*GASP* 'Its the first day of Fall!' My mind raced as I looked at the calender this morning. This year has just flown by. It seems like just last week we were opening Christmas presents and now the end of the world...er... year is almost here again.
YIKES!
Sorry I brought it up.
Sorry I brought it up.
I'll have to get out my Autumn decorations. I knew I had some somewhere... at least I thought I did.
...alas I found that most of my Fall decor is Thanksgiving oriented with turkeys and pilgrims and the like. I didn't even have a Fall leaf garland to hang. All I could muster up was enough Autumn neutral items to decorate the top of our TV cabinet. Looks like I'll be hitting the good ol' RiteAid this shopping day.
Today we went outside to gather leaves to make rubbings, and acorns and pine cones for decorations but the kids were sidetracked by a smattering of butterflies flitting about the lawn.
"MOMMY! I NEED THE NET!!! AND MY CAGE!!!!!"
Moments later Kiah and James excitedly filled their small plastic cages with...
...grasshoppers?
Hmmm... aparently grasshoppers are much easier to catch than butterflies. Who knew?
After catching about 15 of the "crickets"...
"James, they are grasshoppers"
"Look Mommy! I caught another cricket"
"~sigh~"
... Kiah finally landed her net on an actual butterfly. A great purple hairstreak to be exact. From the side this one is about the size of a quarter. Its colors are so vivid and it looks like it is wearing a frill of blue spotted black lace on its rump.
Then moments later, and through puddles of tears (because he wants to catch a butterfly too), James finally chased down a California sister.
"Are the boy ones sisters too?" James asks. Oh brother :-p This sister has a wingspan of about three inches and is fairly common in our area.
Most surprising of all was that even little Eden was able to catch a tiny butterfly no bigger than her thumbnail.
There are many species of dotted blue. The one Eden caught is a little more vividly colored but a dotted blue nonetheless. I love the paw print marking at the top of her fore wing.
Needless to say, with school time running short we postponed our leaf rubbings until this evening and looked up our butterflies instead. We found a great website about Butterflies of North America. None of the butterflies are endangered so we will probably keep them... perhaps make a display. First we have to set up a butterfly house. Maybe we'll get eggs.
7 comments:
Cool! I just checked out a butterfly book from the library this week so I could decorate cookies. I can't remember the last time I saw a butterfly in person!
I thought she looked like a border collie but I couldn't convince myself she wasn't an austrailan shepherd which is what I grew up with.
That is so cool that you guys were able to catch butterflies. Kennedy is rowing Play With Me this week in her co-op class and grasshoppers are what we are looking for. I can't wait to get the book tomorrow so I know more about what is going on.
Hi Becky!
Just checkin' in to say hello! I've been lazy with my postings and my comments on others blogs lately.
With Fall upon us now, I should be able to post more often and keep up as well. I would love to see your Fall decorations when you get them up. I, too, have pilgrims and turkeys to display if I can find them in the attic.
If you don't hear from me in a few days, send out a search party. I may be lost among all that "stuff" in the attic! Ha! Ha!
Plant Lady
P.S. I noticed that you were a "follower" aka "stalker" of Plant Lady's Ponderings! When I figure out how to list my stalkers,...er..followers, I will list them on my blog.
The butterflies must have been protesting the coming autumn! :) One of my favorite memories as a child was a year when we were in the middle of a butterfly migration. There were hundreds and hundreds of big orange butterflies everywhere. They are such beautiful creatures. It doesn't take much imagination to see where the idea of fairies came from.
You must know me too well!! LOL....updated what I did today on my blog! Go check it out!
Now that's my idea of a GOOD school day!! ; )
We are overrun with praying mantis (as always). The butterflies and grasshoppers and all the rest dance merrily through the shortened afternoon, thus my blogging is shortened as well. Just popped in to say "Hi" and "Bye" -- gotta go see what's happening outside. XO!
p.s.
I'm with James: Can the brothers be sisters, too? Hmmmm ... he's thinkin'!
What a FUN day! Beautiful butterflies. I loved James' question. Precious! Thanks for stopping by my blog :)
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