Results of the #Shortdays Challenge

At the beginning of November, I started a #shortdayschallenge on Instagram. The purpose: to increase my appreciation of the blessings of each day--even through the coldest, shortest days. I wanted to avoid my common habit of wishing the winter away, which can mean missing out on little pleasures and living in a sour state of mind for weeks on end.

Did it work? For the most part, I would say yes, posting about a special thing each day helped me better appreciate the season. Admittedly, this particular winter with its deep polar vortex and erratic temperature and weather changes has been tough. But the #shortdayschallenge did help.

Now that the challenge is completed, I'm cutting back on social media for a
bit--not an official break, but a slowdown. I have some good reasons.



One reason is this little fellow--our new little cockapoo puppy, Nicholas. He's really smart and he's catching on quickly to all things puppies need to learn. I'm trying to savor the time with him as a puppy. It will pass too fast.



Also, I need to get going with some seed-starting! Spring will be here before we know it, and I hope to have some healthy starts to plants for the potager garden. Other family events are keeping me busy, too. So, I apologize for not being as attentive with visits and comments on your posts for a few weeks. Time to prepare for the growing season ahead!

My #Shortdays Challenge

Are you on Instagram? I'm finding it's a fun platform for sharing the simple little pleasures of life.

To encourage myself to appreciate every day instead of wishing away and crabbing my way through the winter, I started my #shortdayschallenge on Instagram. I'm challenging myself to post one special thing every day, from November through February.

Feel free to join in! I'd love to follow you on Instagram, too. My handle is @plantposter. What's yours?

It's amazing how special each day is when we make an extra effort to see and appreciate the simple gifts around us.

What Gives You 'Oxygen'?

Common Buckeye

As airline passengers, we're instructed--should there ever be an emergency--to put on our own oxygen masks first before helping others. It's a physical reality that if we can't breathe, we can't help.

The same advice is used in the self-care field to illustrate how we must ensure our own emotional, spiritual, and physical health to be able to help others. All of us face difficult challenges and times in life--times when the burdens, stresses, and sadness are so great that we feel pushed to the limits.

This year has been one of those times for me--the personal and other challenges have been really tough...too complicated and difficult to share here. But we all face these times. Of course, I know I'm not alone--family, friends, and faith provide "oxygen" to help me through. I know others go through these times, too.

Another thing that provides oxygen for me, personally, is chasing butterflies. A few hours of hiking with a camera, snapping photos of butterflies, and later reporting them to citizen science sites can serve as balm to my challenged soul.

This post includes a few of the butterfly photos (and a couple of moths!) I collected during the past spring, summer, and fall. Reviewing them reminds me of the difficult thoughts on my mind as I was taking them. It also makes me happy...because I know how cathartic it was to see each butterfly, and to live in the moment of its unique beauty.

I don't include all the photos here--there were hundreds. Some were reported to citizen science organizations* even though the photo quality was poor. Others, particularly the Monarchs and the Viceroys, were so plentiful this season that I only included a few. Not all the butterflies, nor the photos, are perfect...but that's the point. They were real, they were flying free, and they provided great comfort. I include them here, generally, in order from spring through fall, but not necessarily in exact order. (Click on any image to enlarge it or to navigate through the Flickr album.)

Monarch

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Monarch

Giant Swallowtail

Common Wood-Nymph

Red Admiral

Tawny Emperor

Viceroy

Eastern Tailed-Blue

Common Wood-Nymph

Monarchs

Chickweed Geometer (moth)

Monarch that I raised and released

Clouded Sulphur

Peck's Skipper

Red-Spotted Purple

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Comma

Common Buckeye

Monarch

Red-Spotted Purple

Pearl Crescent

'Summer' Spring Azure

Monarch

Red Admiral

Corn Earworm (moth)

Monarch

Viceroy

Red Admiral

Monarch

'Summer' Spring Azure

Viceroys

Red Admiral

Monarch

Silver-Spotted Skipper

Viceroys

Monarch

Clouded Sulphur

Monarch

Silver-Spotted Skipper

How about you? What gives you "oxygen"?

*Here are just a few of the North American citizen science organizations that welcome reports of butterfly sightings: wisconsinbutterflies.org, journeynorth.org, e-butterfly.org, butterfliesandmoths.org.