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