A Virtual Valentine
—and More Q Continuum Goodness
In honor of Valentine’s Day tomorrow, I’m sharing some of my art of pink flowers, as a “virtual Valentine” for you 😍. I’m also sharing more Q Continuum goodness, of course!
Here’s a Black Dalea flower I painted in my Perpetual Journal. Our Dalea was blooming quite nicely a few months ago, though it’s dormant now.
Here’s art I created in Spring 2019 of Parry’s Penstemon in bloom. We usually see these flowers in our yard by mid-March.
🐛The Continuation of the Q Continuum
This week I have good news and not-so-good news from the Q Continuum. I’ll start with the latter.
😢 The not-so-good news: unfortunately, Larva #9 didn’t make it to the chrysalis stage. Larva #9 formed a very substantial silk mat on a Milkweed stem (the silk mat helps the larva hang onto a plant stem as the larva hangs in a “J” shape and then becomes a chrysalis). But then Larva #9 moved away from its silk mat to a different spot on the Milkweed stem, and hung only by a very thin thread. Not surprisingly, the next morning we found that Larva #9 had fallen off the Milkweed stem and was lying on the soil beneath, barely moving……….and our little larva friend never recovered.
🥰 The good news: hooray—the first TWO of our current continuum of eight Queen Butterflies eclosed (emerged from their chrysalises) this past week! Number One and Number Two were also the first two larvae of the eight to pupate, back in mid-January. They were cozy in their chrysalis “sleeping bags” for 25 and 26 days, respectively—much longer than their Summer chrysalis cuzzies! On a related note, during this period we had 10 nights in which our temps dipped below freezing—and on most of these nights the temps dipped down into the mid-20s! Our larvae and pupae friends sure are hearty!!!
So now, without further ado, here’s a photo of Butterfly Number One, whom I named Riker (as a nod to the Trekkies amongst us!). As you can see in my photo, male Queen Butterflies like Riker have a spot on each hind wing (female Queen Butterflies don’t).
And here’s a photo of Butterfly Number Two—a female whom I named Uhura—about 15 minutes after she eclosed; she’s shown hanging on to her (just vacated!) chrysalis and next to our chrysalis number Seven of Nine (yes, I’m continuing with my Star Trek naming theme!).
WOW…are our new butterfly friends beautiful or are they beautiful? 😍 Each time Hubby & I see a Queen Butterfly eclose in our yard we feel awestruck and grateful to have witnessed its journey from egg to butterfly! These beautiful friends are such miracles!
Here’s a Valentine’s Day, or at least a heart-related, quote:
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."
- Thornton Wilder
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