Do Not Disturb : Morphing In Progress

One reason why I'm so fascinated with caterpillars is their ability to build their own hotel. Okay, I admit, I may be exaggerating a bit but look at how chic that hotel ... I mean... cocoon look. Do you happen to know which caterpillars are morphing in it? Please don't hesitate to write in the comment.

As you probably know and some of you are maybe already experiencing it, autumn has arrived and getting out of the bed is soooooo hard to do these days. Sometimes, I wish I could just use the blanket and curl like they do, build me a cocoon, too, go on in a deep slumber, put up a sign that says; Do Not Disturb : Morphing In Progress and sleep till I could already greet spring.

Unfortunately, I didn't come out of an egg nor a cocoon - so there. This phase of the butterfly's life cycles is what amazes me the most. It sleeps and morphing happens but how? Perhaps someone already posted it out in the net or have studied it in their Biology class and wrote about it but I happen not to stumble into it. It's one of nature's marvel IMHO. If you take a good look at those two up there, you won't be able to tell which butterfly it is going to be yet because it is actually an early stage but look closer and you could see the strips on the wings.

If you have been reading the posts before this, that of the first two pics, it is the cocoon of that of which curled up in front of me. It amazes me how they could morph into something so beautiful as these. I wonder if those three dark spots on the top part of their cocoon are actually their 3 pairs of eyes and those golden spots like dots at the bottom were their many, many legs and all their stripes merged into one. I would really love to know!

Unfortunately, I can't but I actually had a privilege to watch one hatch and come out of its nest back when I was young at my grandfather's house. In one of my grandfather's many land abound Nipa plants which he, my nana and aunt used to make "pawid" as their major source of income. Pawid is the roof of a traditional Philippine House - the "Bahay Kubo" or is it just supposed to be "kubo"?. Though my Papay had many lands he wasn't rich because he let people live on each of them, build their own houses there for free. The only agreement was to give us any harvests or timber or lumber when my aunt and I pay them a visit. They were not poor either. In that land where Nipa grows they would gather so many of them Nipa leaves, saw it with bamboo strips on bamboo stems, dry them and sell as "pawid". I remember buying some of my dresses from the money they earned from it because my folks rarely sent financial aids when I was there. My Papay basically took care of most of my financial needs when I was very very young . I admit, I was a spoiled brat back then being the only grand child there. Too much love could spoil you as a child I suppose but I still won't change a thing in my childhood except for one.

On some days, I would tag along going to that place specially after day care. One day, we found several Nipa stems with gray like cocoons similar to the one below. My aunt plucked each leaf with the cocoon on it and took each home so they would hatch. Nature lover runs in my family peeps.

I remember that she hung them on a wire on top of our bed with laundry clips also made of bamboo. I don't remember how many they were but they were a lot and I remember spending nights staring at them above the mosquito net hoping they'd hatch soon. I remember the first week of having them there not being able to concentrate in school because I was always looking at the clock hoping it strikes lunch time so I could run back home to check whether they have hatched. I remember exactly how excited I felt going back home hoping I did not miss any of them hatching.

I remember being able to see only one of them hatched because back then the house that was burned had very very huge windows which are always kept opened even at night cause back then there were no burglars where we lived. Money grew on trees so no one needs to steal nor covet any neighbor's possessions. The butterfly that emerged from it was green with black stripes on the wings and green dots on the edge of its wings. The rest of them must have hatched while I was in school and found the window in the room. Fleeting would have been a piece of cake.

I remember watching only one emerging from its cocoon with my grandfather and this memory brings back the same feeling I have every October. I know it's still days before the month I was given the gift of life and my grandfather took his deep slumber. Yes, I still mourn deep inside and I still refuse to move on. I guess it's because I didn't have any closure nor was allowed to bid my father's dad goodbye. The only story I remember I was told was ~~ ... in his last breaths on his death bed - he called my name thrice . . . I was seven and my folks decided not to bring me to the hospital where he was taken. (for so many years of my puberty I was angry about it)

I only remember watching him in a trike coming from collecting those Nipa leaves looking all red and having a hard time breathing, my aunt screaming his name, the neighbors, letting down the sacks of Nipa leaves on the road side, my grandmother pulling me by the hand ... away from the trike and the trike taking off to the hospital like a thief that stole my grandpa away. I still don't know what caused my grandfather's death. Heart attack? I only remember us eating chicken and sea food for protein source most of the time. I wonder what happened in that place that triggered it? I guess I would never know.

All I know is, after three long days of waiting for my grandfather to come home - it was the very same feeling I had while waiting for the cocoon to hatch and to finally get to see the butterfly emerging from it.

Papay did come home but in a sealed coffin where in I could only see his face through a glass. The whole funeral which normally takes 9 days in the Philippines, I remember sitting on the coffin all day long and no one could make me budge. It was my very first heartbreak and I haven't move on it still hurts a lot and makes me cry.

I'd like to think that my grandfather is just sleeping and one day ... at the sound of the trumphet of an angel .. he shall rise and emerge like a butterfly and maybe ... whereever he is - it's pretty cozy like where these guys are.

By the way, you realize some of these cocoons are going to be moths ey?

. . . written in loving memory of my beloved grandfather ... Camillo . . .

_{This content's 100% mine , I took the pics with my Samsung Galaxy A3, 2016 and did the drawing on my Note 1 , screen shot it and modified with Paint .}

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Here are my most recent posts: _{**TIP : Don't waste your voting power on posts that have already been paid out. ONLY Upvote POSTS THAT ARE 6 DAYS OLD below.}

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