EVENT UPDATE / PASSION FLOWER UPDATE

A few weeks ago I posted about my beautiful Passion Flower lovingly giving it's life so that the Gulf Fritillary could live ... out of about 13 caterpillars I witnessed 5 butterflies emerge and fly away on their journey. A couple days after the last butterfly flew away, I took some coffee grounds and turned them into the soil ... I made sure to give EXTRA water to the plant AND .... yesterday I was truly amazed!  The plant is coming back and ... quickly!!!  These leaves were not there 3-4 days ago!  YAY!!!!!

The plant has a couple more months of outside time and then will find it's place in the greenhouse for some R&R over the winter!



EVENT NEWS

Yesterday I drove up Jacksboro Highway to Azle, TX (about 15 minutes from my house) to RED's Burger House. What a great place to do a reading of Red Goes To Kindergarten! 


Terie Russell, the owner of Red's is a wonderful person and used to be a school teacher as well.  The restaurant is very inviting and when you walk in, the aroma of burgers is heavenly!  They have a great big room upstairs (where the big windows that look like EYES are) and it was a great space for children to hang out, talk and read!

I took the graph worksheet paper from my Red Goes To Kindergarten and blew it up, attached it to my easel and after we read the story, the kids fill in the graph with their favorite color!



This little girl was having a wonderful time!  She is four years old, can read and was doing lots of addition problems for me! She and I read the Muffin book and she was able to read almost the whole thing by herself!  She colored the picture for MUFFIN and wanted me to take it home to her!

This is why I LOVE DOING BOOK READINGS!!!!  The kids I meet make book events

PRICELESS!!!!

 

I meant to take a picture of our food after the book event -- but I had a cheeseburger and fries!  It was soooooo good -- they toast and butter the buns and that always adds to the flavor! The tea was great and I had them add a bit of their homemade lemonade to my tea for a little kick!  YUM

If you're looking for a new burger place, check out Red's Burger House on Main Street in Azle, TX

 

Watch for news about Spring Break 2016 STAYcamp events at Red's!!

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

I am honored to be attending the Texas Word Wrangler Festival

Friday, September 11, 2015

Giddings Public Library

276 North Orange Street

Giddings, TX  78942

 

ALSO

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Friends of Port O'Connor Library Fundraiser

Dinner & Silent Auction

The Sanctuary at Costa Grande

Tickets are $25.00 -- if you're interested in attending

contact the Friends of Port O'Connor by clicking on the above link

 

I am booking for Summer 2016 for daycares, schools, camps and libraries

If you would like me to be a part of your Summer Camp program, please email me at

thelifeofbud@aol.com

 

 

 

 

 

Muffin's Birthday!

5 years ago we went out on a Sunday morning to get a donut and we came home with

Muffin! She is the sweetest most loving dog we have ever had! Can't believe she is

FIVE YEARS OLD!!!!! 

A birthday SELFIE

 

Muffin sporting her B-day hat I made for her!

Not sure if she's impressed with my HAT making abilities!

Shadow actually WORE a hat this year ... but hats kept slipping off as they were waiting for the b-day treats!

Ice Cream flavored birthday cookies!

 

Wearing their HATS!!!!

and eating their cookies!

 

 Shadow waiting "patiently" for his puppy peanut butter cup

but Birthday Girl goes first!

Me and the B-day girl!

Present time!!!!

 

 The stare down with Muffin's new sock monkey ...

hey Shadow -- I'll look in here to see what mom got you

even though it's MY birthday!

 WHAT's in here? 

We BOTH have new SOCK MONKEY TOYS!!!!!!

And ... it's not a PUPPY PARTY until .....

Someone gets a bag STUCK on their HEAD!!!!!!!

 

Thanks HOLLYWOOD FEED for the B-day Cookies, Sock Monkeys,

AND FUN BAGS!!!!!

 

If you're interested in ordering either of Muffin's children's books, email me at thelifeofbud@aol.com

and mention this BLOG POST and get both books for $5.00!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New LIFE!

 

Today, August 6, 2015, I walked out onto the backyard patio at about 6:50am and had to run back into the house and grab my phone. The Gulf Fritillary Butterflies were emerging!

I missed them popping out by about 5 minutes ... but was able to watch them "learn" how to be a

B U T T E R F L Y

I love these EYES!

Still hanging on to the chrysalis

This guy let me get really close ...

and these wings look like they are almost ready to take flight.

The 2nd little guy is still drying and still not wanting to let go of that chrysalis!

You can see that her wings are still not dry and are not fully expanded.

 

I LOVE this FACE!!!!

Still hanging on to that chrysalis ...

The striped abdomen is a true fashion statement next to the psychedelic silvery white underside of the wings!

Starting to flutter those beautiful velvety wings!

Those wings look ready to FLY!

You can see the 2nd butterfly in the background and you can see how their markings are the same. The one long white oval with the black dot that looks like an eye ... you can see that on BOTH of them!

 I took this picture showing how tightly she was holding on to her chrysalis!

I find it fascinating that they pop out and the chrysalis stays almost completely intact and is strong enough to hold them while they are drying and learning how to be a butterfly!

When will you fly??? It's now 7:30am

 

ABSOLUTELY gorgeous ... if you look on the right side of the picture you can still see "the twin" not moving or fluttering ....

Click on the video to see her getting ready to fly!

Here she is walking up the trellis and then as she got to the top ... she took off flying!

 

When this butterfly took off for the first time I was actually shocked to see how awkward of a flyer she was ... she made it to the tomato garden and as I crept up on her this is what I found ...

She was upside down hanging on to this weed! She was there for about 5 minutes and I was hoping she didn't hurt herself! But, just as caterpillars show perseverance -- so did this butterfly!

But, I really like seeing the underside markings!

 

 

 She flipped herself over, and flew into the middle of the yard -- NOW ... Muffin and Shadow were very curious and love chasing butterflies ... so I had to make sure a BIG FURRY PAW didn't accidentally step on her .... so I guarded her in the grass and as a THANK YOU

She opened her wings for me ... SO PRETTY!!!!!!

 

She took off again and was all jittery and jerky and made it to the fence!

This is when I noticed the white spots on her head ...

 

 She would fly around the backyard and kept coming back to this spot before she flew off ... at about 8:00 am she left the yard!

 

 Just as the 1st butterfly left the yard, the 2nd butterfly let go of the chrysalis and flew to the plant right next to the Passion Flower ...

These eyes are incredible and look at that proboscis (which is their "tongue" that is like a straw that drinks nectar!)

 

She seemed a little more "shy" to take off and fly!

Or she just wanted to pose for a couple pictures before she left her home.

It was as if she did this on purpose for a FUNNY picture!!!!

 She liked hanging upside down to soak in the sun ...

She finally did take off and was shaky ... but landed on the top of fence and then by about 8:20am flew over the fence and on her journey!

 and ... here is an empty chrysalis ... and two of my butterflies have spread their wings and have taken flight! Bittersweet  ....

 

Out of 13 caterpillars, 2 just emerged, 2 more are in their chrysalis and 2 placed their chrysalis in a precarious spot and because of the HEAT, have died ... the chrysalis turned a deep black ...

I'm not sure where the other caterpillars are hiding ... but I hope they found a safe place to make their chrysalis ...

Today, I also purchased a NEW Passion Flower Plant from

Blooming Colors Nursery - Grapevine, TX

The person who walked me to find the plant was so helpful and was lots of fun to talk to about the caterpillar! This plant actually has 2 caterpillar on it -- but is a LOT heartier than my first plant ...

so ... The Life Cycle continues!