Eden and Heaven

 I don't think anyone has covered this, but why is heaven so good when we have the Garden of Eden. Disclosure, I don't believe in god, I'm not some U.S. atheist who was balls deep in the church before crashing out. I was the typical births, deaths marriages type of ex godshagger with a bit of Sunday school thrown in, because my mates went there. 

I say this because I've been musing on such things as late. Why is our supposed destination either Heaven or Hell and not the Garden of Eden, instead. 

Looking at the relevant passages in Revelation, it just details what kind of semi-precious stones the walls and foundations are made of, and blabbers on about gold and angels. There is a total absence of life, an aseptic, sterile, paradise where you'll spend eternity praising god and watching those burn for eternity in Hell. 

At least hell is honest, an eternal punishment in fire and darkness, Heaven is just the same but with wealth and light instead. The Jehovah's witnesses get it sort of right with a mix of building site and petting zoo where the people of all nations get to toil endlessly with Jesus. 

Like I say why not Eden when you die. A garden is something that gives life rather than a city of gold in the sky. We were kicked out for eating the tree of knowledge, but I see that as no barrier. We die, we are reborn and if god is in heaven now, surely this is a place for us.

For me, I always said this, give me all the things I never got in life and set me up there for a normal lifespan and then when I die there, either give me oblivion or reincarnation knowing I shall return there when I'm dead, as a reward for enduring the mortal realm.  

Necrolog. Marmalade.

 You may wonder who this is or even why this gets a blog post. Well the reason is our picture of the cat with the crown added in MS Paint is of Marmalade the cat from the popular channel Cole & Marmalade. 

He always was the goofy one from the show and there's a popular clip of him having his mind blown by a money box. Cole died a few years back and in a weird kind of irony both him and Marm passed away on the same day. There's an official obituary video from their owners, which, as a former owner of a ginger cat, hits hard. 

Me, I hope he's with Cole cross that Rainbow bridge.

I would have entered that tiger's den, but then I took a arrow to the knee. 

Oh, in a related note, a guy was mauled to death by a tiger up north. He was, as in most of these cases a Schizophrenic, but that doesn't stop the Mail from saying that he could have been influenced by playing... Skyrim. It's a tragic case and doesn't help when you have cunts like Trump making AI content of him palling up with a Tiger. 

BTW I've played Skyrim, enough to get a thrall (Lydia) and a demon dog and a place to live in IIRC Stormguard (the big city near the start), all the stuff my autistic ass doesn't have IRL. But, yeah, go with that line about Skyrim being an influence.  Oh and online.

Menorca pt3 The rest of the jam

 So, finally back home after two weeks away and already wanting to go back. The reason why is simple, it feels like home. Seriously if you've ever seen the east coast of England* it reminds me of this. An extensive dune system with a few wetland bits including a lot of Ducks and other waterfowl making their presence known on the beach. 

This is representative of  what you can see

 Got pecked by a bastard of a goose when I went to take its photo and it pecked mum when she was giving out bread. That and the storm was the low light of the holiday, though. 

The upside is that there is a lot of great scenery here, thanks to sensitive dune restoration, they've been stripping out the Carpobrotus that normally infests the shoreline and letting the native plants grow. 

Quite a lot of Clouded Yellow and Hummingbird Hawkmoth flying around which was nice to see as both are rare in the UK, and when it rained we saw a tortoise out for a stroll. 

Alongside the cats here, the most prevalent things as I've mentioned before were chickens. Crossing the road as in the old, unfunny joke. Sitting on the roundabout, but mostly situated throughout the dune scape and at any point in the day you can hear at least one cock crowing. 

A handsome boi

They never venture onto the beach, which is the ducks domain, but elsewhere, pretty much rule the roost.

Nice dual set up with our hotel with the main part holding reception, bar and restaurant and our bit the gym and an abandoned reception and restaurant, which I got to walk around, though not sure I was strictly allowed in. 

We looked out over the football pitch and the outdoor bit of the gym so at any given time some one is either hammering the exercise bikes or playing football. 

Pools were cold compared to the sea but at least walkable for those who are tall enough, with a small pool for the kiddies and such. 

The upshot of this is we are seriously considering going back next year when its the high season.

Menorca pt2

 This is just another stupid update. Weather has taken a turn for the worst, we have a storm, well some flashing in the sky and no thunder. Still hate it, mind but as storms go this is about perfect for me.

Menorca pt1

 You have another low quality blog post until we're back. But, can say, I've been enjoying this holiday so much more than the last. It helps that the last time I was here was 30 years ago.

Memories being limited to seeing a Kingfisher for the first time and my first praying mantis. Apart from that... No recollection at all.

Oh and getting bubble bobble PT 2 for Gameboy in Ciutadella (not a patch on the original).

So far, am really enjoying it. A lot of chickens for some reason and cats.

Would revisit 15/10

Blackwing Puzzles.

This is it the last of the British Hardys* and quite the contentious one at that. This is the book I should have started with back then, as it covers another of my special interests. Butterflies. If you're wondering what I did start with, that would be book 7 The Melted Coins. 

Contentious, how you may ask? The boys are called to an old mansion out past Bayport bothered by a flying ghost, the owner was a man called Moray Thaw, an old slave ship owner that bought up the mansion that was a stop on the underground railroad leading runaway slaves to a new life in Canada and the non slave owning northern states. 

I could see this being cancelled by some weirdo lefty types but that would be a shame, as its very good. Also its highly likely he was done in by his former crewmates after ripping them off and running with the money. 

The butterfly angle of course is Chet's new hobby and along with an enthusiast Drexel there is a reward up for a missing Cethosia myrina specimen. The weird ghost machine is based on another butterfly Prepona deiphile and a item of jewellery found is also based on this species. Finally a few species are mentioned none can really tie down the location of Bayport as they have a wide range over the US. These include the Great Spangled Fritiliary, the lovely Great Purple Hairstreak and mentions of the **Camberwell Beauty aka Mourning Cloak which is a bucket list item for me to see. 

You can read the US and UK versions here and here, though there are no differences between the texts.

Edit Links now live, 

*Danger on the Diamond is actually the final book released here.

** One of those species that is said to come in low numbers in the UK but our winters are too wet and mild for them to overwinter. I sub to a few migrant lepidoptera groups and have never really seen them show up. Striped hawkmoths however. . . 

Kew and the Titan

 Don't know if I've posted this but, its been an exceptional year for plants, here, especially at Kew, where they've had not one but two Titan Arums flower. 

I've seen both but came too early for the first, as I could only get the day off a few days before it opened, but a Facebook notification got me to see the second bloom, as they posted on a Friday and said it'll be open for the next 24-36 hours. 

So we decided to head on down to West London and have a look. A disclosure for those, I also wanted to have a butchers at their Agave montana which was also going to flower, but am far too early for that, its in the same general area but outside near the alpine house. 

Love that this is marked as the Agave Death bloom

There's another Agave in bloom this one is marked as X Leopoldii and Wiki has it as a hybrid between filifera and schidigera. You can see that outside the front of the Princess of Wales conservatory.

x leopoldii in bloom

The Titan itself is of course inside the tropical zone and while over now, is huge. I'm guessing at most 3m / 10ft 5 tall but can see it easily over 2.5m 8ft. I couldn't determine a smell but supposedly its bad, and the typical rotten meat stench to bring in the pollinators. More on that below. 

Amorphophallus titanum 

You can't go all this way and not check out the arid zone, especially if your a cactus nut like myself. A few mesembs are out including a Lithops and one of the shrubby Cephalophyllums but the two I'm singling out are the popular starfish flowered Stapelia grandiflora and the unknown Pyrenacantha malviflora.

Couldn't smell this one either, but you get the idea.

I'm guessing this is what was going on inside the titan arum, but made more clearer to see from this Asclepiad (and on a much smaller scale). The flower attracts flies to pollinate it and while it doesn't have the size advantage of the titan or broadcast range, this will still bring them in the dry South African desert. 

Not to be confused with Pyracantha or firethorn

This Pyrenacantha was also flowering, but this weird caudiciform hasn't got much in the way of flowers, those long catkins are what passes for its bloom. You can see the fruit form in the corner and from what I've read could be viable. It may need a male and or female or its flowers could be Bisexual (having male and female blooms on the same plant) its not clear.

With the main halls done, I had a look outside before taking the long bus ride home back to the suburbs. 

Jackdaw, not common in London