*Painted Lady

PAINTED LADY.

I was in Jersey last week (end of May, 2009) staying with my friends Carrie and Ian. We were graced by the sudden arrival of thousands of ‘Painted Lady’ butterflies, along with the first really warm weather this year. They swooped and flitted around us in a cloud of colour, so noticable in their profusion, particularly around a mass of thistles just coming out into flower.

The Painted Lady butterfly is a long-distance migrant, which causes the most spectacular butterfly migrations observed in Britain and Ireland.

Each year, it spreads northwards from the desert fringes of North Africa, the Middle East, and central Asia, recolonizing mainland Europe and reaching Britain and Ireland. In some years it is an abundant butterfly, (this year) frequenting gardens and other flowery places in late summer.

This year they have arrived earlier than usual and maybe, like all natural phenomena, herald a certain weather condition, hopefully, a good summer!

Ian Currie’s weather predictions for the rest of 2009 – (www.netweather.tv)

“May looks set to be on the warm side. It will turn warmer as the wind turns to the South. In the second half of the month, especially, it will be quite wet with some heavy thundery rain. June will be near average for rainfall and temperature but with a few days exceeding 28 c (82 f). Sunshine may be below average. July will not be anything special. Rainfall will be normal and although the sun may not come out as much as we’d like, some days should see temperatures climb to 28 or higher. August will start with similar conditions to July but the second half of the month will turn warmer and may reach 30 c during the last week which will precede a warm autumn. September will provide an “Indian Summer” at times with a number of days exceeding 21 c. October looks like being a particularly dry month and at times quite warm, with a continuation of the Indian Summer conditions. November too looks like being drier than average but the temperature will be back down to average with frost and fog prevailing during the second half. December will be fairly unsettled. It will be quite mild at first but will turn quite cold in the second half with a distinct possibility of a white Christmas……….”

The Gulf Stream – (www.guardian.co.uk)

The powerful ocean current that bathes Britain and northern Europe in warm waters from the tropics has weakened dramatically in recent years, a consequence of global warming that could trigger more severe winters and cooler summers across the region, scientists warn today. Researchers on a scientific expedition in the Atlantic Ocean measured the strength of the current between Africa and the east coast of America and found that the circulation has slowed by 30% since a previous expedition 12 years ago.

‘The Painted Lady’ was Marie Therese Walter, discovered by Pablo Picasso when she was 17, who then became his model, muse, mistress and mother of their daughter, ‘Maya’.

http://www.pablo-ruiz-picasso.net/marie-therese-walter.php

Maya – As someone who observes synchronicity for a hobby, I was suitably impressed by this fact – the ‘Painted Lady’ was the Mother of Maya, and the Mayan prophecies are foremost in our minds at the moment as they seem to be fore-telling the coming ‘events’ of 2012. Maybe the sudden arrival of these beautiful ‘Painted Lady’ butterflies is just one of those ‘signs’! In the Spirit Animal teachings, the butterfly signifies ‘transformation’.