7/18/2010 The Caterpillar

Today I was doing some plant-trimming, dead-heading and weeding, and came across a caterpillar on a geranium plant. I called Gabriel right away, hoping this would help relieve his ongoing grief at the loss of his silkworm "Scissors." (And it was a way of transitioning from a morning-long crisis of Gabriel being sent to his room and losing toys and allowance for pushing Julian down the stairs.)

Sure enough, Gabriel was fascinated and excited by the creature. He greeted it tenderly with, "Hello, friend," and then studied it carefully for a long time.


The caterpillar then served to defuse a huge Katrina tantrum too. Dave took Katrina and Julian to a closeby park to practice two-wheeling, which Katrina soon lost interest in. While Julian pedaled around, Dave watched her play on a little playground for a while, but she was furious when it was time to go home. I could hear her screaming as soon as they had rounded the block.

So Gabriel showed her the caterpillar to distract her, which, unlike with him when he was her age, actually worked.


Gabriel supposed it was a silkworm too, but I don't think so. This photo doesn't quite capture it, but it appears to have iridescent dark-blue "eyes."

(Anyone have any idea what this is? I suspect it's pretty ordinary.)

I hadn't expected this about having landscaping and plants -- dare I even call them "gardens." It's a lot of fun walking around and seeing what's bloomed lately, what's changed, what's growing and what isn't. And even finding wildlife too.

7/18/2010