My Poor Neglected Blog

I took an unexpected hiatus from blogging.  These lovelies have been keeping me very busy lately.

This male has a unique coloration on his wing.


We are looking at possibly raising over 1,000 Monarchs this year.  If all the caterpillars/eggs that we found make it to butterflydom.  :)

Our local newspaper interviewed me last week and the article was in the weekend paper.  That was exciting!  I don't know if you will be able to read the article.  I took pictures of it with my phone.  But here it is.  We got a whole page and then some!!!





In addition to Monarchs, we also have Black Swallowtails.







I love the different markings of these two caterpillars.


And we have some Spicebush Swallowtail caterpillars.  They will go into chrysalis, spend the winter with us, and emerge next spring.  Something to look forward to!  The caterpillars are brown, then green, then turn yellow or orange right before they pupate.  This one was ready to form its chrysalis when I took its picture.



It is now in chrysalis.  I will share a photo of it someday.  :)

Gotta run.  Feeding so many caterpillars takes A LOT of time.

Linking with Tamar today.

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Weekly Summary ~ 7/5/15 - 7/11/15

Spent the week prepping for a Monarch presentation on Saturday.  I presented to the Christian Women's Artistic Connection group and a few guests.  They are a great group of ladies that get together every couple months to learn a new art.  Monarchs aren't art, but the ladies wanted to learn about them, so they asked me to present.  And we made a few greeting cards that I designed.  Nothing fancy.  

Did okay keeping up with my photo a day challenge.  I used a couple recent archive photos this week.  It happens.  :)

{July 5: Begins with "W"}

Wet. 

And soggy. 

And gross. 

Those are the words you can use to describe our month of June. So. much. rain! 16 out of the 30 days in June had measurable rain and I suspect there were a few sprinkles thrown in there during those other 14 days. Now that July is here the weather seems to be shaping up some. Still some rain but this weekend was super nice! We actually had several nice days in a row. Yay!

Anyway this photo was taken a couple weeks ago right after we had a heavy rainfall. The sun came out and made everything sparkle. And since I needed to take advantage of the little sunshine we were getting, I walked around outside with my camera. Our tiger lilies were blooming and looked so pretty glistening in the sun.

{July 6: Rule of Thirds}

This photo was chosen as one of the Top Shots of the day! WOOT!

{July 7: Vanishing Point}

When the sun is dipping below the horizon - nearly at its vanishing point - marking the end of another day. Hope to see it again tomorrow!

{July 8: Bedtime}

Keira obviously stayed up past her bedtime. Or else that was a very uninteresting book. Maybe a little of both.  :)

{July 9: Alphaphotography}

You know I had to figure out a way to include one of my Monarch caterpillars into a prompt somehow, right? Don't ask how many tries it took to get him to stay in the shape of a C for me.  :)

{July 10: Just Another Day}

Just another day of searching milkweed looking for Monarch eggs and/or caterpillars and finding none. frown emoticon I did see lots of blossoms though and several other butterflies, moths, and skippers. I will search again tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that.

{July 11: Technology}

Thanks to technology, I was able to photograph and instantly share the photo of this super cool-looking caterpillar I found this evening. Ah, smart phones.  :)

It is a Promethea Moth caterpillar. The first I have ever found.

Linking with Tamar:

On Monday I met with Sherry to discuss the details of my Monarch presentation.  We met at Panera and were able to sit outside - it was so nice!
I had a couple things rescheduled due to weather and emergencies.  A family photo session was supposed to happen on Tuesday morning but the rain interfered once again.  And on Thursday I was to meet with my friend, Sharon, about the upcoming wedding she was helping me photograph, but she needed to make an emergency trip to the vet
Saturday I did my Monarch presentation to the CWAC ladies.  I was a little nervous because I was so used to talking to kids about Monarchs.  But I told them they were my guinea pigs for an upcoming talk to a garden club.  :)  Everything went very well and they all enjoyed my presentation.
Saturday afternoon I stopped by a graduation party of one of my senior photo clients.  Her mom and I have become friends and they invited me to her graduation party.  It was a nice time and another beautiful day.  We had so much rain in June, it was great to have nice weather finally.

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Weekly Summary ~ 6/28/15 - 7/4/15

I'm a couple weeks behind in posting.  Again.  {sigh}  

But we're having a great summer!  
Plenty of fun.  
Lots of busy.  
Hence the lack of blog posts.  :)  
Just enjoying life.

I am keeping up with my 365 Photo challenge though.

{June 28: Timeless Beauty}

I don't know about you, but I think this Black Swallowtail is quite beautiful. Or in this case handsome as it is a male.  :)

{June 29: Let's Go}

On Friday I said to my husband, "Let's go to Ohio tomorrow to pick up some Monarch eggs and caterpillars." He, knowing how much it meant to me, agreed to drive. We met up with a very generous lady who so graciously shared some of her babies with me. I now have 16 tiny caterpillars and 6 eggs. Late last night 4 eggs hatched and I stayed up to watch 2 of them. This little guy seemed to take forever to chew his way out of his egg. But, tired as I was, I stayed up to witness his entrance into this world. Here's hoping they all make it to butterflydom.  :)

{June 30: Thankful}

Like many I am thankful for many things. My faith, my freedom, my health ... but today especially I am thankful for this crazy crew that I call my family. We spent the day at Idlewild and had a super fun time. We came home exhausted, which means it was a great day! Keira took this picture with her phone since mine was running low on battery and is being used for my pic of the day with her permission.  :)

{July 1: Wonder in the World}

Or in this case, a wonder out of the world. Tonight's full moon is spectacular! Have you seen it? If you missed it, there will be another at the end of July. The only month in 2015 with two full moons.

{July 2: Adventurous}

The kids and I love to be adventurous and go for walks and hikes to see what we can find. This particular evening Alex and I saw hundreds of these damselflies while out exploring. A few of them were nice enough to be still while I photographed them.

{July 3: Leadership}

Of my three children Keira has the greatest leadership traits. She was born a leader. I can remember when she was in 3rd grade her teacher asked me what her strengths and her weaknesses were. My answer was the same for both. She's a natural born leader, which is a great trait, but that also makes her tend to be bossy and other kids don't like that too much.  :)  She's a great person who has a bright future ahead of her.
This photo was chosen as one of the Top Shots of the day! WOOT! 

{July 4: A Reflection of Me}

If you know me, then you know that I am a butterfly lover. I raise Monarchs every summer and this year am raising Black Swallowtails also. This gorgeous girl decided to arrive today. Our 4th butterfly on the 4th of July.  :)  I have had people tell me that when they see a butterfly, they think of me, so it may be a stretch, but this beauty is a reflection of me.   :)

Linking with Tamar:



A rundown of our week:
June 28-30
Nick got home from his Bible Quizzing trip in Boston Sunday night.  He had a good time and earned a silver award.  The quizzers don't compete against each other.  They try to answer the questions as best they can and are basically graded based on their answers.  Nick's voice was very scratchy when he got home so I suspect he was shouting a lot.  :/
Monday the boys had their 6-month dental check ups.  Both got two thumbs up.
Cupcake, one of our Black Swallowtails, decided to join us.  We had kept Rocky a couple days because of the weather and once we set him free, Cupcake eclosed.  He had to stay with us until Wednesday because of the rain.
Keira had a violin lesson Monday evening.
Doug took a vacation day on Tuesday and we spent the day at Idlewild.  We had a great time!  Nick decided to be brave and try riding some things that always frightened him starting with the roller coaster.  Once he got off that first ride, he got right back on.  In fact, the lines were so short that we rode it several times in a row before moving on to other things.  He also road the ferris wheel with me.  He freaked out a little but I helped calm him down.  We prayed and talked about how safe he was and then he was fine.  We even got stopped at the very top and he did great!  It clouded up a couple times and sprinkled on us a little but overall we had a great day.  Not too hot and no downpours.
July 1-4
Wednesday we had an appointment at PA Cyber to get Keira enrolled for the fall.  We had a little trouble finding the place.  We turned at the correct turn but couldn't find the office, so we stopped and asked a woman who was outside having a smoke break.  Turns out we were at the right building, just on the wrong side.  :)
Since we were already in Wexford, we tried to find Trader Joe's which is just down the road a few miles but I went left when I should have gone right and we didn't find it.  And our stupid GPS is no help at all.  I think we need a new one.
On the way back we stopped at Barnes & Noble so the boys could use gift cards that they had.  Oh the drama!  Wanting to buy toys instead of books.  And not having enough for what they wanted.  I'm such a mean mom sometimes.  :)
July 2 was the 30th anniversary of my dad's death.  I shared some pictures on Facebook.  I don't have very many pictures of my dad, so the few that I do have are precious to me.  It is hard to believe that he has been gone for 30 years.
Doug had Friday off for the holiday.  We didn't really do anything.  Puttered around outside.  He pulled weeds in the vegetable gardens and I pulled weeds in my butterfly garden.
On Saturday we were going to visit Doug's parents but they were coming our way anyway, so they visited us instead.  Doug cooked dinner and we had a nice time talking about their upcoming 50th anniversary party.  Pickle, our 4th Black Swallowtail butterfly, had eclosed before they came so I hung onto her until they got here so they could see her.  We set her free shortly after they arrived.
We were going to go see fireworks but everyone wanted to stay close to home.  Our neighbors up the road set them off so we could see them a little.  There are trees in the way.  Honey doesn't like fireworks so she was very close by the whole night.

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Weekly Summary ~ 5/31/15 - 6/6/15

Hey look!  It's Tuesday night and I'm just now getting around to posting my weekly pics.  {sigh}

Thursday is the last day of school.  Then we're gearing up for VBS.  Then hopefully things will slow down a little.  Although then photo sessions will be picking up.  Oh well.  In the meantime, here are last week's photos from the 365 Photo challenge on Facebook.

{May 31:  Iconic}

Digging into the archives for today's shot as I haven't shot anything "iconic" lately. And this week was way too busy to go searching.

Anyway, the American bald eagle is certainly an iconic symbol. It was officially adopted as our national emblem in 1787 because of its association with authority and statehood. (Yes, I looked that up).  :)  This particular photo was taken in June 2014 in a zoo in Virginia.

This photo got chosen as one of the Top Shots for the day! WOOT! Two days in a row!

{June 1:  This is where ... }

This is where I embarrassed my daughter because I pulled over to photograph these flowers I have been admiring. They are in the front of our local VA hospital. She waited in the car.  :)

{June 2:  Leading Lines}

Nothing much to say about this except that I need to take more leading lines photos. It is a concept I don't practice often.  :/

{June 3:  Generations}

For the 2nd time that I am aware of there are two generations of gorillas at our zoo. The first baby that was born a few years ago unfortunately passed away. But this little one looks to be very healthy and happy.

{June 4:  Barrier}

While I am glad that there is a glass barrier between us and the polar bears, Kobe probably wishes there wasn't so she could get my backpack.   :)

Sharon and I met up at the zoo again yesterday. This time we didn't stay with the polar bears the WHOLE time; we did actually walk around. And we discovered that our zoo actually has other animals there! It was the craziest thing!   :)

{June 5:  Evolution}

Many believe in the theory of evolution - that humans evolved from apes. I believe that we were made by our Creator, God, in His image. I do like to visit the apes at the zoo though. They are interesting animals.  (From Wednesday's zoo trip.)

This photo was chosen as one of the Top Shots for the day!  WOOT!

{June 6:  Bucket Listed}

Today's prompt was a tricky one - without going into the archives for an old photo and with no plans to travel to any of the places on my bucket list today.  :)

But I did get to see something I haven't seen before. One of my Black Swallowtail caterpillars happened to be shedding its skin as I walked past. I have seen Monarchs shed their skin as they form their chrysalis many times, and I've seen caterpillars AFTER they have shed their skin, but never before have I watched one wiggle out of its skin. It was really cool! Now the only other things on my butterfly bucket list is photographing them mating and a female laying her eggs. I think. There may be more cool things that I just don't know about.   :)

Linking with Tamar:

I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet as it is late and I need to get to bed.  :)
Sunday we had our Bible Quizzing fundraising dinner after church.  The kids did a pretty good job helping, although I think the parents did most of the work.  I have no idea how much we raised, but I'm sure it is enough to get the kids to Boston and back.
If I didn't have to be somewhere this week, I spent time in the garden weeding.  When we first decided that my garden would be my butterfly garden, I thought it wasn't very big.  And then I started weeding it.  Now I think it is huge and overwhelming.  :)  But I'm making good progress.  A little at a time.
Tuesday we had a VBS meeting to discuss plans.  It is all starting to come together!
Keira had her dental cleaning in the afternoon.  Everything looked great.
Wednesday Nick had his field trip.  Tuesday night my friend Sharon asked me if I wanted to meet her at the zoo on Wednesday.  I didn't have any other plans (except weeding) so I said yes.  We had another great day as you can see from the above photos.  One of these days I'll post more from our visits.
On Thursday I went with my friend Sam to an art boutique to see if they would sell some of her paintings.  She does gorgeous watercolor paintings.  The lady was excited about having them there.  When Sam got to my house in the morning, she told me that I should bring some photos to see if they wanted to sell them also.  I wasn't at all prepared so I grabbed a bunch of 8x10s and sorted through them in the car on the way there.  I showed them to the owner and she loved them.  I have to get them ready for display and take them down.  I'm excited to have some photos on display in an actual shop!  Here's hoping they sell!
We also shopped at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods while we were in the area.  That was actually why I was going along in the first place.  I had never been to either place and wanted to check them out.  I bought some things at Trader Joe's, but Whole Foods is quite expensive, so we just ate lunch there.  Lunch was expensive too.  :)
Thursday afternoon the boys and I went to a local greenhouse to buy some more dill for my hungry caterpillars.  One of my potted plants isn't doing so well, so I wanted to move the caterpillars off of it and get it outside in the sunlight.  The greenhouse was really cool and the folks there were super nice.  The owner's mom helps out and we talked for a while.  I gave her a quick lesson on raising Monarchs.  :)  I also bought a Monarch picture that they had in their little gift shop.
Nick was finally done being on restriction on Saturday.  He was so excited.  He couldn't wait to start breaking the rules again.  :)
Saturday morning we had our Christian Women's Artistic Connection gathering.  Kim showed us how to make altered dominoes.  They are like little pieces of art.  Very cool!  It was a fun time, as always.  Next month I'm teaching the ladies (and maybe some kids) about Monarchs and other butterflies.

That's it for me!  I'm heading to bed.  Tomorrow is another busy day!
Have a great week!

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Weekly Summary ~ 5/17/15 - 5/30/15

Let me just say - I apologize for slamming you with two week's worth of photos.  Memorial Day came and went and we had a great time parading and visiting with family, so blogging didn't happen.  Then the rest of the week was super busy - all with school-related activities, so yeah.  I really should try to get the posts ready on Sunday night.  Someday I'll be that organized.  :)

{May 17:  Windows}

Another photo from our trip to the zoo on Wednesday. (Sorry, not sorry!)   :)   Kobe, the female polar bear, swam up to the window to say hello to my friend Sharon and me. You can see Kona, the male, in the background. We are hoping the two of them make beautiful baby polar bears together.

{May 18:  Laughter}

Okay, so I have been back and forth all day about whether to share another polar bear photo and, as you can see, I decided yes. :)

Our day with the polar bears was filled with smiles, laughter, oooohs and aaaahs, and even some squeals of delight from the kids passing through. I think I'm going to have to go visit them again soon. I'm having withdrawals. 

{May 19:  Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner}

When these Black Swallowtail eggs hatch, my dill plants will become breakfast, lunch, AND dinner for the hungry caterpillars. I'm so excited to be a caterpillar mama once again! Hoping this is the beginning of a great, butterfly-filled summer!  :)

{May 20:  Running}

I have never considered running for an elected office, but I will be sure to exercise my right and privilege to go vote on Election Day. Yesterday was a Primary Election Day in our area. I almost forgot to go vote but thankfully remembered just in time!

{May 21:  Odd}

This odd, unusual thing caught my eye the other day. I believe it is a cluster of leaves waiting to open up. Nature is so fascinating!

{May 22:  Brilliant Invention}

The key fob is a brilliant invention in my opinion. Being able to have your arms full of groceries or whatever and still be able to unlock and open your car doors comes in very handy! Must have been invented by a woman!

{May 23:  Tree}

I really loved the way the sun was peeking through this tree. And I love that there are leaves on it again!

This photo was chosen as one of the Top Shots for the day! WOOT!

{May 24:  Daily Habit}

I have several daily habits, as I'm sure most of you do also. Of them is, of course, photography. I try to take at least one photo a day. Usually for the 365 Photo prompts. Most days I take many more photos.  :)

{May 25:  Street Art}

I spent this Memorial Day holiday with family so I had to pull a photo from the archives for this prompt. We came across this mural painted on the side of a building a couple years ago. Since my youngest is crazy about trains, we had to stop and take a photo.

{May 26:  Fresh}

I'm so excited to announce that I now have a freshly-hatched Black Swallowtail caterpillar happily munching on my dill! Actually I have two, but the one pictured is the first little guy to hatch today. So happy to be a butterfly mama again!

{May 27:  Parallel}

Had a bit of fun with today's prompt. Alex agreed to help me. He wanted to look like he was behind bars.  :)

{May 28:  A Dime a Dozen}

Canadian geese are everywhere around here these days. I have mixed feelings about them. I like seeing them around, but they make such a mess everywhere they go.

{May 29:  Close}

Thanks to my lovely macro lens I was able to get up close to this newly hatched Black Swallowtail caterpillar and watch him enjoy his first meal, his egg shell. I actually had the pleasure of watching him hatch. I was giddy like a kid on Christmas morning! :)  We now have 6 babies happily munching and growing.

{May 30:  Valuable}

It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well, I think value is also. We all have different perceptions on what is valuable. My family knows what is valuable to me. Life. Even the life of a small caterpillar. My 12YO son brought this caterpillar to me this afternoon, so excited because he knew I would be excited. And I was, of course. It is another Black Swallowtail. The 7th and now the largest of the babies that I am currently caring for. (He's only about half an inch long - my macro lens makes him look much larger). I'm so excited to be a butterfly mama again.

Linking with the lovely Tamar:

Since I have two weeks to summarize, I'll try to be quick and just hit the highlights.  Of course, that's what I usually do anyway.  :)  Feel free to skip this part!
Doug was away the 18th through the 21st - in Scottdale working on his plant.  Fun times.
On Tuesday I watched a Black Swallowtail butterfly lay an egg on one of my dill plants!  So I checked the other one and found two more eggs!  WOOT!
Alex brought home a letter he received from his pen pal at his new school.  Turns out it is from my friend Julia's son.  What are the odds?!  :)
Oh, and I voted in the primary election.  I'm happy to say that several of the school board members that voted for the consolidation are no longer board members.
My friend, Sam, and I went to lunch after our walk on Wednesday.  It was nice to sit down and enjoy each other's company.
Thursday evening was Family Fun Night at the boys' school.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.  Before we left Doug gave both boys a Gatorade.  I was thinking I should have let him take them to FFN if he was going to sugar them up like that.  :)
On the days that Sam and I don't walk, I try to go to the bike trail for a change of pace.  On Friday Honey and I went and made it as far as the golf course (1.5 miles from where we parked) and saw a family of geese.  I didn't have my camera (can't carry it while I run) so I snapped a cell phone photo.  Instead of the geese being scared and moving away from us, they hopped in the pond and swam closer.  It was pretty cool.
Keira had a youth group sleepover on Friday night.  Then on Saturday morning the teens served at a prayer breakfast.  It was good food and a great message.
Saturday afternoon I went to a Lemongrass party at my friend Rainey's house.  Our friend, Kim, is a new consultant and this was her first solo party.  She did great!  They have some great products!  I wish I had more money; I would have bought more stuff.  :)
Sunday after church Doug, Alex, and I went for a bike ride on the trail in Emlenton.  We weren't even 1/4 mile down the trail when Doug's phone started ringing - trouble at work.  He told them he couldn't help them right now and we kept right on biking.  It was a beautiful day and a really nice trail to ride on.
Monday was Memorial Day so we went to the parade, as always.  Then my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and nieces came to visit for the day.  Doug cooked for us.  We played UNO, as usual, and just had a great day.
On Tuesday my first Black Swallowtail egg hatched!   I also spent a good part of the day shopping and prepping for our school's staff luncheon which was on Wednesday.
We had our last Wednesday night kids' class at church.  We celebrated with a pizza party and I spoke to the kids about Monarchs and other pollinators.  It was the fastest presentation I have ever done since I only had 30 minutes once they got done eating.
Thursday was spent at the school once again for Field Day.  I was the official yearbook photographer so I could walk around freely.  It was nice since it got really hot in the afternoon.  We had a pot luck lunch (so much food!) and everyone had a great time.  At the end of the day, I got to climb a ladder to the roof in order to take a whole-school photo.  Going up wasn't too bad; going down was a little scary.  :)
Doug and I went out to dinner at Applebee's Thursday evening.  I received a couple gift cards from helping at church and doing my presentation, so we ate for free.
Friday I spent the day editing the field day photos.  Thanks to Lightroom it went very quickly.  Then we had the 6th grade dance that evening.  I can't believe Nick is finishing up 6th grade this year!  The kids had a blast!  Once again I walked around taking pictures for the yearbook.  We don't usually get to include 6th grade dance photos in the yearbook but thanks for all the extra days added at the end of the year (snow days!), we have time this year.  Which is great since our school is closing forever on June 11.
I was able to finish editing all the photos from the dance on Saturday and getting them to Diane so she could finish up the yearbook and get it sent to the printer.  I can't wait to see it!
I found more Black Swallowtail babies on my dill, parsley, and rue plants.  That put us at six so far!  Then, as I shared above, on Saturday Nick was helping me weed one of the flower beds and found another caterpillar on some wild carrot.  The biggest one yet!  He is now inside happily munching on my dill plant.  Once I have a series of photos of the beauties, I will post them.  Gotta wait for a butterfly first.  :)

Okay, so maybe that wasn't so short and sweet.  If you made it through all of that, good for you!  Now that school is winding down, I shouldn't be nearly so busy.  A few photo sessions here and there and a wedding or two, but this summer should be pretty relaxing.  I hope!  :)

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