Preparing for take off . . .

Activity is reaching fever pitch . . . Elizabeth Howard

"getting ready to go"

Once or twice a week now I get an email in my inbox from Journey North with updates about the monarch activity in the mountain tops of Mexico, their overwintering site.

On February 26 there was a flurry of activity as the thirsty monarchs started breaking out their clusters on the trees looking for water, and within the month they will leave their winter home and begin their journey north to recolonize North America.

Which means, especially for those of us in Texas as the main migration corridor between Mexico and the States, please, please start planting nectar plants for their arrival, and milkweed for laying eggs. 

"The monarchs would come out of the trees each time that cumulus clouds
covered the sun. They reached almost unbelievably dense numbers, flying
out over the llanos. The trees were nearly emptied at such times. Literally
every cubic foot of air held at least one monarch."  El Rosario Sanctuary, Feb 21, 2015

Can you even imagine what a sight that is . . . sigh . . . I feel a lump in my throat thinking about it!! 

As they break out of their clusters, looking for water they will also be mating and the females will be looking for a place to lay their eggs when they get here. When they arrived in Mexico in the fall the typical monarch weighed 140 mg and per Journey North those energy reserves are about 70% depleted by now. They will be very hungry when they get here.

For those of you unaware there was a petition filed last year to put the monarch on the endangered species list and within the stipulations of that status they had said that citizens would only be able to raise 10 wild caught caterpillars. Let's just say that didn't go over very well in the monarch community and they have since revised it to read 100 caterpillars. It is only a suggestion though, and will be at the discretion of the service if it's listed as threatened. That is still 500 less than what I raised last summer alone.

I simply don't agree with listing the monarch as endangered. Their migration is what is in danger because we have lost nearly all (90% or more) of the native milkweed in the Midwest that used to grow in our row crops, now being sprayed with Monsanto herbicides. (That's a whole other post by itself)

I spent some time today pulling weeds, starting to prep the garden and thinking about what I want to plant. Purple trailing lantana ( with a heavenly scent) and a red-orange-yellow variety that I think is called Luscious Citrus Blend, were both really big hits with all the butterflies {and the hummers loved the red one}. I also plant different varieties of salvia, coneflower, zinnia, penta {both butterfly and graffiti varieties}, hyssop (didn't come back last year, and couldn't find it last summer), and black-eyed susan. I'm sure there is something I'm missing and I hope to add to the list this summer, including some different host plants for more butterflies.

Here's to diggin' in the dirt!

Love, Kim

Little things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Photo Art Thursday, Friday Finds

My journey with the monarchs: No.2

Originally . . . I had really wanted to plan all of this out, from beginning
to end before sharing this series, but time has just not allowed for that.
Instead, I sit here flying by the seat of my pants hoping that I can convey
what is in my heart, and any lessons that I learned along the way.
So,
when I forget something, and I'm sure I will, I'll be back to share
when I remember, deal?

(you can find the first in this series, here)


Milkweed: Loss of Habitat

The milkweed plant (genus Asclepias) is the only host plant that a monarch will lay their eggs on and eat as larva. And, their habitat as well as the monarch itself has severely declined. In fact, the Monarch Population Status, the overwintering numbers from Mexico this past fall were the lowest ever recorded since they started counting them 20 year ago.

I remember last November, around Thanksgiving, reading an article that showed up in my Facebook feed and I got a pit in my stomach. You see, they estimate that a billion or more monarchs once made the 2,500 mile trip along the migration route and although each year it varies and sometimes extremely, the size of their migration has over the last decade been in a steep and steady decline. In 2012 there were just over 60 million monarchs that made it to their overwintering sites, which was a record low, until this past fall when only 33 million butterflies made it covering only 1.65 acres.

Two years ago, here in Texas we had a massive drought which became a problem as they migrated back through to Mexico most likely not finding any nectar to survive the trip. And before that there was a catastrophic weather event in Mexico while they were overwintering that killed millions upon millions of butterflies that would never make the trip back north. Even this spring has proven to be difficult with prolonged cold temperatures. But, their dwindling numbers go well beyond the things that we cannot control.

But probably the most detrimental to the monarch has been their loss of habitat. The expansion of row crops, namely corn and soybean where the milkweed grew,  is now being planted with crops that are herbicide (roundup) resistant. When the farmers plowed the fields to keep weeds at bay, the milkweed would just eventually grow back, but now with all the chemicals they have all but been wiped out. Some states have lost up to 90% of their native milkweed.

The monarch has shown in the past that they can over a several year period, and with good weather, bounce back. But how can they continue to do that if there is less and less milkweed each year. 

And you know what? There is a direct correlation between the introduction of Monsanto's GMO corn and soybeans, the loss of milkweed, and the decline of the monarch. 

Right here, right now, the best chance that the monarch has is for each of us to plant milkweed in our gardens along with nectar plants. You can find milkweed plant & seed suppliers here. 

Their mortality rate in the wild, without any of these other obstacles is about 90-95 %, maybe even a little more. Besides all of the other obstacles, the red wasps and assassin bugs here love to eat them, and they become hosts to a multitude of parasitoids, and diseases. Then there is the problem with things like aphids, spider mites, and thrips which can all cause problems with the quality of the milkweed itself.

I had a friend ask me the other day why I bring the caterpillars inside, why didn't I just leave them outside where they belong? Last year I raised and released over 400 monarch butterflies and according to statistics, if left to their own in nature that would have equated to about 30-40 butterflies. I live in Texas, and we are a very important corridor in the migration both north and south. Some of the very first eggs are laid here, to be the next generation to continue their incredible journey north. And then finally it's the 4th or 5th generation of this amazing butterfly, that will begin the longest migration of any insect as they journey south 2,500 miles to a place it has never been, to overwinter and begin the cycle again the next spring. 

For me their story is about hope and renewal and beauty through change. For me, it's a little miracle. So I bring them inside to give them a fighting chance until they can fight it again on their own. 

We all need a little help now and again, don't we?

(No 3 in the series can be found here)

Until next time -

Love, Kim

sharing with Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Friday Finds

  

For the love of . . .

. . . a journey,

one by design and one a leap of faith.

A parallel journey of two thousand miles that began being carried by the breeze.

"All glory comes from daring to begin." - Eugene F Ware

Once upon a time . . . several years ago in a galaxy far, far away I bought a milkweed plant and patiently waited. Now, our mosquitoes get so bad here that sometimes in order to go out and tend to plants in the garden I would have to use a mosquito fogger. Little did I know at the time, but there were two caterpillars on that milkweed . . . they died . . . I felt horrible. And that was the end of that for that summer as I couldn't find any more milkweed.

Fast forward to last year when my metals instructor gave me some cuttings of her milkweed to root and then to hopefully plant. I had put them in some water in a bucket and crossed my fingers. I kept checking on them but no roots, and they weren't looking very good. They had become infested with aphids and so I had decided to just pitch them and go buy some milkweed from my nursery, when I discovered to my surprise, two monarch caterpillars. A couple of more plants, complete with a few more caterpillars and some eggs and I had the start of a new journey.

At about the same time our family would begin a different journey when our son became very ill and eventually diagnosed with a form of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The caterpillars weren't a coincidence, but a reminder that I don't have to travel two thousand miles to be transformed. . . I just need faith, and it only need be the size of a mustard seed.

I have loved everything about this process, this journey . . .starting with this seed and the beautiful way it was designed to blow in the breeze. To be carried away from the plant and to multiply. And, grow they will where they land.

{kk -revolution and just a touch}

Once a flower on the plant is pollinated it will go to seed and grow a pod. This plant definitely had some pollinating visitors. It's important to leave the pod on the plant until the seem opens up or they may not be

viable seeds when planted. The pod will start to change color and texture, but you will want to watch closely

unless you don't mind seeds blowing and growing everywhere. 

They produce their seeds in follicles that are arranged in an overlapping manner. When the seeds mature the pod will begin to open and as the silky white filament-like hairs become more dry, the pod will explode and the seeds . . . carried away by the wind.

  

And from that seed this beautiful plant will grow. There are more than 100 species of milkweed suited for different growing conditions. Here in Texas the Asclepias Curassavica is the species that I get from my nursery, also known as Tropical Milkweed.

When life throws those curve balls, and we know it does, we need to be able to go with the flow. More times than not, these milkweed seed will find themselves quite a distance from where they started, but will grow where they land anyway, because the monarch depends on it.

And often, when we find ourselves in chaos, far from where we started and our lives will depend on being able to grow where we land. And I don't know about you, but sometimes my first reaction is to find a way around the chaos when really, going "through" it is where the real growth is.

Sometimes going through it is the shorter distance than trying to find a way around it.
That, and a leap of faith the size of a mustard seed.

Stay tuned, next up more about the plant and an egg. . . here.

Happy Tuesday,
Love, Kim


Sharing with Texture Tuesday, Sweet Shot Tuesday

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

Spring has been caught speeding . . .

. . . yep, it was spotted on the gulf coast going 80 in a 60 degree zone!

Now, I know, I'm not going to get much sympathy from most of you,

but we already had to turn on the A/C.

It's February people! And I was quite hoping for a REAL Spring.

But . . . 

1. I'm over the moon to see the bees again.

2. And apparently the bees are over the moon flowers to drink nectar once again. This, seemed

to be a common sight the other day at the nursery . . . they appear to have tipped the juice

a little too far and were in a suspended stuper. (He seemed to be hanging on for dear life.)

3. Look who's here . . . he emerged on Tuesday and since we've had several hard freezes I have

zero plants for a food source, so I boxed him up and took him to my nursery. I figured he would

really enjoy the variety of flowers and appreciate the fact he didn't have to fly all over looking for food.

And...that proboscis of his went right to work.

4. As I was making my way to the front I spied this Houdini leaf performing feats of wonder. If you look really, really close you can see a hint of a silk string. I didn't really think much about it, until I noticed it

was bobbing up and down? next......

5. So.....I looked up, and, what do ya know I found Charlotte! She was using the leaf for one of her anchor threads for the beautiful web she was putting the finishing touches on. She was tricky to get a picture of moving around so much because when your a spider, there is no rest for the weary.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm loving the fact that it isn't 50 shades of grey (of course by the time you

read this it could possibly be raining cats and dogs), but you have to remember . . . here on the gulf coast our summer is a little like your winter only instead of below zero, we are over a hundred. It's just that I was thinking it would be nice to have spring first.

and one more, 7. because I know you were wondering. The APHIDS are out in full force already, UGH!

Have a great weekend - I would if I could bottle some of this up and send it to you! :)

Love, Kim xo

sharing with Little Things Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Random Five Friday

A whole lotta random . . .

"If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies"

-Unknown

In some things I don't mind change, like the seasons (which we don't really even get here), the scenery on a road trip, and that of a caterpillar to a butterfly (yep, I did say random).

And in others I really don't like it. "The Change" which is completely for the birds (well, they probably don't even go through the change, lucky!), when marketers change the labels constantly and you can't find what you need because they changed it, and like when your kid goes to college.

Gosh, I thought I was doing so good, but really, I think I'm having a bit of trouble. It's just so quiet around here, and honestly during the day it was always quiet. But come 3 o'clock every day when she came home (brother always has some kind of practice) she filled me in on world happenings because quite frankly I don't ever turn on my TV. I miss our everyday conversations about miscellaneous life stuff and school, and sharing my excitement over butterfly #200 and something emerging, and I sure do miss her baking! LOL

Mostly, I just miss her presence, well, and her hugs! 

It was so nice to have her home last weekend, but it just went too fast. And before you know it we were driving her back to campus. But our drive back was so much fun, listening to some of her ideas about documentaries and a book she wrote that she is re-writing.....can I just tell you, and I know most parents probably feel this same way about their kids, but this girl is incredible. She has such a profound wisdom for her age, and I don't think I've been smarter than her since fifth grade!

Change....as much as most of us don't like it, it's the only way to get to the other side sometimes.

(five minute intermission for a good cry)

Okay, speaking of last weekend it was homecoming and my boy asked a girl . . . to the dance . . . only they didn't go to the dance? They, along with 16 others took a limo into Houston where they had dinner instead. Since they aren't 18 and there were 18 of them the restaurant required a chaperon so another mom and I did the honors. The manager was impressed and admitted that they didn't need one, but they never know what kind of group they will get.

And speaking of my boy, he is doing so well. I missed Tuesday because I don't have my act together lately and we had his infusion. Following protocol he will be on this medication for the next two months and the doctor, because he is doing so well and labs are all staying normal, may take him completely off! (that's when we pray for remission)

Linking with Nancy, and more randomness....

1. On the caterpillar front, I now have 3 Queen cats that have turned into a chrysalis, 3 more in a j-hang and maybe another dozen still getting fat. Throw a couple of Monarch cats in there, and about 8 black swallowtail eggs, two that just hatched this morning. Grand central station....

2. I put out my hummingbird feeder for the first time (it's two years old) but the hummers seem to prefer my wild morning glory vine, whatup?

3. Now this one .... if you know an elderly person who is really elderly, who not only still has a drivers license, but actually gets behind a wheel, please, please, please make sure they really can drive. It's okay to hurt their feelings if it means keeping other drivers alive. (see #4)

4. I'm happy to be alive, and even happier that the planets were aligned so that when the elderly woman came across over three lanes into mine that I was able to avert an accident. The outcome would have been different if there had been any cars in the left turn lane, or any cars in the opposite turn lane!

5. Don't go to Sonic for your free Texans slush the day after the Texans win unless it's before school lets out, just sayin'!

Yeah, I just need to wrap up this very long random mess of a post and go have some chocolate or something.

Oh,

6. No I have not forgotten my Monarch series, seriously I took way too many photos (is there such a thing) and I'm trying to corral all my notes and thoughts from the last four months.

Have a wonderful weekend, I'm off to watch some Queen cats do their thing.

Love, Kim

linking with Little Things Thursday, Five on Friday, Friday Photo Journal

Pop it . . .

"[Orange] is one of God's favorite colors --

He stuck it right there between red and yellow as the second color of the rainbow.

He decorates entire forests with shades of orange every Autumn.

It shows up in sunrises at the start of the day,

sunsets at the end of the day,

and in the glow of the moon at the right time of night."

- Reggie Joiner

Today's texture theme is "pop" to be interpreted in which ever way floats our boat. . . 

I chose to use a "pop" of orange, one of my Monarch's that eclosed while we were gone

on Sunday and must not have had enough room to spread her wings completely out, and they dried

slightly curled. She was having a great deal of difficulty flying properly.

I used a very slow shutter speed here to show the motion of her trying to flap her wings.

{Kim Klassen All that, look up, and weathered}

{Kim Klassen Phoebe}

How excited was I when my dear bloggy friend Deanna told me that she saw I had won Kim Klassen's giveaway . . . the cloth and paper texture collection.

It's awesome . . . thank you again Kim, for your generosity!

And to Deanna, seriously if she had not told me I may have missed it....

And . . . oh my . . . 

Speaking of missing something...deep breath...and..........an even deeper sigh . . . 

I got a summons for jury duty, like a month ago, when Sam first got sick.

I put the envelope on the counter, and forgot about it! I forgot about it!!

I called, practically in tears...oh yes tears, and tried to calmly tell the woman why I missed it.

All the while hoping she hadn't sent the police to come arrest me, seriously . . . 

She said I hadn't missed it, she said today IS the 6th . . . even bigger panic . . . it was in 30 minutes.

And.....my daughter happened to have a very late arrival day...and I had to drive her to school.

She took pity on me and rescheduled me for July . . . 

Did you hear that? That POP sound . . . with all the stress, I think I finally popped a gasket in my brain...

And the beat goes on,

Today, by the time you're reading this, I have been up since o'dark thirty to drive the boy and I back to the Children's hospital for more appointments and some new testing . . . .in matters of the heart, literally.

There is a potential new problem and all I can say is . . . . serenity now!!

As much as I have tried not to let this all get to me, it's gotten to me.

But on the plus side of things I have 14 chrysalis's and counting hanging in my dining room . . . 

and that is exciting stuff people! 

Have a great day, if I don't see you on Thursday I'll see you next week.

I need to find the rest of my marbles and re-attached that darn gasket, haha!

Love, Kim

Xo

Sharing with Texture Tuesday, Tuesdays Around the World, Tuesday Muse, Sweet Shot Tuesday

A memoir . . . in six words

I know what your thinking,

there is NO way that I am going to tell a story in six words.
And you would most likely be right!

In my Beyond Layers class with Kim Klassen I was first challenged

to think about my own creative story and perhaps write about it, maybe even share it.

  I haven't gotten so far on that story yet . . . I'm pretty sure that will be more than six words.

 So when I got the next challenge it was one that I was able to accomplish in seconds before
leaving the house on Monday for my metals class. I knew that if I didn't just write the first thing
that came to my mind I would've thought far too hard about it. The idea is one that originated from
Smith Magazine and is one that, although our story could really fill hundreds upon hundreds
of pages, sometimes all we need are just a few words.


Finding my wings, learning to fly...


These are the words that rolled off my fingertips from pen to paper.

This last year has been one of growth for me, both as a person and in my photography.
But to continue that growth I know I have to leave the safety of the cocoon behind, part of my old self,
in order to fully transform into that butterfly with wings.

"How does one become a butterfly?" she asked.
"You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."

"Hope for the Flowers" - Trina Paulus

"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly"

- Richard Buckminster Fuller

What would your six word memoir look like?
I would love to hear your six word story.

Love, Kim
XO

 

Foto Friday...Adorn Me!

So this week I have been at an art retreat called Adorn Me! in Houston. I took two night classes with Jen Cushman using resin and a day class with Diane Cook making an etched and layered brass cuff.

This first picture is of the cuff bracelet. We were all given a brass cuff that we prepared for etching and then as a resist we used black ink and rubber stamps. There is definitely a bit of trickiness to getting a clean stamp on a curved bracelet! After the cuffs went through the etching process and they were cleaned and patinaed it was time for some embellishments. So using a metal hole punch and some nuts and bolts we attached stuff to our bracelets. I still have some embellishing to do on mine as it still needs just a bit of bling. Diane is such a sweet person, and fabulous instructor and I enjoyed very much the opportunity to take this class from her. 



The other two night classes were with Jen Cushman using resin applications. The first night we made some paper collages and coated them with ICE resin®. It gives some of the papers a beautiful translucence and they become waterproof. The paper can still be torn or cut and they are still very pliable. I took some of my own photographs to collage with and became very excited at the possibilities! Jen just radiates enthusiasm in helping others with the creative process. Here are some of the pages....

And this one shows the ring and the page I used for it. We made a ring band out of nickel silver and I gave mine a texture using a rivet hammer. I still need to tweak this too! What you can't see is the long bolt still sticking out. In order to get a really good connection I need to take everything off and flatten the top some more so the nut will fit securely.

But I do have a few more pictures other than those from my classes. I needed to get out yesterday for some fresh air after being inside in classes. And going to the nursery seems to help me regain my center. Not only are they loaded with new shipments of flowers that are beautiful, but it's also intoxicating for one's nose.

                       I was able to capture this Monarch that landed right in front of me.

This is one of the things that I love about Maas Nursery. It's not a chain, and they live on site so everywhere you turn there are wonderful surprises. They had so much damage from hurricane Ike since they are less than a half a mile from Galveston Bay if that. Instead of taking out the trees that fell they have left them where they landed and work around it. Love it! I guess I need to take some pictures of those next time.

         This is probably one of the most beautiful colors of hibiscus I have ever seen. It literally glowed!

                                And it wouldn't be a trip to Maas without a picture of the gate!!

 I'm packing up my supplies to head out to Adorn Me! once again. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of creativity!

Love, Kim

XO