"Parsley worms " AKA Eastern Swallow Tail caterpillars

We had a parsley plant outside on our back porch for a while

and I noticed some tiny little "worms" on it.

a closer look and I saw they were caterpillars!

So I let them be...

A short while later I noticed they were huge!

and my parsley... not so much. 

Which was fine ( we weren't eating much anyhow)

We decided to use this as an impromptu science lesson!

We brought most of the caterpillars inside

( they were so cute and fat and adorable)

Along with what sticks of parsley were left

I threw in some celery since 

as more for them to eat

We noticed one of the caterpillars already attaching itself

under our porch railing

And decided to let it be

(Here it is a chrysalis )

Now we wait...

the natives are excited to see if we can get the ones indoors to cocoon !

And we are monitoring the one outside 

Sooner or later they will emerge 

And look something like this!

(we caught this one for a short bit just to look at)

ps. If you happen upon these fat little caterpillars

be very careful. If startled or distressed they have tiny little orange 'osmeterium'

that pop up and emit a very STRONG sweetish odor.

Hard to wash off your hands ;) 

Watermelon!!

Who doesn't love watermelon!? 

 Sometimes those big slices can get messy

I cut them in cube shapes and everyone grabs a piece.

yum! 

Agnes .. our praying Mantis

So photogenic! 

Having this Mantis in our home has been fun. 

My natives... who normally would not like to hold any sort of bug,

 have become more at ease. 

And, with the exception of one,

 they can hold her no problem and let her crawl on them.

Its funny to see my younger ones, 

and how they enjoy watching all the "gross" bug stuff .

Agnes has shed her skin about four times thus far.

(I believe they do a total of 6)

They also enjoy watching her catch whatever insects we put in as 'food'.

As a tiny nymph she could only eat flightless fruit flies.

But she has moved up to moths, crickets,

and other random bugs we find for her.

Here you can see she has grown quite a bit!

She started out the size of a small mosquito.

Here is Agnes in our mint plant.

yes, we let her roam a bit, from time to time.

Get her some fresh air and all ;)

We figure we will probably be letting her go at the end of the month. 

According to Insectlore.com her life span will be @ 3-6 moths.

And we should release her once her wings come in. 

woven friendship..

My eldest made herself a loom

out of a strip of cardboard.

said she wanted to make a friendship bracelet.

I think its beautiful :)

Day of the dead ... No.12

Custom orders are a HUGE part of my business...

and recently I received one for a set of nesting dolls. 

I LOVE when the customer lets me be creative.

(its really the best way to take advantage of the artists creativity. By not limiting them!)

They wanted day of the dead dolls,

Inspired by and old set I had sold years ago.

I started with the second doll

she inspired me

so I then moved on to the biggest one

and then the rest...

These new sets are quite large and all hand turned

The biggest being 8" tall and 4" wide

there are seven in all

I have a bunch of blank sets made

and ready to be painted...

mixed media native art

The natives are making art..

well, to be honest.

They are always making art.

But today we made a bigger mess of it then normal!

It's my fathers birthday soon and we decided (since it was a big one)

to do something special!

We started with blank canvas

add in paint, paper, tissue, markers, glue ..etc.

I always love when they each use their own unique styles

and this was one of those times it truly shined!

They are all so creative

and still quite different 

each in their own way!

Of coarse the finished products I dare not post.

For they have not yet been received ;)

The hardest part for them is waiting for things to dry..

we did these over two days

But the final products are quite spectacular!

Dice game

Family game time...

this week we play dice.

The natives love it

and we do to.

( I am told its the same rules as Farkle?)

Needless to say Mom and Dad got slaughtered.

But lots of fun and laughs along the way.

Oh yes.. and there is some MATH involved!

so win win ;) 

The rules in case you didn't click the link above ;

6 dice

You cannot count any of your points until you reach at least 500 points in a single round.( We did 200 so it was easier to 'get on the board' so to speak. ) When you reach 500 points for the first time, you may choose to immediately end your turn to prevent losing the points.
5’s = 50 point
1’s = 100 points
1,1,1 = 300 points
2,2,2 = 200 points
3,3,3 = 300 points
4,4,4 = 400 points
5,5,5 = 500 points
6,6,6 = 600 points
Four of a Kind = 1,000 points
Five of a Kind = 2,000 points
Six of a Kind = 3,000 points
A Straight of 1-6 = 1,500 points
Three Pairs = 1,500 points
Four of a Kind + a Pair = 1,500
Two sets of Three of a Kind = 2,500

first one to whatever amount you decide.. wins!