A few weeks ago, I showed you all some photos of one of our two caterpillars entering its cocoon right up on the landing at the top of the stairs. He/she/it hung out (hahaha...) for a couple of weeks in its shiny green and gold house until, just like the websites said, it turned transparent and soon a slightly limp and deflated butterfly appeared. Laurel found it soon after and Trey carefully carried it downstairs (he's the least klutzy of all of us) where we let it rest and get its wings in order for a while. It was terribly windy outside that day and we didn't want to shock it with its first appearance in the real world.
It was a very cool thing to watch and we are so thankful it happened on a Sunday so that we were all here to see things unfold :o) The second one turned transparent a few days later, but we didn't actually see the magical moments as we were leaving for Waitomo for the weekend. We placed it carefully amidst some flowers and came home to find the cocoon torn open and no butterfly. We hope it is happily sipping nectar somewhere close by and enjoying two weeks of mating before it dies.
I like stories with a happy ending. Laurel looked enchanted with the butterfly :) Love the last pic on the pink flowers! Are they peonies? The plant part doesn't look right.
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