Butterfly Excitement, Part 2
—We have a Monarch Chrysalis! 😍
I'm sure you've been waiting with bated breath for today’s post: Part 2 of my Butterfly Excitement series! Well, hooray! I’m happy to report your wait is over because I have more Monarch excitement to share!
As you no doubt remember from last week’s post, Butterfly Excitement, Part 1, Hubby & I found our first ever Monarch Butterfly caterpillar on one of our Milkweed plants. Over the next 12 days we watched it eat and Eat and EAT until…like ✨ magic…it turned into a chrysalis (pupated)! Oh, the joy! Oh, the excitement!
So of course our new Monarch pupa friend became the subject of my Perpetual Journal that week (along with a blooming Globe Mallow whose flowers were such a beautiful orange color I had to add that to the Perpetual Journal page as well!).
The Monarch pupa (chrysalis) looked pretty similar in shape and color to our Queen pupae we’ve seen, but the Monarch pupa was about 30% larger than the Queen pupae—similar to the size difference we saw in the caterpillars. Here are my photos of the Monarch pupa and a Queen pupa, shown to scale and highlighting their different sizes. The Monarch pupa was almost 1” tall while the Queen pupa was about 0.7” tall.
As you see, they’re both beautiful (again: fact, not opinion! 😍). In case you’re wondering, the Queen pupa has the same gold-and-black “ring” on it that the Monarch pupa does—the photo was just taken from a different angle.
Regarding my 2024 and 2023 Perpetual Journal art above, of flowering plants, we’ve had NO Brittlebush blooming in our yard in 2025 and only ONE Hedgehog cactus (with only one flower!) blooming this year. Again, we assume this is because it’s been so dry! ☹️ The only reason our Globe Mallow has been blooming is because Hubby and I have hand-watered it twice a week this Spring. The last time our yard got any rain was on March 12 & 13 (0.57” total)—seven weeks ago. ☹️
💭 Comics Corner
Here’s a fun Half Full comic about a butterfly & a caterpillar. The butterfly looks like a Monarch!
More Yard Excitement
Hubby & I had more Yard Excitement (actually, Patio Excitement) yesterday morning! As we were enjoying breakfast outside, we watched a yellow(!) Grasshopper climb up one of our plant stands and reach the top (about 30” off the ground). A few minutes later, we heard a plik! sound from the direction of the Grasshopper. I turned around and saw a Lizard standing where the Grasshopper had been! Uh oh! 😐
Upon investigation 🧐 I discovered our Grasshopper friend had jumped off the plant stand and landed in a bucket of water next to the plant stand. Hubby & I weren’t sure if the Grasshopper could get out of the bucket by itself, so Hubby gently scooped it up with a trowel and set the Grasshopper on a nearby plant. Phew! 😁
So all’s well that ends well, at least in Grasshopper World (maybe not in Lizard World, but Lizards have plenty to eat in our yard!).
📖 Book Nook
I just finished reading a book I found interesting and thoughtful:
The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Abrams
This book chronicles a week in 2015 during which the Archbishop joined the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday, and to focus on answering the question: How do we find joy in the face of life’s inevitable suffering? The book includes their recommendations for some simple Joy Practices that each of us can incorporate into our lives to help overcome the obstacles to joy.
Note: I’ve included a link to this book at the Pima County (AZ) Public Library. Even if this isn’t your library, the link provides more information about the book. I’m a big fan of libraries and encourage you to look for this book at your own local library!
Here’s a quote I liked from The Book of Joy:
“You must not hate those who do harmful things. The compassionate thing is to do what you can to stop them—for they are harming themselves as well as those who suffer from their actions.”
- The Dalai Lama
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Ooh this post could be called the garden drama in minatuter format. Glad he got away!
Good quote. Also, beautiful chrysalises!