So, I threw a quick, butterfly bouquet-centerpiece together for our holiday feast on Friday. We released the 8 Monarchs late afternoon. I love holding a space to share these beauties. :-)
Creating with some live butterfly centerpiece ideas for my Tea and intuition soirées, but picturing these also as a unique 'Observe and Release' for special occasions. The wedding party or guest-of-honor table, for example. Working with what I have on hand for now. It's 12/12, my Solar-return (...my birthday)! This Monarch emerged this morning and we've collected roughly 60 caterpillars from the habitats this week, there's quite a few small cats and many eggs remaining on the leaves in the gardens. This is unseasonably odd to have this much activity in December ...even for Florida, but I'm gratefully honored for the experience and support these beauties.
Honestly, she is the most raggedy Monarch I've seen, to date. This Monarch has been hanging around for the past week. Yesterday my daughter and I noticed that she was laying eggs. She is one of the more friendly, wild Monarchs we've had in a while. She flew very close to us, almost landing on my daughter's head a few times. She haphazardly, but happily danced in between us so close, we could hear her wings rapidly fluttering. We realized she's working harder because her wings are so ragged and she appeared to be resting often. What really impresses me is that she flies around as if completely oblivious of her torn and tatteredness. Uninhibited by her physical frailty - Her spirit is strong and open. Jovial she is! :-)
As a female laying eggs, they can be quite protective about us being in their space. Physically speaking, she'd be considered vulnerable due to the condition of her wings, but she let my daughter touch her wings while in the midst of laying her eggs. Not at all common for a fertile butterfly. These creatures never cease to teach and amaze me. I am grateful! :-) |