Butterfly

Our neighbors have planted a lot of flowers that attract all different types of butterflies.  The only flowers we have are the ones that grow on the weeds so we weren't expecting too many butterflies to stop by for a visit.  We actually found a butterfly cocoon on the underside of our bench out front.  We looked it up and it belongs to a monarch.  It is very unique; so much so that it isn't even called a cocoon it is a pupa.  The difference is the covering- this one was a hard jade colored exterior with gold trim.  It was actually quite pretty almost like a pendant that a woman would wear from a necklace. 

By this time the butterfly was about to hatch so it had taken on a much darker color than the original light jade.

If you click on the photo, you can actually see the wings through the covering which is the sign that it will hatch soon.