet,

Van gogh Sky, and last a Kim Klassen texture I forgot to write down.

In other news:

1. I can't find fall...it's still in the 90's and humid. One should not sweat at a football game.

2. You remember my pink highlights? The hummingbirds quite fancy them...I was sitting on my front 

porch earlier in the week and with my camera to my eye focusing on the butterfly right in front of me

drying its wings, I hear a hummer come over and at first I think he is wanting a drink from the plectranthus

that the butterfly is on...then I hear the sound of his wings right in my ear and feel a hurricane of wind on the top of my head. I'm pretty sure he was attracted to my pink hair.

3. If that wasn't exciting enough...the next day when he came back he came right up to me at eye level about fifteen inches away and just hovered....we had a moment! And just this morning, he was back again doing the same thing!

4. The last of my Queen butterflies are about to emerge...I need to get off this computer!

Even though I've seen it hundreds of times, it just never get old.

5. Oh, and speaking of close encounters I almost forgot. A giant and beautiful dragonfly just came over and

landed on my big toe one morning while I was outside standing there. I kid you not, and I can't believe I didn't have my cell phone to capture it.

Have a fabulous weekend y'all

Love, Kim

linking with Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Photo Art Friday

Random Five Friday, Photo Art Journal