GIFT OF BUTTERFLIES

Four days ago Edgar surprised me with a gift 

made by his little brother Khahn:

A small piece of plywood, bearing a bare twig 

with two delicate cocoons precariously dangling from it.

"Place it somewhere in the sun." Edgar said.

But our lanai does not get a lot of sun 

and it has been raining off and on.

I balanced the extraordinary gift on the table outside

among the sturdy leaves of an orchid 

where it would be protected from wind gusts

so it would not get blown over.

We had some hard rains last night and this morning.

Everything on the lanai was wet, 

a far cry from the warm sun that butterflies would need.

Or so I thought.

At 10:00 AM the cocoons were still intact.

But when I checked again four hours later,

I was in for a big surprise.

Two butterflies were hanging from the twig in all their glory!

They had snuck out when I was not watching!

I moved the twig to another place to get a better background 

 for photographing the process.

Twenty minutes later one butterfly opened its wings,

flapped it a couple of times and flew off, just like that.

Amazing!

The second butterfly took its own sweet time just hanging around.

 

I watched it release a lot of moisture,

equivalent to two full buckets if it were a human.

After about half an hour, it started moving its head this way and that.

Another rest period and suddenly the wings popped open.

And off it went into the great unknown...

leaving behind two empty sacs twirling in the wind....

What a great Christmas gift!

Thank you, Khahn!