Hope you all had a lovely Labor Day weekend, and are all rested up for September.

Yesterday was a really relaxing day, and had some beautiful and surprising moments.

I had found five Monarch caterpillars earlier in the summer, put them in the butterfly tent and fed them until they went into chrysalis so they would be safe from predators. Well, yesterday my first beautiful butterfly, a girl, emerged and after hanging and dripping and unfolding her wings, we released her and waved good-bye because she was very eager to go.

This morning another butterfly has emerged, and she's a girl, too. She'll rest and drip until her wings are completely dry, and then off she'll go, hopefully to make her migration down to Mexico.

And in a really fun moment, yesterday at dusk we saw two of the three feral kittens outside playing with the does in the backyard. I'd never seen this before and couldn't believe it, but the kittens were stalking, pouncing and teasing the deer, who were puzzled and wary and didn't quite know what to do. They went nose to nose with two does, who became completely unnerved and left the yard!

I was worried for a while, watching it, because I was afraid the does would stomp them but it never even came close to that. Whew.

I went book shopping yesterday too, some research, some pleasure. Can't wait to dig in.

We also got our first dumptruck load of wood delivered last night, and I'm really looking forward to hauling and stacking it. I don't know why -- maybe it's the excellent exercise -- but it also signals a shift in seasons, another new beginning and I like that.