The Beast in Question

European Swallowtail, Papilio machaon gorganus
at Windover Hill, East Sussex, 24 August 2013

Here it is - the very Swallowtail that might have eaten Captain Butterfly's leg (had it been a great white whale) and sent him hopping off on his mad quest for vengeance, or at least another even better photo.   He didn't find it. None of them did, as far as I know, but they had a good time trying.

I hope its alright.   Butterflies are much tougher than they look, but nevertheless the world that our first parents' disobedience created for them is full of danger.

Yet this is how it started out:  "And God went on to say: “Here I have given to you all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To you let it serve as food.  And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food.” And it came to be so.  After that God saw everything he had made and, look! [it was] very good." - Genesis 1:29-31

This was not a world in which nature was "red in tooth and claw". It was a perfect world. It was Paradise.  And it will be again.  What else are we asking for when we say The Lord's Prayer?

It was a lovely day. Not warm, but sunny. The Channel was blue with tiny fluorescent white frills coming and going at the edges. I did half an hour on the balcony studying away.  I don't have my 2014 Yearbook and hope to pick it up, along with the next study Watchtowers, at the Hall tonight.  So, hopefully, this is the beginning of getting back to my routine.

I made a big veggie stew, did my studying and talked to Audrey on phone- she is just back from her surgery - aaarrrrgghh.  And read my Celia Fremlin "The Long Shadow".  I was amazed to find her in the library - thought she was out of print.  I hope she is back again, as she writes excellent thrillers, just the sort I like, where the everyday suddenly goes wrong.  Or does it?

She is very funny too, and I must add a couple of quotes to my blog.