Although it’s been a dry summer and monarch sightings have been sparse here at the Farmstead in central Maine, these amazing pollinators continue to stop by to visit, lay eggs on our milkweed plants, emerge from their chrysalides, metamorphose into monarch butterflies and fly off on their annual migration to winter inMexico, where their life cycle will begin again next spring… ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author and monarch butterfly advocate
A writer inspired by nature and human nature

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Comments on: "Silent Sunday – King of the Castle" (51)
Hi Bette- I’ve been wondering why you stopped writing blogs. How have you experienced metamorphism lately using butterfly talk.
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Thanks for the note, Jim. Taking a break to concentrate on family and health issues… Will get back to posting one of these days. Appreciate your thinking of me. ❤ Wishing you a Ruth "Happy Travels" and a blessed and beautiful holiday season, my friend.
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Happy Holidays Bette
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Beautiful capture…..I love this photo and thanks for sharing!🦋
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Thanks for your visit and note, KaLena!
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Thanks for sharing, Bette. Lovely captures by Chris. Really amazing close ups. Great that some friendly ones have stopped by to visit, though few. May you get more monarch sightings soon. Hope you are well 😊❤
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Thank you, Mabel! 💞 Blessings and well wishes to you, too… xo
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Bette, astonishingly beautiful photos of the Monarch butterflies. I so enjoyed the post and photos. Have a grand week ahead. oxox
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I’m with you, Mary Ann. Chris’s monarch photos are amazing! ❤ Wishing you and yours a grand week too. xoxoxo
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Butterflies are so difficult to photograph. Excellent work by Chris. Thank you for our well wishes. We are enduring thunderstorms, downpours stopping and starting. oxox
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So gorgeous, Bette. I love these butterflies, and what a great description ‘king of the castle’.
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Thanks so much, Norah! ❤
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You are welcome, Bette.
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What a beautiful picture, Bette.
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Amazing photos from Chris! Thanks for the visit, Jacqui.
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Beautiful
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Thank you.
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Thank you for sharing wonderful pictures!!.. glad that you have Monarchs… haven’t seen any here so far, use to have hundreds of them… but change is the law of life and perhaps they chose another path and hope it is for the better!… 🙂
Until we meet again…
May your day be touched
by a bit of Irish luck,
Brightened by a song
in your heart,
And warmed by the smiles
of people you love.
(Irish Saying)
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Hi, Larry! Have only sighted 16 monarchs so far this summer… It’s been so dry that the milkweed and other blooms are pitiful. We haven’t seen many bees either. May the prospects for creatures great and small improve as we seek to preserve and protect. ❤ Thanks so much for your visit and lovely note, my friend. May your blessings be bountiful always! xo
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Wonderful photos! Excellent shot! Cute butterflies! Thanks for sharing 👌👌
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[…] Silent Sunday – King of the Castle […]
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Such gorgeous photos, Bette. I’m glad you were able to capture them!
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Chris did a spectacular job! Thanks for stopping by, Jan. ❤ xo
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Beautiful, Bette!
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Thank you, Jennie!
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You’re welcome, Bette!
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Beautiful photos, Bette. ❤ ❤
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They are amazing! ❤ Kudos to Chris. Had to share!
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Beautiful photos, Bette. We got turned down when we asked to make a butterfly garden, but Gene is busy sneaking butterfly bushes and milkweed into the woods and meadow anyway. Maybe when the homeowners take over the HOA in a few years. Right now we have to kowtow to the developer.
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Thanks for the update, Noelle… and special thanks to you and Gene for lending a helping hand as you can! ❤ Sending lots of love your way and wishing you both a blessed and beautiful day! xoxo
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You, too!
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Beautiful! Thanks for sharing Bette.
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Thanks so much! ❤
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Gorgeous!❤️
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I’m with you, Jill! ❤ xoxoxo
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Incredible photos. It’s so fascinating to see butterflies pollinating plants while drinking their nectar.
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Kudos to Chris for taking and sharing these wonderful photos! ❤ Thanks for the visit and note, Pete.
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I am glad there are so many people in the USA who are interested in conserving these butterflies, Bette.
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Me too, Robbie… ❤ Thanks for your support!
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I actually saw a couple of tiger swallowtails this summer, but no monarchs. I don’t know if this area was ever home to many of them. If so, it was before I move here. I hope them will come back. We have a hideous garden FULL of butterfly weeds. Good thing the birds like the seeds too!
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It’s been a crazy year for gardens and pollinators here too, Marilyn… Normally, there is not a day from May to September when we don’t spot a butterfly or two or three or more–not this year. I’ve only sighted 14 Monarchs to date. They’re sipping on phlox now–which was very late to bloom and blossoms are not as bright and extensive as usual. Cheers and best wishes to all of our amazing pollinators. We need them to survive! ❤ Sending lots of love your way! xoxo
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I love the monarch photos, so regal!
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They sure are amazing! Kudos to Chris for sharing. ❤ xo
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A great pictures, so detailed.
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Thanks for the visit and lovely note, Bridget! Have a blessed and beautiful day, my friend. ❤
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Such beautiful photography. It amazes me that they travel for such a long distance for the winter.
Have a fabulous day and week, Bette. Big hug. ♥
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Our monarchs, like Chris’s beautiful photos, are amazing! ❤ Feeling the love and sending bunches back to you… Thanks for the visit and lovely note, Sandee. xoxoxo
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Your Silent Sunday was spectacular, Bette. Love the king of the castle.
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I’m with you, Rebecca. Chris’s photos are absolutely amazing! ❤ xo
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The butterfly closeups are amazing, Bette. Now to read the post. . . .
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Thanks, Marian. Was delighted to find this wonderful post to share and to greet three more monarchs in our garden today, ready to begin their long journey to Mexico. ❤ xo
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