2023-10-18 07:52:00
Sometimes people believe they are receiving signs from recently deceased loved ones. A flashing lamp, for example. Lamps can flash, but only if they do so shortly after a death will the connection be made with the deceased. Let a lamp flicker… if a deceased person has something to say, wouldn’t it be better to write it down somewhere? Or do something distinctive? But as a deceased person, you may not have a choice.
A neighbor of mine once died in front of me. His widow subsequently received a frog in the house several times and did not rule out a connection. Our blessed neighbor did not see green, jump or croak, but he was bald, so it was possible. Kiss the frog, I suggested…
I recently received this message: ‘This one comes flying out of my mother’s funeral bouquet. It looks like my mom is just fluttering by.’ The sender’s name is Ellis Castel. She sent a photo of a beautiful, large butterfly: an oleander pintail.
Oleander pintails are occasionally seen in the Netherlands in summer or autumn, especially in the south of the country. They are migratory butterflies from Southern Europe. There have been a few more in recent years, which may be due to climate change. But they probably usually hitchhike with flowers. These do not necessarily have to be oleanders. Oleanders are popular with these butterflies as a host plant for their eggs and caterpillars, although according to the Butterfly Foundation in captivity they also settle for periwinkle and privet. As a butterfly, they drink nectar from night flowers, such as honeysuckle.
The butterfly in question spends the day among the flowers of the bouquet and begins to flutter at dusk, her hostess emailed. Oleander pintails are therefore moths, like all pintails.
If you, as a deceased person, have a choice, I would know. After my death I will not become a flickering lamp. I think an oleander pintail is a stylish farewell.
Three times a week, biologist Koos Dijksterhuis writes about something that grows or blooms. Read his previous Nature Diaries here.
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#Farewell #butterfly #Fidelity