On a wing...

...and a prayer

By definition-"with only the slightest chance of success."

That about sums up my Monarch season and Monarchs in general. The mama Monarch who laid her eggs this summer had been infected with the OE parasite and transmitted the spores to her offspring. While she is busy fluttering around the milkweed and laying her eggs, she unwittingly scatters the spores that lay in wait between her scales. Thus infecting the caterpillar that eats the leaves and die a terrible death. I stopped counting the dead. 

  However...

...four survived~3 males and a female. The odds that Monarchs survive at all is truly a miracle in its own right.

Everyday, sometimes twice, I go "aphid squishing" with my trusty squirt bottle to rid the milkweed of these parasites that suck the life out of the host plant. It's a labor of love for these delicate creatures that I've come to have a one way connection with. On a recent aphid squash, I discovered 5 critters. I don't even have cautious optimism for these little ones...but I always hope that they've arrived at a good time of year when their chances of survivor are slightly higher. 

I'll keep you posted.

Happy (nature loving) snapping!

xo

Kelly

Finding my...

...voice...again

The old saying "use it or lose it" keeps rattling around in my head these days. I seemed to have lost my motivation, my purpose, and my voice for blogging. Not just blogging but photography and my creative drive. I even know when all of that enthusiasm for these things I love began to take a nose dive. Before my surgery, I was miserable. I had no energy.  I was gaining weight because the fibroid growing inside me was sitting on my sciatica. That made walking painful and so therefore was out of the question. There's a whole list of issues I was experiencing but want to keep things kinda short and sweet. I was losing confidence in everything I did...so I just didn't do anything.
There was one beautiful moment, about 3 weeks after my surgery that spoke to me and would have been a beautiful post at that time. It was about acceptance and so relevant to finding my voice and feel it's a great jumping-off point that will hopefully help ignite my creative mojo. Better late than never!

So, like I said, about 3 weeks after my surgery, I was more than annoyed that our whole summer was a bust due to my recovery. I was still walking something akin to the Hunchback of Notre Dame, parts of my belly were still so numb and swollen---but, I was starting to have better days. I got off the couch to get the blood circulating and Frankie asked to see my scar, as he often did to see the healing progress. I obliged. Upon looking down at the red, lumpy, and swollen scar that seemed to be my new abdominal landscape, said something pitiful and self loathing. To my surprise, Frankie kissed my scar and told me he accepts my new landscape and was perfectly ok with the way it was & how ever it might look in the end.  My heart swelled 10x its normal size.
From that exact moment, I was done feeling sorry feeling sorry for myself. I accepted whatever new landscape I was due to have but vowed to get back into shape & possibly have some say at what I wanted that scar to look and feel like. I'm also being kind to myself and allowing myself time to slowly get back into the things I love. If that wasn't enough, I was reading Barb's blog and she's offering a "Blogging Bits and Bytes." You can read all about it HERE . Wanna know the best part? It's free!  Thank you Barb...It was like you were inside my head!

...and what does tea have to do with any of this? Absolutely nothing...but I think it's prettier than my scar!! (lol)

Happy (kickstarting) shooting!

xo

Kelly