Flashback Friday: Swallowtail Videos

August, 2018

Black Swallowtail - Hodges#4159 (Papilio polyxenes)

For the past few years, JF and I have been raising butterflies (and occasionally moths and ladybugs) that she finds in her garden. Five years ago, we had a lot of Black Swallowtail caterpillars that JF collected and I raised. These are my first ever iPhone videos. I was thrilled with the results at that time. We have a lot of great memories that were funny, embarrassing, and sad with these caterpillars. There was much caterpillar misbehavior! There were runaways, cats trying to steal them away, and reluctant eclosers (not a real word).  I love watching "the cats" actually chewing up the parsley. The butterflies are excellent pollinators. This species loves parsley, dill, and plants from the carrot family. 

I hope you all have joyous memories today. 

Here is a female black swallowtail butterfly:

And here is a male that JF held while photographing it:

You can easily see the sexual dimorphism shown here.

Have a peaceful weekend!

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Flashback Friday: Bug Buddies

In January, 2021, I was still in lockdown and teaching remotely at home. We can all remember the things we did to pass the time . . .

Sound UP! Thank you.

Have a marvelous weekend.

I'm back in school today, so I won't be able to blog hop until tonight. 

😭

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Flashback Friday

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Flashback Friday on Saturday: Lucy and John

As a pup, Lucy immediately bonded with my husband, John. After all, he was the fun person because he worked outside in the woods and fields all day. She would help him with sticks, guard him from things that could come out of the woods, and just have a grand time. Here, they are going into the woods . . . I forget why after nine years. John passed six months before the pandemic and lockdown. Lucy and I are still adjusting to our loss. We will be okay because we have each other and Nell. My children are invaluable, as is my job, in healing. The memories are both sad and sweet. Flashback Friday will be a way for me to finally talk about these memories.

Lucy is 1 year old.
August 1, 2013

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