Ramblingwoods.com has a Nature Notes meme that challenges us to find something interesting in nature and post about our impressions. Click on the link above or on the badge to the side of this post to find what other nature lovers have seen and written about this week. I found my small contribution to the meme pinching parsley in my garden. It's a late-stage caterpillar form of Papilio polyxenes asterius. I resisted the temptation to pinch it back. Hey, I love my parsley, and it's taking more than its fair share! I know that I should be more hospitable to something with a name like polyxenes (meaning "very foreign"). And I will be. It will soon change into something quite beautiful, quite powerful, quite majestic. It has a built-in, fool-proof capacity for change--and wings to fly.
"My Cocoon tightens--Colors teaze--
I'm feeling for the Air
A dim capacity for Wings
Demeans the Dress I wear--
A power of Butterfly must be--
The Aptitude to fly
Meadows of Majesty implies
And easy Sweeps of Sky--
So I must baffle at the Hint
And cipher at the Sign
And make much blunder, if at last
I take the clue divine--
--a poem by Emily Dickinson, c. 1866--
What a GORGEOUS creature! You have no idea how envious I am. I mean, of all the herbs we tried to grow this year parsley is the only one that's really doing well, in fact we have too much of it. Send that critter on over here!
ReplyDeleteI planted some parsley and a few other herbs for the swallowtails. LOL, they do eat like horses don't they. Always seems like a lot of food for a little caterpillar;) You may not get any this year.
ReplyDeleteMarnie
It's beautiful. So glad you did not pinch it as it may have been quite a shock!
ReplyDeleteBird, I'd gladly send you some critters in exchange for parsley. They've pretty much decimated my plants. You don't realize what you'd be getting. They're ravenous.
ReplyDeleteMarnie (sigh), if the butterflies weren't so pretty I would've given into temptation. I'm going to miss fresh parsley, though!
Are they like electric eels, Tina? I know they have some kind of stink mechanism on the tops of their heads so I would have avoided that. There must be more to these little stinkers than I realized.
What a beauty!!! Love the attached poem! Your literature and poetry accompaniments makes your blog unique, special, and really gives me a lot to think about! Love it!!!
ReplyDelete"easy Sweeps of Sky" - thank you for the wonderful words of Emily D., always a pleasure.
ReplyDeleteAnimals ate all my dill. I'm going to try growing some on my front porch. I can't relate to not wanting to share.
I do hope you get to see the adult version of this caterpillar! I planted a little parsley for the first time this year, too, but so far haven't seen any caterpillars. Once again, Emily is the perfect choice to describe this beauty of nature.
ReplyDeleteAh poor Emily wanted to fly away. Unrequited love can do that. Pretty caterpillar though!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness...what a find..I love it and I am so happy that you didn't smoosh it. I am a tad behind in my blog reading as life is interfering with it..LOL..Thank you so much for participating in Nature Notes as your posts are always so unique...Michelle
ReplyDeleteCaterpillars into butterflies conjures metaphors of growth and change, not to mention sharing parsley. Sorry, but I can never get past the creepy crawly bug thing. I do love your pictures, but that's enough nature for me.
ReplyDeleteI hope it will be an amazing butterfly. The pictures are great. Thanks for the nice comment on my blog. I really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteBeen busy else I'd have stopped in sooner. Love the poem by ED, I should read more of her, I think if I did, I'd end up writing more myself. Why are butterflies so majestic and fragile at the same time? There's got to be a powerful new metaphor that I'm missing. A "divine clue" would provide a hint, have one?
ReplyDeleteI like the butterflies, and I don't mind the caterpillar, but I'm afraid I want parsley more... I used to move all the swallowtail catterpillars I found to the fennel plants. I have no use for fennel, and no idea why it was growing in my yard, but this year I have neither.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great accident! Last week I saw this gorgeous caterpillar the first time in my life. But my foto isn 't so good as yours. lol.
ReplyDeleteHave a great time. Wurzerl
Great Blog and lovely photos.
ReplyDeletewonderful photos... I have seen them in my parsley in years past. I also appreciate the Emily.
ReplyDeleteI see that I have a lot of catching up to do. Hi, Julie. Thanks. I'm glad you like my posts. Besides my family and faith, gardening/nature and literature complete the four corners of my philosophy/existence/story.
ReplyDeleteLeora, thanks for visiting. I hope your dill can grow unmolested until you harvest it yourself.
Rose, I saw some last year flitting about the flower garden. The caterpillars are easier to capture with the camera but obviously not as much fun to find on my plants. I'm taking a fresh look at Emily. Her poetry has a lot to say about all kinds of nature, and she's usually more kind to what's not of the human variety. She was an enigmatic lady.
Troutbirder, I think Emily couldn't care a fig about whether her love was requited or not, at least not in the usual fashion. She seemed to be more interested in writing and getting published than in men and especially marriage.
Michelle, you're not the only one behind in reading and commenting. I've found so many interesting blogs lately that I'm not keeping up with the ones I normally visit. I feel like I've stumbled onto the most elaborate candy store ever since I joined your meme (not that I'm blaming you for my gluttonous behavior or anything). And life intrudes here too sometimes.
WS, can you believe I actually wanted to be an entomologist when I was a kid? That is until my fifth grade teacher gave us the assignment of capturing, pinning, and identifying at least a dozen different insects. It's a good thing there's virtual capture these days. Not as messy.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Wenche. And thank you for the visit and thoughtful comment.
TC, I thought ED would have been a staple in your feminist writers' diet in college. She was an anomaly for her time and makes some people feel a bit uncomfortable even today. Here's a comfort (I think) from her to those of us starving artists and/or unrequited lovers of writing (and getting published!): "Success is counted sweetest/ By those who ne'er succeed./ To comprehend a nectar/ Requires sorest need." Keep on living to write and writing to live, friend. That's the only clue (if it's divine) that I can find.
Claude, I was just telling Rose the other day that fennel is a great stomachache remedy. You can make a tea from the seeds, and the essential oil rubbed over the belly area in a clockwise fashion can help ease a "blockage" in the digestive process. It smells like licorice, which isn't a terrible side effect for most people.
Hi, Wurzerl. Wie geht's? I hope your sempervivums and other garden plants are recovering from the terrible storm you had a while back. Glad you could come by for a visit.
Thank you, Garnetrose. I'll stop by soon and visit your site.
Wayne, hi! Did you get to see the butterflies too? It kinda makes up for the loss of parsley.
This is so beautiful !! The creature is so colorful and beautiful !!Do check my another blog also i.e.Unseen Rajasthan
ReplyDeletethey have been a long favored butterfly of mine, can't say for sure if I ever saw one that had munched in an earlier form in my garden
ReplyDeleteWhat a great shot of a beautiful bug! I'm glad gardening has taught me appreciation of many life forms. Years ago, I'd have shrieked at such a sight!! I do come across different kinds of caterpillars but it'll take me a while to get the names!
ReplyDeleteI loved the poetry. I'll be adding it to my collection. Thanks.
Wow, he's (or she) is stunning. I need to plant some host plants to get some caterpillars in my garden.
ReplyDelete