Cocooning Butterflies

All over the world, people are cocooning, waiting to emerge like butterflies, into a new dawn. For those of us blessed with great health, who are not essential workers, we are granted an introspective and creative time. There's been a shift in consciousness - a transformation.

The initial fear, panic, and climbing the walls over the COVID-19 virus, has given way to a quiet resolve to do our part to protect ourselves, and everyone around us, by self isolating for two weeks. We are not the heroic front line doctors, nurses and healthcare workers, pharmacists, and grocery store workers, putting their own lives at risk, each time they care for a person with the virus, or engage with a customer. Yet, with every mindful action we take - frequently washing our hands, standing six feet apart in the grocery store, staying home - we help ease their burden.With every action we take, we do not spread the virus.    

In our homes, connected via our phones and the internet, we are apart, and yet together, everyone sharing the same experience. With almost everyone home from work, and entertainment and sports venues, shopping malls and restaurants closed, families are rediscovering each other. Parents and children are playing board games, going for long walks, learning to bake bread, having family meals together, and sharing conversation. Children kinda like this virus thing.

Musicians have risen to angelic heights, gifting us with music and song. There's been an outpouring of soulful, joyful music from all around the world. I love the spontaneous "block parties" which have burst through open windows, and spilled out onto balconies in Italy, and Spain, and Canada. 

Here in Vancouver, we have held nightly ovations for front line healthcare workers. At 7 o'clock every night, people stand on their balconies and porches, and clap hands, shout, bang pots, ring cowbells, honk car horns, blow ship's horns, and even set off fireworks for the hospital workers. It's heartfelt and exuberant.

Have you noticed the collective shift in the conversation? People who may have been anxious about being isolated at home, are now talking about what kind of world they want to create. There's wisdom in this quote I found on Facebook, "in the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider what parts of normal are worth rushing back to."

    

When this is over, emerge from your cocoon, spread your wings, and fly like a butterfly! I've been creating new clothing collections, and adding to old collections (Monarch Butterfly, Monarch Butterfly Orange Flower, Monarch Butterfly Blue Sky, and Climbing the Walls). Here are a few butterfly inspired designs for lingering and lounging a little longer at home, heading into town, or flying away!  

All clothing, lingerie and totes are found here, in my Art of Where shop:
https://artofwhere.com/artists/ruth-adams-widow-s-endorphins-photographic-images-inc-/clothing
 

Photographs Copyright of: Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Monarchs and Painted Ladies

Monarchs and Painted Lady butterflies have waltzed through September, and much of October together, without a thought for the Winter social season down South.  They've been feasting on the nectar of flowers, and basking in the sunshine here in the North.  The unusually wet Eastern Canadian Summer, and hot, sunny weeks in September, have produced a lot of nectar, and kept butterflies in the Northern Hemisphere.

They're having a nectar banquet, storing energy for the long voyage to Mexico.  The four thousand kilometre (about 2,500 mile) journey will take about six to eight weeks.  They're in no hurry to pack their bags. 

Even for a daytime luncheon, the butterflies really dress up!  Monarchs are larger than the Painted Lady butterflies.  Their deep orange coloured wings are rimmed in black, with white polka dots.  Monarch wings are veined, and look much like stained glass windows.

Painted Lady butterflies are smaller, and move more quickly.  Their wings too, are orange and black, however they're dappled with colour.  The black and white pattern is found only in the top corner of the front wings.  Their upper bodies are a blue green colour, and they look like they're wearing a silk bodice or vest.

The Viceroy butterfly is a no show at this gathering.  It is often mistaken for a Monarch.  The Viceroy has a distinctive black line, running in a semi-circle across the hind wings.  Only true Monarchs at this garden party!

The male Monarch (above) is taking a rest from fluttering.  How can you tell if it's male or female?  Do you see the small, black oval shaped dot on one of the thin veins near the tail of the butterfly?  That is one of the butterfly's scent glands - and only the males have them.  The female butterflies do not have these oval dots, and their veins are thicker.

Here's a female Monarch (above and below).  You can see the veins are wider, and she has no black oval dot alongside the vein near her tail.  Not only that, she has a Ladybug-in-waiting with her!  An Asian Ladybug, wearing a bright yellow and black polka-dotted suit is in attendance.

More and more guests arrive at the party, savouring the buffet lunch.  

A Painted Lady glances over at the bee, and realizing that she is not the Queen bee, relaxes her wings just a little.   A butterfly can't truly relax...after all, the butterfly paparazzi (that would be me) are here!

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams,  Widow's Endorphines Photographic Images Incorporated.

Fairies, Butterflies and Ladybugs

Summer is drawing to an end, and the enchanted garden next door is all aflutter.  The fairies are doing their best to calm the butterflies, as the Monarchs excitedly prepare for their long flight back to Mexico. They've got butterflies!  You know - the kind you get in your tummy before a big event, or doing something new.

If you have a child, or grandchild starting school, they may have butterflies too!  Like the Monarchs, generations before them have made the journey, in a mass migration.  Like the Monarchs, the children won't be travelling alone.  Yet, the first day of school is experienced by one child at a time. It's personal.  It may be awful...or awesome!  

    

Every advice column on the subject, says to take time to visit the school with your child before the school year begins.  This way, your child learns the route to school, and has a sense of what that big building looks like on the inside.  If possible, introduce yourselves to the teacher, so that your child sees a familiar face in a classroom of strangers.

Creating an amazing first day of school may be as simple as a comforting hug, and a message to carry your child through the day, and through the years.  "You are going to learn so much, and make a difference in this world.  Remember, you are loved".  The ever cheerful Ladybug, would add, "Just be you!"

The Fuchsia ballerina fairies are whispering that Summer's carefree spirit does not have to end. Those magical days of happy adventures, and playful learning can be part of everyday life, for the rest of a child's life.  Curiosity about the world, and creative expression last a lifetime - if they're nurtured.

We all know what happens when we take a beautiful butterfly, or tiny ladybug and put them in a glass jar.  Something inside a child dies when creativity is stifled.  In the coming months and years, give them the freedom to explore, experiment and discover.  Give them new ways to express themselves, through art, music, dance, writing, baking, woodwork, or sewing. Give them a sense of security, without the walls of a glass jar. Give them plenty of hugs, and smiles...and love. 

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Monarch Butterflies

For some, the sight of a butterfly is a loving sign from a deceased loved one, that they are ever near. Cultures around the world, from the Japanese, Chinese, and Russians, to North America's Indigenous peoples, see butterflies as symbols of souls, transformation or rebirth.  The ancient Greek word for butterfly - psyche - means soul.  In Mexico, where millions of Monarch butterflies arrive in late Fall, around All Souls Day and the Day of the Dead, the butterflies are thought to be returning souls.

Ironically, Monarch butterflies are threatened with extinction.  The US Center for Biological Diversity says the Monarch butterfly population has declined 80% over the past decades.  In July, their Senior Scientist, Tierra Curry wrote, "On top of the loss of milkweed in its Summer grounds, logging in its Winter home in Mexico has increased, a severe storm this Spring killed millions of Monarchs, and a mine now threatens the Monarch Biosphere Reserve."  Curry says the "catastrophic decline" in the Monarch population is in part due to the use of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide on genetically engineered Roundup resistant crops.  Milkweed is killed.  Milkweed is the only source of food for Monarch larvae.

Monarchs are a symbol of transformation, and of rebirth.  They metamorphosize from larvae, to caterpillar, to butterfly.  I have a coffee mug with the inspirational words, Just when the caterpillar thought its life was over, it became a butterfly.  It took on a whole new meaning, when my husband was finally listed for a liver transplant.  It takes on yet another meaning, now that I am in the "pupa stage", recreating my life as a widow. 

      
Schoolchildren learn about the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly.  For those of us who've forgotten: the butterfly eggs are laid on the Milkweed plant, and the larvae hatch, and feed on it exclusively, growing into fat caterpillars.  The caterpillars then encase themselves in a hard, protective shell, and transform from this pupa stage, to emerge from the cocoon as butterflies.

As the days grow shorter, and the light changes, Monarch butterflies begin their migration from Canada and the US, into Mexico.  It's an arduous journey of 5-thousand kilometres, or 3-thousand miles to the warmth of their Mexican Winter home.

A 56-thousand hectare, or 140-thousand acre Monarch butterfly reserve in Mexico, is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. The government funds indigenous farmers in the mountain region to preserve the Monarchs.  There, the butterflies hibernate, until the siren call of Canada's northern climes stirs them.

I'll bet you didn't know that two dots distinguish the male Monarch from the female.  If you look closely at the photo above, you'll see two black oval shaped dots on a straight black vein, on either side of the tail of the Monarch.  It's a boy butterfly!

Did you know that the Monarch was the first butterfly to have its genome sequenced?  They were also transported to the International Space Station for breeding.  They truly are regarded as the monarchs of the butterfly world!

Science loves the Monarch, and so do The Arts.  I've added new designs to my Art of Where clothing line, based on the photo of the Monarch butterfly taken in Toronto's High Park last week. Great for those of you heading to Mexico for the Winter!

http://bit.do/draped-kimono

http:/bit.do/flare-dresses
http://bit.do/AOWbodycon

http:/bit.do/kimonos

Photographs and Designs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Inc.