Random picture thread for Friday

THE STORY OF STUART, THE ADOPTED CATERPILLAR WHO TURNED INTO A BEAUTIFUL HAWAIIAN MONARCH BUTTERFLY

Stuart’s story actually begins in the mid-1800s when his ancestors first arrived in Hawaii as stowaways on a ship sailing to Hawaii.

My own introduction to the marvelous Monarch Butterflies and their Magical Metamorphosis from eggs to caterpillar to pupa to butterfly came at a Midtown Anchorage Rotary Club meeting. Our club had awarded a scholarship to a local Eagle Scout who had just moved to Alaska. We invited him to the meeting to report to us about his Eagle Scout project that had entailed planting milkweed plants in his former state to support the declining population of Monarch butterflies. We learned that these magnificent creatures required milkweed to survive.

Hawaii’s Monarch butterflies differ from those on the mainland in that they do not migrate. Some Mainland Monarchs migrate up to 3,000 miles every few generations in what is termed a “super generation.” This migration can extend from Canada to Mexico. Significantly it can entail more than one generation meaning that the returning butterflies can come from eggs that were laid thousands of miles away from the returned destination.

A shared unique feature of Monarchs is their ability to ingest as caterpillars toxins from the milkweed plants they feed on and then pass on those toxins to the metamorphed butterflies. These toxins in turn are poison to predators helping to preserve the species.

Stuart is the name given by first-grader Kenzo to a caterpillar plucked from a milkweed plant on the campus of Honolulu’s Iolani school. Entrusted to care for Stuart over the Christmas holidays, Kenzo allowed his Uncle Curtis and us to babysit his small charge when he and his family briefly departed from Oahu.

During that hiatus we watched Stuart metamorphosis from a large caterpillar to a smaller pupa or chrysalis. Within this cocoon-like enclosure the caterpillar dissolves and reforms as a butterfly. (This is analogous to the silkworm’s true cocoon that is wrapped with protective silk before metamorphosing as a small moth.)

Stuart’s own transformation into an adult butterfly awaited Kenzo’s return when it was released on the Iolani school’s campus where it returned to the milkweed plant, this time to feast upon the nectar from its flowers.

A Monarch butterfly’s life span in Hawaii can extend for several weeks during which time it will mate and lay its own eggs on a milkweed plant to begin the magical metamorphosis once again.

If you happen to come to Hawaii and see a fluttering butterfly with orange wings, black borders and white spots it may well be one of Stuart’s progeny.

LINK TO VIDEO CLIP OF THE IOLANI SCHOOL'S MILKWEED PLANT WITH ITS FLUTTERING MONARCH BUTTERFLIES FROM WHICH STUART ORIGINATED AND RETURNED:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iG5z1HW23sk

Stuart as Caterpillar:

Stuart Preparing to Metamorphosis:

Stuart's Metamorphosis into a Cocoon-like Pupa:

Emergence as an Adult Monarch Butterfly:

Life today

THIS WEEKEND'S NEW YEAR'S OHANA FESTIVAL HELD AT THE JAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER OF HAWAII

2026 marked the 33rd annual New Year's Ohana (family) Festival which is held on the second weekend of January each year.

As Japanese Americans living in Hawaii and their guests gathered to celebrate their cultural heritage the Center itself opened its doors to the public to experience its multiple cultural exhibits related to the history of Japanese in Hawaii.

In this video playlist watch the celebrants as they gather and then take in cultural exhibits related to home and school as they are replicated to show both as they were experienced by Japanese living in Hawaii in. the early 1900s.

Link to Video Playlist of Celebrants and Exhibits at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLtb5zi734BfbbKU5ucSH2qXXLmx2pJwBw

CONCURRENTLY TAKEN PHOTOS:

The Center's exhibit gallery begins with exhibits relating to the Japanese internment camps of World War II:

The gallery then progresses to replicated home and school classroom as they were lived in and attended by Japanese in Hawaii during the early 1900s:

Celebrants gathered at the Cultural Center for the New Year's Ohana Festival and the nearby Tori Gate, a half size replica of the famous floating Tori Gate in Miyajima.

(It was a gift from Honolulu's Sister City, Hiroshima from which many Japanese in Hawaii trace their ancestry.)