Half Term at Wisley

Captain and Mrs. Butterfly went to Wisley yesterday - but we had failed in our intelligence gathering and not realised it was half term!   The place was packed with caterpillars and - but no, I don't think I can sustain this butterfly metaphor - so there were lots and lots of children in various larval stages with their heroic parents all on a day out to see the Tropical butterflies in the hot house.    We had to queue for nearly 40 minutes just to get in, which pretty much used up my pathetic reserves of energy for the day.

However, the first thing we did was to rescue a butterfly!   I spotted it down a little cul de sac in the hothouse and thought it was dead, but Captain B rushed in and gave it the kiss of life (or something) and we left it looking reasonably happy on a flower, a little out of the general melee.

And I got a chance to talk to a very nice lady who I met when we were both slumped on a bench waiting for our companions to finish their photography.  I was saying how impossible it is to believe that butterflies just evolved.  What, after all,  is caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly but a miracle?

She agreed with me.  And we had a bit of a chat.  And I was able to tell her of Jehovah's promise, recorded in the Book of Revelation, that He will "bring to ruin those ruining the earth".

Apparently the butterfly herds in the UK used to be so large that a naturalist could reach up and bring a whole netful down for his killing bottles.  And I hope once again to see the earth so full of butterflies - although without the killing bottles of course.

I shall ask Captain B to put up his picture with a glimpse of me through a waterfall.  He might caption it:  "More Lovely than Any Butterfly".  Or he might decide to be truthful ("Old Bat in Greenhouse").

Bea moved yesterday, and we hope it went well and did not rain.  It rained a bit here in the afternoon.  We haven't managed to get her on the phone yet.

We woke up this morning to hear news of a massive earthquake in New Zealand.  It happened in the middle of the day and hit the middle of Christchurch.  Casualties are as yet unknown as many are still buried in the rubble.

We managed to get Dorothy on the phone - and she is OK, though shaken.  She has had some damage to her house, and her drive home which usually takes 15 minutes took 2 hours and 15 minutes!

They were shaken by an aftershock while she was talking to us.

There is something peculiarly horrifying about the ground under your feet no longer being stable.

Mick took the group this morning - and he started by reading from Matthew.

"You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet.  “For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages and earthquakes in one place after another.  All these things are a beginning of pangs of distress." - Matthew 24:6-8

We didn't get a chance to talk to anybody though, as no-one was in, except for one of my return visits who said she didn't want us calling any more  (I have only called on her once - and she was quite friendly that time).  But we delivered some of Audrey's magazines for March.