Little Things...

...Thursday

Pulling up roots e-dition

I suspect the Monarchs will be here soon. 

We've been having unseasonably warm weather instead of the El Nino that looked so promising. 

It's going to be hard watching the Mama's looking for milkweed to lay her eggs. Up until last winter, I had been raising Monarchs since 2012. You can read all about it HERE

I finally had to pull up all the milkweed.

It's quite a job having upwards to 100 plants & hoping you have enough leaves for all the critters, worrying about in-climate weather, birds, disease, and Ms Kitty "playing" with emerging butterflies. All of which has been a beautiful and amazing journey with these creatures. My head and heart had a tug of war and my head won. Nobody understands more than me how the Monarchs are on the decline due to the lack of milkweed, the host plant that a Mama Monarch lays her eggs and the critters eat till it's time to do their magic. The part where my head won is when our youngest son graduates college in 2 years, Frankie and I will be selling the house and moving away. Before that, we'll be doing quite a bit of work inside and out that will include workers coming and going, tarps, sandblasting, stucco work, and painting. Just add all that the list of worries if I had a butterfly garden. 

Furthermore, I know with all my heart that the new homeowners would never care or tend to the milkweed or the critters like me. If I kept everything, I'd have to walk away from this house worried about the well being of those tiny little miracles. I'm a worry wart, it's what I do. 

I just thought maybe this was an easier solution, watching them flit by on their journey to find other milkweed.

My heart is saying not much easier.

I did however document it all and have flash drives full of some of Mother Nature's most delicate creatures that I had a direct hand in releasing into the world.

Sharing over at Kim's 

LittleByLittle

Happy (butterfly) snapping!

xo

Kelly

Little Things...

...Thursday

The Converse e-dition

I've loved Converse since I was nine. When it came time to go shoe shopping I use to beg my mom to buy me a pair. Her response was always, "No Kelly, they're boy shoes." My brother was lucky, he was a boy and had those classic black ones. What did I know anyway, it was the 70's, we were stationed in the Philippines, maybe girls weren't supposed to wear Converse, 

or maybe my mother just didn't know better. 

I couldn't stand it anymore. I HAD to have those shoes, so I devised I plan and enlisted my brother's help. He'd sneak his brown Sunday shoes downstairs and hide them on the side of the house early in the morning. After lunch, we'd say bye to our mom to go play. We'd quickly exchanged shoes, me in those black Converse and my brother (G-d love him) in his brown Sunday shoes. Did I mention we lived in the Philippines where it's 100 * and 100% humidity? We agreed on a time to meet back at the house, exchange our shoes again and no one would be the wiser. 

I remember prancing off feeling so incredibly cool. 

I also remember looking back at  my younger brother in his shorts, and brown Sunday shoes!

Eventually my mom found out and that was that.

Fast forward to adulthood. 

Back issues prevented me from wearing ANY type of flat shoe. 

That was until this last summer when I had my "girlie" surgery and now there is nothing is left to cause those issues.

Last week, my husband and I were out shoe shopping for his work when I spied them...

...Red Converse.

My husband knows the whole Converse story so he totally gets it. He said go for it. I tried a pair on for size and it was like the heavens opened up and sang a song for me. 

I felt like that nine year old little girl.

 Only now I'm 52 and feeling cool!

Now, if my mother was alive today, I'm pretty sure she'd have a good laugh and know how silly it was to have denied me these shoes. I wasn't an adult in the 70's, maybe people talked behind those mom's backs who let their little girls wear Converse.

I'm pretty sure if she was a mother of the new millennium, I'd for sure have had a pair or two.

So I bought a brown pair for good measure!

Happy (Converse) snapping!

xo

Kelly

Sharing over at Kim's

LittlebyLittle

Little Things...

...Thursday

Thanks to Group-on, I discovered The Wildlife Learning Center. A sweet little place that rescues wildlife and provides outreach and onsite education.

 I've lived here for umpteen years and never knew about it. The facility sits in a zoned neighborhood for animals and has a jungle like atmosphere. On my first visit, I was told of small private animal experiences, one of which allows a small group of people to get up close and personal with the animals to photograph them as well as learn a little animal biology.

Every animal has a story. Some were illegal pets, confiscated and deemed non-releasable so the WLC becomes their home.

Dr. Peepers was just an infant when his mother rejected him in all the chaos of Hurricane Katrina.
 He came to the WLC and was taken care of by one handler that took care of him like any new mother would.
The great thing about the WLC is they never take in an animal unless they can stay forever.

Sweet Cheeks, a Red Tagu was my favorite. I had a hard time choosing a photo of him as I was sifting through all the shots I took of him. 

I think this is an amazing little find that does such a fantastic job of animal rescue.

Happy (animal) snapping!

xo

Kelly

I'm over at Kim's today.

littlebylittle blog

Little things...

...Thursday

I know it's only February 4th, 

but Mother Nature is teasing us with some beautiful spring-like weather this week.

The mornings are chilly and certainly sweater worthy~

While the afternoon sun kisses your skin for a bit before

Night falls; bringing forth its bite. 

It won't be long before Mother Nature starts revealing what she has in store for us.

I for one, wait impatiently for her splendor.

Happy (spring) snapping

xo

Kelly

Sharing with Kim over at

LittleByLittle

If you missed yesterday's post, you can find it
HERE

Spilling truths...

...on horoscopes

You either love 'em or can totally live without them. I personally read mine for fun. It's right there...  printed in between my daily Sudoku and crossword puzzle. 

So tell me, you've just read your forecast. 

Do you...

A. Scoff and dismiss it if it's doom and gloom & secretly hope nothing comes of it?

B.  File it away if its positive, go about your day, and get excited at that AHA moment when you realize that an astrologist correctly read your birth chart?

C. Both A and B

D. It's all rubbish-so therefore don't read it.

You see, there was that one day in 8th grade I read my horoscope before catching the school bus.

"Unexpected rewards come your way today."

I won an award that day. Something I was not expecting. As I was walking to receive my plaque, all I could think about was my horoscope that day. What were the odds? 

I've been amused ever since.

I'm easily amused!

Happy (fortune) snapping!

xo

Kelly

Did you miss Yesterday's Post?

Goodbye January...

...hello February

I have to say January was full of inspiration-

-sweet baby faces, new word, birthday flowers, monarch beauties, family togetherness, and beautiful light that made for really pretty photos.

Enter February....

...already with it's challenges and curveballs thrown bombshells dropped. Tears have been shed (mine). There's gonna be more tears, (mine again) and parental decisions I absolutely am not ready to make. 

I know I can & will get through this

 as past experiences in VERY unfamiliar territory has proven that. 

But, like the photo above, February is dark around the edges but there is ALWAYS light.

Thank goodness for the light.

I plan on being VERY present for all this month has to bring.

Happy (finding the light) snapping.

xo

Kelly