A great story about a Monarch Butterfly

All of this garden talk reminded me of my Monarch butterfly story. A few summers ago I unknowingly planted a milkweed plant. One Aug afternoon I discovered a large yellow and black stripped caterpillar on one of its leaves. I cut off a section of leaves and branches (with him on it) and placed it in a glass jar. I was hoping to have it turn into a chrysalis but never dreamed it would really happen, but it DID! Not just for THAT caterpillar but for the 2 dz that came after that. Adult caterpillars kept showing up everyday. My garage and patio had glass jars with caterpillars hanging upside down in them everywhere you looked. My camera was sitting by the door for a month and I was 'on watch' constantly. Throughout the month I captured every phase of the Monarch from a tiny little black speck to a beautiful butterfly. During the month I shared the chrysalis's with my friends children and my grandchildren so they could watch the butterfly emerge in front of their eyes. It is an amazing thing to see. To have the new form dry out and open its wings to sit on my finger for 15 minutes before it takes its first flight was awesome. I took the last one to school in Sept and invited the staff and students to come into the art room to enjoy. This is a painting from a photo I took of this ones first flight from my hand to this flower that was about 2 feet away.He stayed on that flower for about 1/2 hr before he flew away.