Creature Feature

This was the newest member of our family, our little spicebush swallowtail butterfly who was (re)born this afternoon. We missed the actual hatching, but did catch her soon enough to watch her wings dry.

Unfortunately, we only got to enjoy her about 75 minutes before we had to leave the house on some errands and by the time we returned, she was gone. She squeezed out of a small hole in her netting and is probably somewhere in the house right now, hungry and thirsty.

At first, I would have worried that our cat found and ate her, but upon checking, he hadn't moved an inch from the catnap he was in when we left.

So it seems she was too beautiful a creature to stand living with us. We would have let her go anyway, but it would have been nice if hubby got a chance to see her first. And, yes, I know she may have just been eaten by a bird two minutes after her release, but if that did happen, I wouldn't necessarily know about it and therefore wouldn't feel the wave of guilt I do now. How many people can boast that they've lost a butterfly?!

This lovely creature was the one my hubby found (during our errands) a few moments after he found a $20 bill stuck in the dirt. Crazy, I know.

What's really wacko is that yesterday I was a bit freaky about money and the going rate of plumbers when we noticed a water leak which the city utility crew tells us is about four inches away from their responsibility and therefore, our problem. This seemed to be just one more issue in a long line of problems that have come upon us in the last few weeks, and as of last night I was getting a bit discouraged. We were being so water-conscious by not watering our lawn, collecting rainwater for the garden, recycling our greywater to flush our toilets and water the landscaping that to have a leaky water heater and now a leaky water main in the space of a few weeks made it seem like we were swimming upstream again a hard current.

Luckily, Gaia guided hubby to stop my hand from dialing a plumber in the heat of the moment and instead allowed us to step back and survey the problem calmly. Technically, we have water, it's just that we're wasting some as long as it's on. So, since we're leaving in a couple days for a camping trip and don't really want to think about this right now, we're only turning on our water when we need to take showers, wash the dishes, or refill our water purifier. Otherwise, we turn off the water at the main. Problem solved (for now). When we're ready to call the plumber, we'll have already excavated the pipe the make it easy (and quick) for the plumber to fix it. Good plan.

Finding cash growing out of the dirt is just Gaia's way of reminding me that there will always be enough. No need to fret. Just plant the seeds, be grateful, and Gaia will provide.

p.s. The butterfly has been found! She's under tight security tonight and will bunk with us overnight for her release party tomorrow morning. Yeah!