• Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Events
  • Photo Gallery
  • Blog
  • Contact

A Joyful Noise

monarch caterpillar

Monarch butterfly migration

March 10, 2019 by Melodye Shore

Sometimes circumstances align in a way that feels like pure magic. For example, last Friday, when I was driving home from our garden nursery with three milkweed plants, Mystic Spires salvia, and frilly little fuchsias. As if from nowhere, a flurry of Monarch butterflies drifted into my field of vision. Dozens and dozens of them, floating past my windshield and side view mirrors. When I stopped at a traffic light, they cocooned my car with their colorful wings.

Breathtaking.  To say the least. I’ve seen caterpillars transform themselves into butterflies that emerge from their jewel-colored pendants and take to the sky. I’ve seen overwintering Monarchs that spread their wings in the sunlight and drift away from their clusters. But I’ve never seen so many Monarchs in motion at one time!

Later in the day, that I came to know that the Monarchs are migrating north right now. Lucky me, I got to witness firsthand this amazing phenomenon! Sorry, no photos–I don’t fiddle with my camera/phone while I’m driving. But here’s a quick snapshot of the milkweed that rode shotgun with me. Clearly, I need to get these flowers into the ground, and soon.

Posted in: Butterflies, magic, metamorphosis, milkweed, monarch butterfly, monarch caterpillar, writing Tagged: butterfly, magic, migration, milkweed, monarch, Monarch butterflies

Monarch Butterfly-in-the-making

June 12, 2018 by Melodye Shore

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly. –R. Buckminster Fuller

Monarch butterfly-to-be, in my backyard

SaveSave

SaveSave

Posted in: Butterflies, caterpillar, metamorphosis, milkweed, monarch butterfly, monarch caterpillar, quote, R. Buckminster Fuller, writing Tagged: caterpillar, metamorphosis, monarch, monarch caterpillar, quote, R. Buckminster Fuller

Hope as antidote for suffering

September 11, 2017 by Melodye Shore

Very few Monarch eggs survive to adulthood–mortality rates hover in the range of 90% or even higher! And still, the female Monarch lays new eggs every day–an average of 500 in her lifetime.

I’ve learned to respect Mother Nature’s ways, even when I don’t fully understand them. Even so, I do what I can to help offset those seemingly insurmountable odds. It’s how I’m wired, I guess. I’ve replaced our thirsty grass with drought-tolerant milkweed and nectar plants. I shield their nursery from weather extremes, and I guard against aphids and pesticide overspray, carried into my garden on ocean breezes.

Here, the story of Hope itself: struggles, persistence, endurance.

Helen Keller once said, “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” We see this in our daily lives: hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, diseases, natural and man-made disasters. A microcosm of this truth is borne out everyday, in my little Monarch Waystation.

Because I’ve witnessed firsthand their potential for suffering, I appreciate each wriggling, hungry little caterpillar as a marvel unto itself.

Because I’ve wept over the sweeping losses caused by predators, I greet with joy each new chrysalis–perfectly shaped jewel boxes, housing secret transformations within.

And the metamorphosis of a microscopic, pearlescent egg into this Monarch butterfly? Nothing short of a miracle.

Posted in: Butterflies, caterpillar, eggs, garden, Helen Keller, Hope, metamorphosis, milkweed, monarch butterfly, monarch caterpillar, mother nature, Quotes, suffering, wings Tagged: caterpillar, chrysalis, egg, Helen Keller, hope, metamorphosis, milkweed, monarch butterfly, monarch butterfly egg, suffering

Wordless Wednesday: Little Altars Everywhere

June 21, 2017 by Melodye Shore

 

Posted in: cairn, caterpillar, chalk art, Cost Tower, flip-flops, flowers, garden, Lillian Coit Memorial Tower, little altars everywhere, monarch caterpillar, rocks, rose, sidewalk art, Telegraph Hill Tagged: cairn, Coit tower, flip-flops, Lillian Coit Memorial Tower, monarch caterpillar

Topics

ab 2165 beach billy graham birds can i get a witness christmas dear bully family archives flowers freckles garden gardening harbor seals hope hummingbird hummingbird hatchlings hummingbird nest 2015 hummingbirds jeannine atkins joy joyful noise laguna beach land of medicine buddha memoir memoir writing monarch butterfly nana nancy drew new year's eve ocean orange county peace photography poetry rosa resolution rose sara seals tent revival thankful thursday thanksgiving the author's tent throwback thursday wordless wednesday writing

Recent Posts

  • My uncouth neighbors: A murder of crows
  • Smitten with Kittens, by Florence and Wendell Minor
  • Happy Valentine’s Day!
  • Happy New Year, 2022
  • The Badlands
  • TINY BIRD: A Hummingbird’s Amazing Journey
  • The welcome respite of rain

Archives

Copyright © 2023 .

Omega WordPress Theme by ThemeHall