Look Up
We have been experiencing a stunning fall here in Texas—sunny days in the 80s interrupted by an occasional “cold front” in the low 60s. Yup. My kind of weather.
While I was enjoying just such a beautiful day in my back yard, I saw something clinging to our chain link fence—it looked like a bug, caterpillar thing. Then I saw another and another and another. An invasion was happening. I snapped a picture and posted it on our local Facebook page. Someone quickly identified it as a Buck Moth (so named because they become active at the same time that bucks get interested in does). You can read all about buck moths here.
Once I understood that they were harmless, I started watching for them. The last few days I’ve been able to stand in the middle of the back yard as they fly around me. And suddenly, I was glad that I’d paused to look up from my book, step away from my computer, lay down my knitting, and pay attention.
This Thanksgiving, as we pause to give thanks for all that we have, I hope you have a moment of LOOKING UP. There’s really no telling what you might see.
Blessings,
V
Comments 78
I have noticed, with myself, as I’ve gotten older, that I do alot more of Looking Up. I use to live on a farm with woods with a creek running through them, and I would just wander off into them just looking, watching, and observing my surroundings.
But now, however, I am in the city and find myself looking up more at the stars, moon, birds, trees, squirrels, planes, ect. Just enjoying God’s beauty, including the beautiful white clouds when they are out.
It’s beautiful. I do think I have noticed any in our yard.
Since moving to a small town in the mountains, I’ve noticed that I’m looking up more than I ever did in the valley. I hear birdsong. I look up into the trees to find the singer. I hear chattering. See a squirrel running up the pine tree. The nights are the most dramatic. I look up to the heavens and see a multitude of stars. Occasionally, I am fortunate to see a shooting star or two. Yes. I have learned to look up since moving to the mountains.
I have found myself looking up a lot more as I get older. I miss seeing all the stars in the sky when I grew up in Wyoming on our small family farm.
They are one of the most beautiful moths I gave seen.
I have never seen a moth like that, but it is beautiful. Maybe since I live in
Indiana it is too cold for them. We do have a lot of butterflies here. I
hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of
Jesus.
For me, this time of year involves looking UP to see light. With cloudy days and shorter ones, I appreciate the sunshine when it comes. And the quality of light at dawn or dusk, often tinted by the clouds.
Love butterflies but to cold in Massachusetts right now. I love to look up when it snows. We had snow a couple days ago and it’s 29 degrees right now.
Love your picture.
I love looking up to be reminded of the beauty God has created,
Thanks for the inspiration to “look up”!
Blessings from Florida! 🌞
Looking up leads me to thoughts of God and all things eternal. The beauty that He created for us is everywhere, we only need to stop,ok and enjoy it.
I Love butterflies but to cold here to see them in Nov.
Pretty! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before.
Looked up!!!! Thank you for chance to win your book!!
So beautiful. Too cold here to have moths or butterflies this time of year. I love them. So beautiful. It’s easy to forget to look up when there’s so much going on this time of year. Thank you for the reminder. ❤️
Thank you for the reminder to slow down and look up!
Love this reminder. I have noticed I have been busy on the computer or in the kitchen lately and not taking the time to stop and look up at the beauty around me. And I am normally an avid bird watcher with feeders in the yard. Going to make an effort to look up today.
This time of year I love to look up to see a beautiful sunset or to admire the beautiful clouds.
The beauty in the sky at night when all the stars are out. Too cold for butterflies here now. Happy holidays!
Merry Christmas
I look up to see the night sky.
Marilyn
I always look for the moon when it is time to come up. Also watch for star and planets.
Marion
Cloud formation one early morning just as the sun was rising reminded me of the northern lights without the color was so cool.
I love to look up at the stars and make a special wish!
I once had 4 large Luna Moths land on me, it was amazing! All Creation is beautiful!
Always looking up to see the stars and the sun. So appreciate sunshine whenever we can get it in the winter months. One more thing I like to “Look Up” is any of your new books. So appreciate all your books. Thanks.
it’s beautiful and one I’ve never seen before.
Do you guys get the butterfly migration that goes through San Antonio? I’m originally from Houston and never in my life did I imagine butterflies migrate. When we moved to San Antonio over 12 years ago I was shocked by the swarms of butterflies that would come through. I’m guessing the Buck Moths are migrating too given you’re suddenly spotting them. After my first couple of migrations I completely related to a meme I saw of a one year old girl standing behind the wheel of a car with tears in her eyes. It said something like, “me driving through migrating butterflies.” There really wasn’t anything you could do like dodging them, but I would definitely drive slower. We moved out of state 2.5 years ago and recently I was thinking how we are missing the migration.
Author
WE do sometimes see the butterfly migration. A few years ago, I was hiking in Colorado Bend State park, which is near where we live, and we happened into a lot of them. It was truly amazing.
I enjoy watching the activity at my backyard bird feeder all year long. Sometimes we have rabbits and squirrels eating the seeds that fall from the feeder. I love watching the squirrels run though the tree branches and chase each other. They are easier to see now that most of the trees are bare.
The idea of “Looking Up” is so appropriate for so many reasons. This fall I have been purposing to look away from my phone and computer and to get outside more. I am working on not only looking up, but looking out at all of creation is at my eye level and all that my eyes scan as I look out. When i stop to ponder the truth that the Creator God made all that my eyes can take in for my enjoyment. I cannot help but be filled with praise!!!
Thank you for a year of good reading, Vannetta. It’s nice to know that I can recommend your books to anyone and know they will enjoy them. May you and your family enjoy the blessings of Christmas and a wonderful 2022.
Blessings,
Maureen HP
I love looking up and do it a lot! Living in the country, you would miss a ton of things if you didn’t look up….plus, you might get yourself into some problems if you didn’t look up! I have never seen these moths before, I don’t know if we have them here in west central Illinois. I need to do some Googling!
As the song says, Look Up, Fear Not. The star is still there.
Those are so pretty. I love watching for wildlife in my yard and I feed the birds just so I can watch. Looking up is a very important thing to do. Blessings
I love to look up at the cloud formations on a slightly cloudy day, and as the days grow shorter, I’m enjoying looking up at the stars as 6 o’clock draws near.
It is amazing what you can see when you look up. Or down. This week I was looking down and saw a snake in my kitchen. I think the cat had brought it in. It was very much alive. I was thankful that I was looking down and didn’t step on it.
I like to look up and see a beautiful sunset.
Looking up presents so many possibilities. Merry Christmas to all.
I’m enjoying my Christmas decorations and reading.
Merry Christmas to all🎄
What a great reminder. It seems I go in cycles of remembering to look up (picture Charlie Brown looking up at the stars in the night sky). Others times I get sidetracked with reading, tv, crocheting and life. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Look up a lot when I’m driving…love the clouds and the sunsets!
Am going to start reading “An Amish Baby for Christmas” (my first Christmas book of the year).
Know it will be good because you wrote it Vannetta! Have a joyous Christnas!
I love looking in the sky at night but haven’t been doing it much cause it’s been pretty cold and rainy.If it’s snowing I like to look at the snow coming down I live in battle ground Washington and we usually don’t get much snow but Last year we got about two feet and couldn’t get out of the house in the cars so my brothers would drive the snowmobiles to town.I also like looking at the clouds and sunset.
I look up all the time. I always did, but more now since my husband passed away in March. I also look up for eagles, birds, etc.
Author
I’m sorry for your loss, Sally and praying God’s peace and mercy for you during this time.
One of my cherish memories growing up in the 50’s was lying in the grass with my siblings looking up at cloud formations and seeing all kinds of things, from animals, birds, faces, you name it and we probably saw it. No electronics to distract us, so our play was fueled by our imaginations. To this day I still look at clouds to see what shapes are there.
Your blog made me smile. My husband of 45 years passed away this year. One of our favorite pastimes was looking up and searching for dragonflies and butterflies. Even though it is cold here now, I still find my self looking up. It is an awesome reminder of him, and God’s blessings of the years we spent together.
Author
I’m so sorry for your loss, Brenda. May you feel and know the peace of Christ during this difficult time.
It’s amazing how the stress melts away when we focus on the beautiful sights in nature! Thanks for painting this lovely picture.
My husband and I have a huge picture window and French doors onto the patio at the back of our home. We love to look out and up to our bird feeders to see which birds and, unfortunately, squirrels are feeding there. We also have many potted plants on our patio that attract butterflies, birds, and squirrels. So, we are constantly enjoying both the plants and the members of the animal kingdom that are flitting around our backyard. Occasionally a cat, a raccoon, or a possum will parade through our backyard as well.
We live in a flying community in Florida, so I am always looking up at all of the airplanes flying around.
I enjoy ‘looking up’ from reading to see the different birds that come to my bird feeders. My daughter has ‘accused’ me of becoming an old lady since I have begun to watch and comment on the birds! Ah well, her time will come. LOL. Thanks for sharing your picture and, of course, your talent!! Your readers love your books!
I also live in the Hill Country. The hills are beautiful and a lot of trees have changed colors, a beautiful red and orange. Thanks for the picture of the buck moth which I have never seen before. Enjoy preparing for Christmas.
Looking Up to God, especially during this trying time of the pandemic.
I need to look up more now than ever. I lost my husband to cancer in August. I been so heartbroken.
Author
I’m so sorry for your loss, Brenda, and I’ll be praying for you especially during this holiday season.
As I live in a small village in the bottom of the mountains, I love looking up….watching❤️
My family says my head is in clouds, because I know to just watch for hours. My surroundings, the sky, the forest in my backyard where my reading chair is. We don’t have moths like this beauty, but we have a lot of birds and squirrels that I enjoy watching.
Nature is such amazing and wonderful.
I’ve Enjoyed All Your Books. After Working A Full Day At Being A Care Giver For A 95 Year Old Man I Love To Relax Reading The Amish Books. Thanks For Writing Them All. Can’t Wait To Read More.
As others have said I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a Buck moth either – thanks so much for sharing the photo! Must have been a stunning drama to watch these beautiful creatures emerge and alight. Over the years I’ve enjoyed all of your books, always eager to read a new one. We have an increasing population of Amish folks moving into parts of our state and I’ve enjoyed shopping their stores, reading quilt and Amish fiction and learning about their lives and traditions. Please keep blessing us with your writing – you take us to a world we don’t get to experience often, if at all. GOD bless you!
I love reading fiction! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
I live in Central Texas and have 5 acres and find myself looking up quite often. I look up to the Heavens to thank Him for the sun beating down on my face, the feel of the cool breeze and stars. I try daily to take time out of my day to just step outside or look out the window and gaze at the beauty around me instead of the books, computer screens, tv and phone. Thank you for sharing your talent with us. You are a blessing. Wishing you and your family a very blessed and Merry Christmas.
As many deer as we have here, I have never even heard of a buck moth. I did read about them and they are very interesting!
And I agree that we need to stop sometimes and just take some time to look up. Pay attention to the beauty that God created. We miss out because we don’t pay attention. Thanks for the reminder Vannetta!
We have the bucks but not the moths. 🙂 With the leaves gone from the trees in the midwest, it is easier to see what is in our fields and trees. We can see hawks waiting on a meal or a rare treat is an owl. We even have migrating sandhill cranes – which one really has to look up for.
It’s amazing what I might see and hear out here in the country when I take time to pause,
be still and look up.
It is sad that we sometimes get so involved in our daily grind that we forget to look up. I used to let worrisome things bog me down when I worked full time. I am retired now and have more time to look up, confer with The Lord, notice the small things that make life so magical.
I love to look at the beautiful sunsets
I heard a chattering bird this morning, and looked up to see a hawk sitting on a light post, and the chattering bird sounded like it was telling the hawk off! There have been some beautiful sunrises in my part of NE Ohio recently!
If we slow down and look up or around there are some pretty amazing things that are missed with all our rushing around. I am anxious for the goldfinches to return. I have their feeder ready!
I seen a black catapillar the other day when it was warm
I always find myself looking up Love The Picture Merry Christmas and Blessing to you and yours!
Thanks for sharing. There is so much beauty to look up and see. I find it so peaceful just by taking the time to look up and all the beauty that God created for me to enjoy. As I get older I appreciate it more and more.
When I was younger, I always enjoyed looking up and observing the beauty of my surroundings. Now that I’m getting older, I do find myself wanting to observe again. Like the saying goes, “Stop and smell the roses, because you never know what you might miss.”
Beautiful picture! These days I spent more time looking down instead of up. 2 years struggling with a persistent voice problem, unemployment issues and disliking holidays took its toll on me. Christmas is especially hard with my family shrinking every year (older cousin passed away this July) even though I speak to my older brother in Texas every month. For some reason looking up results in more unhappiness. Wish pictures like this were more frequent in my life right now.
Author
Praying that you have a special Christmas, Jolene and that you are feeling better soon.
Looking up from doing something has so many benefits and joys. I have always looked up and it has become more of a habit for me nowadays with all the craziness going on in the world. I have found myself looking up to the sky a lot while taking my 10 month old Australian Shepherd/Black Lab mix outside. While I wait for her to do her business, I enjoy looking at the clouds and talking to God and myself (yes, I talk to myself and yes, I answer myself sometimes…lol. It gives me a peaceful few moments in my day.
I LOVE TO LOOK UP AND SEE HOW THE CLOUDS ARE FORMED IN THE SKY AND HOW BLUE THE SKY IS
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR ❤
We have been seeing some migrating birds here in Northwest Florida. My husband spotted huge flocks of birds that turned out to be white pelicans. So fun! We also had a visitor to our bird feeders. I looked him up and it was an immature male Rose-breasted Grosbeck. We see an occasional Swallowtail Kite. Merry Christmas blessings to you and your family.
God brought me to PA Wilds just over two years ago, not far from Cherry Springs SP, an international Dark Sky Park. I look up at night at the ‘stars’ and wonder God’s name for each one…