My life has been all-consumed by learning. We've been learning about hosting house concerts, meanings of Latin root words, curbing bad tempers, counting to three, making friends, getting fresh air and studying nature.
It is with that last, the "studying nature" category, that I have become transfixed.
Several weeks ago, a mother from our portrait drawing class, along with her three bright-eyed daughters, presented our family with a sprig of milkweed, the milk dripping from the stalk. On it, so tiny that the human eye (especially the approaching forty human eye) could barely see, was a tiny caterpillar, barely boasting its black, yellow and white stripes. "Keep it in a jar," the mother shared, "and provide it with fresh milkweed. You'll be amazed."
And I was. Daily, that little caterpillar grew, munching and pooping and munching some more until it was the size of my pinky finger. I've since read that caterpillars, from their hatching to their pre-pupation stage, increase their weight by 2,700 times!
Watching a monarch caterpillar pupate is a wondrous sight to behold. Mr. Caterpillar will give you some indication that he'll be performing his stunt by hanging upside down from his container in the shape of a "J." Within a day, his black antennae and tiny legs wither and he begins to move, ever so slightly but very rhythmically, as if squirming beneath his skin. And then, with an inaudible pop, the skin at the head breaks open and the hiding pupa can no longer be contained by the restrictive black, white and yellow skin that has already made room for the growing beast eight times previous.
I'll not tell you any more. You can see for yourself. The children and I gathered around to watch the miracle of a pupating monarch, and I was able to capture it on film. The photos go in order from top to bottom, which you're likely not used to on a blog, but I felt that was the right way to do it.
Next week, you'll be in for a very special treat. Can you imagine what I caught with my camera this fine morning?
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