Today Aunt Jeanette writes:
“This looks like a 5-star place to spend the night.”
“It is quiet, our sleep won’t be disrupted, and we can get a good night’s rest.”
“There will be a continental breakfast buffet on the deck (and the roadside ditch) in the morning.”
“The pond across the road has an abundance of drinking water.”
“I will give our traveling companions a heads-up.”
As I was putting grass clippings in the north windbreak yesterday I was surprised, and rather startled, by a sudden flurry of wings fluttering from the trees. Looking more closely, I saw that I had disturbed hundreds of monarch butterflies. They quickly and quietly settled back into the trees while I stood and watched, fascinated by this phenomenon. As I reluctantly walked back to my house, not wanting to leave this wonder of nature, I imagined the above conversation among these butterflies that had chosen our windbreak as a rest stop before resuming their migratory flight to their winter home in Mexico.
When I was teaching, a favorite fall science project (and reading, writing, and art – not in the textbook!) was finding a monarch caterpillar (or if you are very lucky like our youngest son, Jeff, finding some eggs on a milkweed leaf), feeding it milkweed, watching it grow at an amazingly fast rate, seeing the beautiful green and gold chrysalis, and waiting patiently until the monarch butterfly finally hatched. For an eight-year-old it seemed like an eternity – waiting those two long weeks until the monarch finally emerged from its chrysalis, its wings visible through the transparent, gold-flecked case. It was always a rather sad day when we released the butterfly and let nature take its course. But, oh, the stories we wrote and the pictures we drew!
I love seeing cornfields being picked, trees showing the first tell-tale signs of changing color, bean fields being harvested, the clear, bright blue fall skies, goldenrod blooming by the roads, and yes, the gathering of monarch butterflies. Take time from your busy schedules to go for a walk and enjoy autumn. I guarantee you will see something unexpected and awesome!
Until we walk again …