Really Random Tuesday #95: Very Hungry Caterpillars and a Book Winner

These very hungry caterpillars are on a restricted diet.  Yesterday morning, I was pleased to find many caterpillars feasting on my milkweed plants, their only source of nutrition.  They devour the plants, which become quite bare after a while (though the leaves will grow back for future larvae, as long as the plants get some water).  A couple of years ago, while I was reading Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, I became keenly interested in monarch butterflies, as the book features them prominently; at the same time, my sister-in-law, Kristine, was posting on Facebook about monarch butterflies and her milkweed plants.  I was intrigued, and found plants for my garden from a local nursery and from Home Depot, and I also purchased milkweed seeds.  I  grow milkweed in pots now, though, because many of the plants I'd put into the earth would mysteriously disappear after a few days.  I learned at the nursery that gophers were probably stealing the milkweed I planted in the ground, pulling them underground by their roots.  Anyway, the hungry caterpillars start out as adorable, tiny creatures, and grow larger and plumper as they eat.  They're a bit cartoonish, as if they belong in a Dr. Seuss story, but some of them will form exquisite chrysalises, and the most fortunate ones will become beautiful monarch butterflies.

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Please help me to congratulate Pat from Posting For Now. She's won a copy of The Antigone Poems, a collection of poetry by Marie Slaight, with illustrations by Terrence Tasker.  Many congratulations, Pat!  I hope you will relish this book, which features striking poems and drawings.  Thanks to everyone who entered this giveaway.  Please stay tuned for more giveaways, which I list on the right side of my blog.

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Appearing on random Tuesdays, Really Random Tuesday is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related things you can think of. Often I announce my book giveaway winners in these posts.  If you have miscellaneous book news to gather up and are inspired by this idea, "grab" the button for use on your own blog, and add your link to the "master" Mister Linky on the Really Random Tuesday page.  Thanks for stopping by!  Your comments are welcomed.

Saturday Snapshot: Monarch Magic

At times, reading a novel leads me to some sort of a project.  After reading Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, I became intrigued by the idea of creating a small habitat for monarch butterflies.  My sister-in-law, Kristine, advised me to get milkweed plants for the garden, to attract monarchs.  I bought several "butterfly plants", or milkweed, from Home Depot, to plant outside. To my delight, monarch butterflies quickly discovered the plants and laid eggs on them, leading to numerous caterpillars, who start out very tiny and grow larger and plumper by eating the milkweed, their only source of food.  Eventually, some of these caterpillars became gorgeous chrysalises, with their trademark gold band, which are truly an exquisite sight.  With my iPhone, I took a few photos of this incredible life cycle.  This experience has been a highlight of my summer.  

A monarch on the milkweed

Caterpillars feasting on milkweed

A beautiful chrysalis

 

A new monarch, nearly ready for flight

Created by Alyce from At Home With Books, Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda from West Metro Mommy Reads.  To participate, post a photo, or a few photos, taken by you, a friend, or a family member, and add your link on Melinda’s site.  Your comments are welcomed. 

Really Random Tuesday #68: Book Winner, Baguettes, and Butterflies

Et la gagnante est... 

Karenk is the winner of an ebook edition of The Summer of France by Paulita Kincer.  Félicitations!  Please help me to congratulate the randomly chosen winner of this novel.  Descriptions in the book brought to mind the wonderful aroma and taste of freshly baked French bread.  While some baguettes take longer than 7 hours to make, I found an "easy" French bread recipe on Carpé Season, to try baking à la maison. 

If you didn't win this book, don't despair!  For other giveaways and reviews of French-themed books, please visit France Book Tours.  And scroll down to take a look at the terrific book giveaways listed here, on the right side of my blog.

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Inspired by Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, and my sister-in-law's family's monarch farm, I planted six milkweed plants to attract monarch butterflies.  I shared this experience on Facebook, but since I reviewed the book last month during the TLC tour, and mentioned my desire to find milkweed plants, I decided to include it here as well.  I was thrilled when monarchs discovered the milkweed almost immediately, and overjoyed that the plants have developed numerous seed pods, which form if the flower blossoms are pollinated.  The third photo shows an open seed pod; these seeds will fly away to create new milkweed plants for the monarchs. (Click on photos to make them larger.)

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Appearing on random Tuesdays, Really Random Tuesday is a way to post odds and ends--announcements, musings, quotes, photos--any blogging and book-related matters you can think of.  I often announce my book giveaway winners in these posts.  If you have miscellaneous book news to gather up and are inspired by this idea, "grab" the button for use on your own blog, then add your link to the "master" Mister Linky on the Really Random Tuesday page. 

Happy Tuesday!  Your comments are welcomed, as always. 
(Photo of baguettes courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Flight Behavior

"Unearthly beauty had appeared to her, a vision of glory to stop her in the road."
~Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver

Sometimes, seeing is not believing.

Published in 2012, Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver is the story of Dellarobia Turnbow, a farm wife who lives in Appalachia with her husband, Cub, and their two small children, Cordelia and Preston.  Dellarobia married young--at the age of seventeen--because she got pregnant, which marked the end of her formal education.  One day, as Dellarobia hikes up a mountain to meet someone, she encounters a "forested valley filled with what looks like a lake of fire".  Dazzled by this vision, and not sure what she's seeing, this remarkable sight affects Dellarobia in a profound way, and marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in her life.

Male Monarch, courtesy of Wikipedia

There is a lot I could say about Flight Behavior--certainly more than I could ever articulate in a short review on my blog.  It's a book about complex subjects, including marriage and family, and the "magic" of science and nature.  Quite simply, though, I relished every page in this exquisite book.  The author has a background in biology, and the science surrounding the monarch butterflies presented in this story, through the work Dr. Ovid Byron and other characters, adds a realistic and fascinating dimension to it.  I learned many things about monarch butterflies in Flight Behavior.  For example, male monarchs have two black spots on their hind wings (click on photo to enlarge).

Flight Behavior is suffused with humanity, humor, and grace.  I love the way that Barbara Kingsolver writes, the way she thinks. She brought me to a place I knew little about, rural Appalachia.  Through her descriptions, I was in the mountains and wet woods, which burst to life through the people, butterflies, and farm animals.  The protagonist, Dellarobia, is real and flawed, but also very likable.    Both sharp and feisty, Dellarobia and her mother-in-law, Hester, are competitive with each other and butt heads quite often.  I wanted Dellarobia to be happier and to reach (at least some of) the potential she relinquished when she got married (I also wanted to extinguish her cigarette cravings).  Dellarobia and her husband shop at second-hand shops not because it's fashionable but because that's all they can afford; they're struggling to make ends meet, and have few possessions (they do not even own Christmas tree ornaments).  But Dellarobia's life is rich in a different sense.  She's a dedicated and caring mother, who awakens the budding scientist in her son, Preston (and will hopefully do the same for her daughter, Cordie, when she's a bit older).
 

Female Monarch, courtesy of Wikipedia

Although this beautifully written novel centers around a family, it focuses as well on larger, controversial, and contemporary issues, the impact of global warming and climate change on the environment.  I do think we need to think more about the long-term effects of our choices and actions, and care for the earth today.  Flight Behavior is a thought-provoking book that I enjoyed very much, one that I'll continue to think about for a long time.  Interestingly, while I was reading this novel, my sister-in-law, Kristine, was posting on Facebook about monarch butterflies and her milkweed plants.  I want some of these plants for my own garden--I adore monarchs!

Special thanks to Trish from TLC for sending me this book.  For more reviews, please visit the other stops on TLC's book tour for Flight Behavior.  This was my first book by Barbara Kingsolver, and I'm now very interested in reading The Lacuna, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction, and other works by this no-longer-new-to-me author.

Your comments are welcomed.