Butterfly Magic Inside!

This is a monarch butterfly chrysalis that is hanging from a leaf of one of the milkweed plants in our yard. On the day that we visited Sandy Ridge, and caught a glimpse of butterfly heaven, there was also lots going on in our butterfly world back home.

In the morning, I had spotted one of our huge monarch caterpillars forming a J on the milkweed plant. By the time we got home late that afternoon, it was a green chrysalis! So exciting!

I looked it up and they say it normally takes about nine to fourteen days for the chrysalis to turn into a butterfly. So I've marked our calendar and we are watching closely. I check it every day, multiple times each day. Somewhere between August 8 and 13 (actually, as it turns out, it was August 14!), we should have a brand new butterfly.

I do hope I'll get to see the butterfly eclose, but even if I don't, it's been fun to observe a part of this process. I actually saw one of the first butterfly eggs that was laid on the plant, so we've already seen egg, tiny caterpillar, huge caterpillar, J, and chrysalis.

Do you see how gorgeous the chrysalis is, detailed in gold? There is a little gold "zipper" of sorts along the top, and three little gold spots along the bottom. In between, can you see the butterfly wings taking shape inside? Pure butterfly magic, indeed!!!

The soundtrack song is this one: the Lovin' Spoonful, with Do You Believe In Magic? I'm also fond of the version by Shaun Cassidy, so here is that one as well.