Swallowtails

It's not all renovation projects around here, although that is mostly what I post.  We spent part of August and part of September being amazed by caterpillars that turn into black swallowtail butterflies.  It started when the older children found a caterpillar eating the parsley in our garden. We brought it inside and put it in a container. Within a day it had strung itself up and so we just kept it and watched the whole process unfold. We ended up with a total of four caterpillars that survived the process (and we basically ran out of parsley, even though I got rid of a bunch of caterpillars - shh, don't tell my kids!). The pictures below are a mix of those different caterpillars.

This was such a fun activity, and it was initially spontaneous and unplanned. We all enjoyed keeping an eye on the caterpillars, watching for the change and then were excited when each one turned into a chrysallis and then a butterfly. I did not like the decimation of most of my parsley, however. I read that these same caterpillars also like fennel and dill. So perhaps next year I will plant some of those and keep my parsley clear of caterpillars.

Bathroom Final, Finally

We took our time about it, but we've finally finished the bathroom. For a number of weeks, our bathroom was doorless while we had the door and closet door dipped and stripped and then refinished. There is a company just a few blocks away where they dip and strip anything that fits in their tank. We've started to slowly get our interior doors refinished. Two down, about 11 more to go. At least, now if you come to visit us there will be a door on the bathroom!

Here's how the bathroom looks now. We need to put the radiator back in after we freshen up its paint, but that is the last thing to do, aside from some touch-up painting.

Refinished door

We kept the vintage ceiling light fixture.

(No, our hallway is not painted. The trim only has primer on it)

Ahhh, fresh and (mostly) clean. Original sink, new fixtures. Original medicine cabinet, new light sconces. Original wall tile, new floor tiles. 

Original doors, but without all that crazy fake-wood paint.

You know what's fun about this rug and stool? They are from the same company (Ten Thousand Villages), color coordinate wonderfully, but were purchased about 11 years apart. The rug was a wedding present, and I basically picked the bathroom colors because of it. The middle is starting to come apart, so I think some repairs will be in order eventually. I have no desire to replace it, and there is no guarantee I'd find another like it.

And just for fun: the contrast of before and after:

Before:

After: