Caterpillar Chronicals

Once upon a time (September 2024), our kids found a little caterpillar on the dill plants in our garden.  They quickly fetched the bug house (one from my childhood) and gave the caterpillar everything it could possibly want (including lots of dill...which it obviously enjoyed - it was very hungry, of course).  Knowing what would likely come next in the caterpillar's life cycle, I immediately ordered a butterfly habitat (which very closely resembled my college-days collapsible clothes hamper).   It was to arrive in a couple days.

Thanks to Google, we identified the critter as a black swallowtail caterpillar (affirmed by their documented attraction to dill plants).  The article mentioned that once a caterpillar's chrysalis is formed, it could either hatch in a couple weeks or it could potentially winter inside the chrysalis for several months - something I read over, but didn't necessarily consider happening.  (Narrator: She should have considered this possibility.)

(caterpillar is at the far right of the bug house)

As luck (or Amazon's timing) would have it, we only just missed getting the caterpillar in the butterfly habitat before it built its chrysalis.  Instead, it formed it in the little bug house...with the tiny door...which lead to plenty of late-night anxiety for me.  What if the butterfly couldn't get out of the house once it emerged?!  What if it emerged and harmed itself trying to fly around in there?!  What if we have to demolish our beloved bug house just to set the butterfly free?!  I tried to put these thoughts to rest and know that we would cross that bridge when we came to it.

It stayed here for a long time anchoring itself, at which point I knew we were too late to transfer it to the butterfly habitat.

Perhaps you, too, can see the big white spot at one end of the caterpillar? It reminded me of a spider web material.

Meanwhile, the chrysalis just hung there - in the bug house (with the door open)...in the butterfly habitat(the size of a clothes hamper)...in our dining room (by a window, per the advice of a friend and creature expert).  We checked it daily for a few weeks.   The weeks turned into more weeks which turned into months during which we were maybe checking it once or twice, and mostly only when we had to move it when company came, etc.

9/19/25

9/20/25

9/29/25

10/11/25
This was the day I further researched the part about it staying in there till the next spring.

At some point, I stopped taking pictures.  It looked dried up and dead, and I lost nearly all hope that it anything would ever come of it.  I thought I could see spots resembling what I knew about swallowtail wings in there, but also thought it was probably just wishful thinking.  I considered spritzing it with water, setting it outside, or researching anything else that might assure us we would see a butterfly, at some point.

And then...

We were getting ready to head out the door one morning this week, and by the grace of God, I happened to catch a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye.  I had no reason, really, to be in that corner of the dining room on that day and at that time, but I am so glad I was.  There was a butterfly in there!  I immediately opened the habitat to make sure that tiny bug house door was open.  The movement spurred the butterfly into action and with some finagling/tipping, it safely crawled out of the house and into the habitat.  Crisis averted.  Phew.  

The empty chrysalis was not extracted in tact, so this is the best picture I have of it.  It had not grown, or anything, since it was formed.  It maybe even shrank...?  

Yes, we are a little disappointed we didn't get to see it all happen.  We had been gone almost the whole day prior, so I'm not sure how long it had been since it emerged.  But also - nearly all interest had been lost and no one had been checking on it with any regularity, so it is to be expected we missed the big moment.  I'm just choosing to believe it happened at nighttime, and we wouldn't have caught it, anyway.  😉  

Of course, upon its discovery, a butterfly photoshoot promptly commenced.  Of course, the pictures through the mesh, etc. are terrible quality and don't do it justice, at all.  Of course, I'm still going to share them.  😁

Go figure, Jacob was gone the morning we discovered it, but he was very surprised and delighted upon his return!

See the little curled-up proboscis?!

The butterfly was very still for at least twenty-four hours, moving its wings only occasionally.  It did crawl around some, but from what I could tell, it never partook of the sugar water-soaked sponge, banana slice, or selection of flowers we provided for its consumption.  Lydia believes otherwise. 😏

At this point, I had (and still have!) so many questions:

• How was it not just a dried up, "crispy" (Lydia's word) thing after all that time?
• How did those big, beautiful wings fit in that itty-bitty living space?  (😉🧞‍♂️)
• How did the butterfly know it was time to come out (I realize it has something to do with circadian rhythms or something, but still!)?
• How did it have any energy to not only emerge, but use its body afterward before/without consuming anything?
• How does this happen in the wild?!?!?  How does a tiny chrysalis stay safe and secure the WHOLE WINTER and most of spring?  And THEN - how does the butterfly stay safe (and secure!) while it dries its wings for a whole day's time?

All these, and more, have been speculated about in our home...and will likely continue to be.  I know we could do research and potentially find some answers, but mostly, we're just excited to ask God when we get to Heaven.  There are so many everyday miracles occurring in and around us; what a privilege it was to get to experience this one so very up-close.  What wonder and awe it instilled in our little family and the friends who were along for the ride, as well (namely, my weekly piano students), and perhaps most of all, what wonder and awe it instilled in me.  I truly can't wrap my mind around this process, and then to think about allllll the systems and cycles and life and rhythms God has created!?  It's just so truly amazing.  

Based on our research, and the butterfly obviously becoming more active, we did set it free after a couple days in its cozy habitat.  It was not easy for everyone, but we talked about how and why it was necessary and good.  Thankfully, the loss of the butterfly was assuaged a bit by the discovery of a baby deer in our backyard the very same day.

#deerdiaries, perhaps?  😉

We actually weren't sure it was alive upon discovery, but then the mama came back and all was well.  Phewww. 😬

I'll leave you with this cheesy, but genuine, prayer:

Thank you, Lord, for sending Jesus, so that we can emerge from our crispy chrysalises of sin and spread our beautiful wings, showing Your glory to those around us before joining You in Heaven.  (Thank you, also, that the baby deer was alive.)

Appreciatively and awe-fully,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

just some quality time with this girl

❤️

The hobby I never thought I’d have

I have made mention of our garden in several posts, and it's been the main topic of a few, as well (this one, and this one, and this one).  I don't know that I have ever listed "gardening" amongst my hobbies, though.  When I came to the revelation recently, I tried to figure out why I did not necessarily recognize it as a hobby.  It does not necessarily feel like something I do in my leisure time, because it's just part of our daily rhythm.  And for pleasure...?  The time, sweat, sometimes blood, bug bites, physical exertion - those do not seem pleasurable.  

I was raised by gardeners, and growing up, I was expected to help with the tending, harvesting, and processing (washing/cutting/freezing/canning) of a large variety of produce.  While my memories of all this are not the fondest (by no fault of my parents - it was just not always my first choice of summer activities, but in retrospect and as a parent myself, now, I understand and recognize how beneficial it was), I do have fond memories of enjoying the fruits of our labor.  There's simply nothing like garden cucumbers, fresh green beans, homegrown corn on the cob, peas straight out of the pod, garden-fresh asparagus, and cherry tomatoes still warm from the sun, to name a few.  I was raised on this type of produce, so it is just in my blood to desire this for my own family, I suppose, despite knowing how much effort goes into acquiring it.  I'm so thankful to have married a man who is on board with this and was even excited to research, build, and maintain such a wonderful garden plot for us.

Hard to capture it all in one picture, but I'm always amazed at what grows from seemingly nothing.
(You can see "before" pictures in the links above - it looked the same this year before things started growing.)

I think gardening is fairly universally considered to be hard work. That said, I think it can be as much or as little work as you make it.  If you're ok with weeds between rows, bugs and other pests, and plants that might not be at their happiest, then the simple act of harvesting is fairly straightforward, and the time commitment is only dependent on the size of your garden plot.   If you're like me, however, and want to pull every weed you see, keep the pests at bay (but without chemicals, due to your tiny helpers and the oldest one's enjoyment of eating his harvest straight from the plant), and make sure the plants are well-pruned and watered, it can become a significant amount of work and time commitment.

Chemical-free case in point: he loves to lick/chew the end of rhubarb stalks.

For example, we spent a solid hour last weekend hunting for, picking, and burning squash bug eggs (and bugs, themselves, when we could).  We have had issues with these pests every year, and so far this year, we had been able to keep them at bay long enough to get a good harvest from our plants before the bugs destroyed them.  That Saturday morning, however, I found cluster after cluster of their eggs, and though the plants were nearly done producing anyway, my OCD (and anger with these annoying, relentless creatures) kicked in, and I enlisted help to hunt, find, and kill as many as possible.  I had just had a conversation with my mom (and garden mentor) about the fact that I had seen these bugs as eggs and adults, but nothing in between, and ironically, we saw everything in between that morning; from squishing an adult bug only to have eggs squish out, to actively hatching ones, to teenagers, to adults mating - it was simultaneously fascinating, infuriating, and disgusting.  I felt like a crazy person (and still do as I type it all out to share with the world) in my near-rampage to rid our beautiful plants of these parasites.

The only photo evidence I took time to collect, but do you see those little tiny hatchlings?!  So gross.  (This is also the morning Jacob learned the word "gross." Ha.)

We have also warded off tiny slugs this year, as well as white flies.  The moles have been very active, too, and we're still figuring out how to best get rid of them.  Again, I am thankful for a husband who is such a capable and willing partner in all this, as well as fellow gardeners who are always ready with suggestions and helpful hints.

The newest addition to the garden is our owl, Kawzaz (you can probably guess who named him).
He has seemed to be fairly effective in his job of scaring squirrels and birds away, and Jacob loves him (he asked for this picture to be taken).

If you follow me on social media and/or see our family on a regular basis, you know we have had an abundance of cucumbers and other produce this year...and have probably been offered some.  ☺  While I'm not up to tackling traditional canning, just yet, I did make some refrigerator pickles we enjoyed!  We also put out a cooler of produce in the middle of our neighborhood and had a few takers.

I wish I could've captured Jacob's explanation of this when he was telling a friend about the produce sign; he didn't miss a step when recounting how and why we made it, what it was for, or how others made use of it.

Not everything produced a bumper crop...the spinach got nipped by that late freeze, and this was our entire harvest. 
This picture still makes me laugh out loud.

There were a few weeks, however, that this was our harvest nearly every-other day!

The happiest basil leaves you ever did see (that's my hand!).

I can't remember how much I've mentioned our neighbors here, but we have some really amazing ones.  One of the couples has an awesome garden, and they challenged Jacob to a tomato-growing contest!  They gave him the plant (Beefsteak variety), helped him plant it, and regularly ask him how it's doing.  It was such a sweet gesture and gave him even more motivation to help me tend to the garden this year.  Of course, I made sure to document it:

So many pictures with boots!  Who knew these consignment sale treasures would be such a valuable investment.  We almost always go to the garden during Lydia's morning nap, so the grass is still very wet with dew.  Doesn't hurt that these are also the easiest and quickest for him to put on himself.  :)

It's fun (and crazy and sad) to see how much HE has grown, as well, in these few short months.

"It's almost ripe!"

Jacob asked if he could take some "up close pictures" of his plant.
This is one of sevvvveral.  ;)

This 13.4 oz.-er put him in first place, so far!

The produce we have harvested, enjoyed, and shared is not the only benefit we have experienced as a result of the hard work put into our garden.  

• It has taught Jacob the long-term value of putting forth time and effort to accomplish a goal.  I try very hard not to force or guilt anyone, especially Jacob, into helping.  Some days he'd rather not pull weeds, but others, it's something he is genuinely excited to do.  He has come to learn the more he helps out, the sooner we can move on to other activities.
• There have been numerous nature encounters, and therefore, lessons.  On a few occasions, they have directly correlated with the preschool curriculum we have been working through!
• We have been able to invite others to help and be part of the process, and they have truly enjoyed it.
• Our garden is a common and easy topic of conversation, especially when there are not many "neutral" things to make small talk about, lately.
• Obviously, but significantly, we get ample fresh air and vitamin D while working in the garden, and the calories burned don't hurt, either.

Most importantly, however, the time we spend together in the garden is...something I can't put into words.  Lovely, maybe?  Therapeutic, perhaps?  It is almost always free of conflict, whining and other behavioral issues, and distractions.  My personality type values productivity, so the fact that we are spending such focused, productive quality time together doing something we both enjoy is so good for my soul.  Truly.  Simply put, it's good for all of us.

I know this post is lengthy and the thoughts are vast, but perhaps now you can see how I came to the realization (even if everyone else already had) that gardening is one of my hobbies.  It is constant, un-glamorous, and demanding work, but the benefits far outweigh the costs.  When I am able to focus on those benefits, it really is something I enjoy.  Something that I do for pleasure.  A hobby.

Dirty fingernailedly,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

chocolate chip cookies

I can't even handle her excitement about her first time in Grandma and Grandpa's sandbox.
(Yes, she ate several handfuls, and yes, we all survived.)

Jacob is including her in play more and more, and it is just so precious to me.
So is her smile...and her tiny sprout of a ponytail. 

Speaking of precious:
We went on our first proper date in who knows how long the other day.  So, of course, we asked our sitter to take a picture.  Jacob assumed he was to be included in this, and stepped right into the shot with the best unsolicited smile we've seen from him (while being photographed) in months.
We did end up getting a shot of just us (which we also haven't done in who knows how long), but there are lots of reasons to love this one, too.  :)

Cool/precious/enjoyable/interesting

Hello!


The crazy-busy couple of weeks is over!  Now, it's a fairly normal schedule till the end of June when my summer "break" begins.  


Congrats to those of you who just finished up a school year, as teachers or as students!


My last couple of weeks were full of blessings and good things, but what topped it all off this weekend was the celebration of the marriage of two of my good college friends.  Another good friend and her boyfriend came down for the weekend/wedding, and it was great to spend some quality time with them in addition to seeing everyone at the ceremony and reception!  These types of gathering/celebrations in life are so very special, and I'm thankful to have been able to attend (and be a part of the ceremony!) and see so many "old friends."  


In other news, I had the privilege of witnessing a partial solar eclipse last weekend!  Did any of you?  God is so awesome...and creative!


Stories from my life as a nanny:
On the way home from her second day at "school," I asked the 2 1/2-year-old I nanny for if she'd gone potty at school (so I knew whether we'd make it home, or not).  She said she had, then her 5-yr.-old brother asked, "Did you go poopy?"  She defensively said, "No!"  Then, he asked "Did you fart?"  I waited for her response before telling him that kind of question was inappropriate.  She hesitated, thinking about her answer, before replying, "Umm...yeah, I did."  Obviously appalled, he gasped and said, "(insert her name here)!!  You're not supposed to fart in school - it's against the law!"  I explained to them both that this isn't true - accidents happen.  She seemed relieved, but he didn't believe me.


Earlier in the same afternoon, after we'd dropped his sister off at school, my 5-yr.-old friend and I stopped to put some gas in the car.  When I got back in the car, my backseat passenger notified me of a bug on my arm.  After I shooed it away and we got back on the road, he asked me, "What happens if you don't have enough blood?"  A discussion of the circulatory system, donating blood, how we don't die from minor cuts, etc. followed.  About 45 minutes later, and after many unrelated conversations, he came back to the topic saying, "I want to give you some of my blood."  When I asked him why, he responded, "Because that mosquito took some of yours and I don't want you to die!"  Apparently, the bug from an hour earlier had resembled a mosquito...and the precious kiddo was concerned about my loss of blood.  


One last story about these guys:  When they play "Cowboys and Indians," they call it "Cowboys and 'Indianans.'"


Lastly, I've been meaning to share this for awhile: I'm reading through the Old Testament, and came across this story a couple weeks ago (2 Kings 4:38-41):

Death in the Pot

³⁸ Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”

³⁹ One of them went out into the fields to gather herbs and found a wild vine and picked as many of its gourds as his garment could hold. When he returned, he cut them up into the pot of stew, though no one knew what they were.⁴⁰ The stew was poured out for the men, but as they began to eat it, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.

⁴¹ Elisha said, “Get some flour.” He put it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people to eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.

I don't remember ever hearing of this story before, and I had a hard time knowing what to make of this - I think I laughed out loud when I first read it.  Am I/are we supposed to be taking something from it?!  Flour makes everything better...?  Does anyone else remember ever reading it, and/or do you have any thoughts about it?


Hope you all have a relaxing and reverent Memorial Day!


Stay cool,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

dancing!!!  (So much of it last night - and sooooooo much fun!)

Hawaiian Pizza from The Isles 

catching up