Guest Blog – Photos from Amy

Amy and I were sharing photos of hobbies, and I thought you would all be interested to see these butterfly photos. Amy has been raising butterflies for years, and releasing them when they are ready. What a fun hobby!

These shots are from several years ago – she said she set free over 650 butterflies! Don’t forget to click for full size photos.

A look at a couple of swallowtails – these are rare to raise:

Here are some monarchs – Amy says these are much easier to raise, and she generally releases several hundred each year:

A few more photos:

So interesting to see what our friends and family are up to. Amy shared a few more interesting photos.

The story about this little guy, from Amy:

“This was my excitement last weekend…a fledgling hawk fell out of the nest that I monitor all the time at the bottom of my driveway. I have followed this pair of parents for years. They mate for life and have a life span of 50 years so we are friends. This little one, not so little, is about a foot and half tall and has a wing span of over 2 feet. So I picked it up and got in my SUV with it and drove down to the base of the tree with their nest, climbed on top of the car, all the while holding the hawk and was able to get it back in the tree…BUT it kept falling out so after about 6 times and just hoping it would survive, it came up to my front door…so I picked it up again and put it in one of my butterfly cages to keep it safe. It never tried to hurt me though it’s talons are over 2 inches. Fed it chicken livers and after a few days of it still not flying, I found a woman who does this. She came and picked it up and when it is ready to fly, she will bring it up here to release it.

What I won’t do for a good time…I would rather stick to my butterflies…”

Never a dull moment, it seems. Amy also shared this photo of Kelly, the love of her life. Amy is the last person you would expect to fall for a small dog, she has always had large dogs that I remember – an Irish Setter in college, many Golden Retrievers (including the parents of our first goldens), and then German Shepherds. Kelly is a heart-stealer.

A few more from her garden:

The last photo brings back memories of many afternoons and evenings, sitting on the patio sipping wine and making up stories. This sometimes lead to Amy and Lou singing while Amy played the piano. This home is located in the Box Springs Mountains in Riverside County. I think it is the only home in the Reserve. From here, we could look down on our house in Riverside – that is a long time ago!

Thanks for sharing, Amy. Glad to see you are keeping busy. We will have to go on another adventure before we all get too old!