After keeping the butterflies in captivity for one whole week (exactly one half of their expected life) and even subjecting them to Ella's kindergarten show-and-tell, this weekend we let them have their freedom. Maybe because the girls are a little older, but this year it was much harder to say goodbye. We had tears, we had protest, we had moaning about how much they will be missed, but in the end we know we did the right thing by letting them fly around the flowers the way God created them to. And the girls did take great delight in carefully moving each one from enclosure to blossom. Their new home is in the gardens of our friends Sara and Arend. When they invited us over for dinner and games last night, we made our "Thanks for the Hospitality!" gift some Painted Ladies for their blooms.
This year's butterflies were a frisky bunch! Their netted cage was rockin' every night and we have about a hundred tiny blue eggs as a result! We'll see if we can raise a new generation of caterpillars. Since we know nothing about sustaining baby caterpillar life, our hopes are not too high.
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