So...my day....ended better than it began. This morning we discovered that the Robin's nest had been predated and one of the three chicks was killed. Sigh. We just hope the predator doesn't return for the others. They have another 5 days or so before they can fledge. But then! I spotted a Monarch Butterfly in the pollinator garden and zipped outside with my camera. The Butterfly was something of a poser, so I got to photograph her laying eggs. There must be something over 20 in all so far! I brought another in, and one of the eggs already inside hatched. So now we have 3 tiny caterpillars and three eggs inside and so many that I'm watching outside. When they begin to turn black (actually, clear), I will bring them inside. They stay inside until they're big enough to find easily each day. Then they will go into a larger habitat that we keep on the screened back porch, where the caterpillars can experience the rhythm of day and night and warm and cool. After all that, I did some oil painting for 3 or 4 hours. It makes me so happy from inside out when I paint. I'm working on a painting of the back yard of Youngest's first house. I already did the front view of the house, and I want to have them framed in the same frame back to back, if it can be done.
So...my day....ended better than it began.
ReplyDeleteThis morning we discovered that the Robin's nest had been predated and one of the three chicks was killed. Sigh.
We just hope the predator doesn't return for the others. They have another 5 days or so before they can fledge.
But then! I spotted a Monarch Butterfly in the pollinator garden and zipped outside with my camera. The Butterfly was something of a poser, so I got to photograph her laying eggs. There must be something over 20 in all so far! I brought another in, and one of the eggs already inside hatched. So now we have 3 tiny caterpillars and three eggs inside and so many that I'm watching outside. When they begin to turn black (actually, clear), I will bring them inside. They stay inside until they're big enough to find easily each day. Then they will go into a larger habitat that we keep on the screened back porch, where the caterpillars can experience the rhythm of day and night and warm and cool.
After all that, I did some oil painting for 3 or 4 hours. It makes me so happy from inside out when I paint. I'm working on a painting of the back yard of Youngest's first house. I already did the front view of the house, and I want to have them framed in the same frame back to back, if it can be done.