I was preparing for this vacation with more than just a little trepidation, because, if I’m being quite honest, I didn’t enjoy last year’s vacation much at all (you can see some photos from it in this post, but I never went into great detail about any of it).
Which really sucked, because everyone else had a grand ol’ time.
I finally finished sifting through my billions of video clips (it was too much, I know); you can check out my collection of vacation Shorts here!
I decided to single-handedly save the monarch population in a single season; you can now refer to me as Monarch Mommy™
This, of course, is a joke (the saving the species part, not the Monarch Mommy™ part), and since raising monarchs indoors can be quite a hot top on the internet (who knew, right?), I’m going to start this post with a clear disclaimer: apparently it’s not been proven that indoor rearing of monarchs has done much — if anything — to help the general monarch population.
Some studies say that, if done improperly, the indoor raising of monarch butterflies can actually have an adverse effect on the general monarch population.
*steps onto my soapbox*
Let me just say that I completely agree with some reasonings (like it can make spreading disease easier), while other reasonings I completely disagree with. For instance, believing that nature successfully “picks off the weak” and that we’re interfering with that process by protecting them?? Um, here’s my hot take: having a wasp lay eggs in a caterpillar doesn’t mean that a caterpillar is weak, it just means that it was one unlucky little dude who now has to endure a horrific death!
I believe that my butterflies were part of the migratory generation (also known as the “super generation”), and they were much larger than other monarchs that I’ve seen around
the sun peeks over the horizon,
golden beams winding through branches,
dappling the sleeping plants in glory.
dew drops rest on stems,
held captive in the hair of the plant,
shimmering and glinting,
like pearls ‘round a rich woman’s neck,
everyday magic so easily overlooked.
they stretch and reach their arms to the sky,
elegant smiles on their concealed faces,
coaxed back to life by a jubilant sun.
The fam and I returned from our 6 days of seaside vacationing on Tuesday, and ever since then I’ve been sifting through hundreds of videos and compiling them into aesthetic YouTube shorts (these are pretty much purely for my and my family’s entertainment, but there’s a slight chance that somebody else might enjoy them too).
I was originally throwing around the idea of making a longform video about the trip, but after spending the whole first day of the vacation capturing aesthetically-pleasing footage (think: sanderlings running along the surf in front of a pastel-pink sunset), my camera decided to throw a fit, mess with my SD card, and ultimately lose my gorgeous footage.
July has come and gone (if you missed my July wrap, you can watch it here!), and we are well and truly into summer. As in, it’s frickin hot, and I don’t remember the last time we got rain. I’m giving my gardens just enough water to make it through these hot days, but they could really use a good soaker.
The pole beans are finally producing (I always forget how late they start, but once they start, the harvests are plentiful until the first frost), the butternut squashes are climbing to the sky and have quite the collection of babies growing, and the zephyr squashes have been as delectable as ever.
my friend Brandi sent me these marigold seeds (left) a few years ago, and I’ve continued collecting the seeds and growing them every year since!
It’s been a hot minute (literally) since I’ve posted on this blog — you have no idea how many drafts I’ve started in here, only to lose steam halfway through and never publish them!
When I disappear from one place, it usually means that I’m busy elsewhere, and that has definitely been the case this time around.
Although summer has technically just started, it’s been so much fun so far.
releasing my dear Painted Lady butterflies (more on this later in the post)
Goodness gracious. Officially half way through April, and it’s definitely been an emotionally tumultuous shift from the previous few months.
Spring has returned, and although it brings the joy of green grass, blooming flowers, singing peepers, and birds fighting over our nesting boxes (as cute as the bluebirds are, they are being just as problematic as usual), it also means that our horrendous neighbors have returned to their horrendous ways (unfortunately, it’s been a telltale sign of the changing seasons for the past decade).
the time of the crocuses has officially passed, but today our first mini daffodil bloomed
While January and February seemed to fly by, March seemed to go on forever.
Looking back on the month’s wrap I can’t believe that some of the clips were from the 31 days of March — it felt like they were taken months ago.
Although the weather is in its annual spring fickleness, the fam and I have been making sure to enjoy all of the warm days we get. Spontaneous afternoons spent hiking, laying in sunny fields, and listening to the spring peepers were a March staple (and are carrying into April).
The grass is turning more green every day, and buds are starting to pop on the trees and bushes.
So here’s a short photographic recap of the month:
I’m not sure that I’ve ever posted photos of this coat on my blog, but, FUN FACT: I made it out of my old bedspread last year
I bought the pattern from ReillyFitzsimmons, and it was easy and great, aside from the fact that I did have to downsize a lot because the pattern is unisex and created by a man
5:01am EST / Thursday, March 20th, 2025
The spring weather took its sweet time arriving this year (as predicted by Punxsutawney Phil), but with a slight upward trend in the temps, the peepers have taken up their spring song, the flowers have popped up overnight (literally), and we caught the first glimpse of our resident groundhog when she crawled out from under the barn for a drink of water.
I’d love to add some more crocus colors to the garden at some point, since we currently only have dark purple, and light purple ones
art by jordan rae 