swallowtails love larkspur

The swallowtails love larkspur and there's a ton of it. I didn't realize swallowtails have blue and red markings -- there is a way to distinguish male and female but when I looked it up, it hurt my brain to follow the directions. Whatever gender they are, they are very welcome.

The bouquet of fragrant sage can be added to bathwater, too. Week 20 of Journal52 is good advice -- the watercolor background is for Week 22, wings. The little box, origami butterflies and pretty papers are all from Daphne's Diary magazine, a splurge. Similar to FLOW magazine, maybe a little lighter in subject matter which is nice sometimes. And there's a good amount of paper/coloring pages/punchouts, etc. for future projects.

With the swallowtails visiting every day and the dark moon upon us, I've been dreaming and thinking about metamorphosis. How a caterpillar hardens into a chrysalis which in turn begins to produce imaginal cells. Imaginal cells are of a completely new and different vibration from the caterpillar and they reproduce until there are so many that they literally take over . . . and begin to grow into a butterfly. All the while, the caterpillar melts and liquifies to feed the new life.

I wonder if when people have meltdowns, there are imaginal cells being produced to create a future self that is strong and free. Gain from pain. I know I always feel so much better afterward.

I meant to pull up most of the larkspur last spring but never got around to it. So glad I didn't.