The Owl and the Pussycat

 

The Owl and the Pussy-cat

By Edward Lear

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five-pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, "O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

II

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl! How charmingly sweet you sing! O let us be married! too long we have tarried: But what shall we do for a ring?" They sailed away, for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-tree grows And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood With a ring at the end of his nose, His nose, His nose, With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will." So they took it away, and were married next day By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dinéd on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon, The moon, The moon, They danced by the light of the moon.

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What I was ruminating on is the fact that an owl and a cat have the same distinct profile if they are both "just sitting there".  One is an avian.  One is a feline. It is another cosmic conundrum and it cannot be by accident.  Even the way that they blink their eyes is similar.

 The fact that a mammal and a bird can sit in a dark forest, look almost identical in outline, and fill the exact same soulful niche in the nighttime world suggests a singular, shared source of life. Like the "individual electric sparks" Corelli described, the cat and the owl are simply different expressions of the exact same divine imagination, poured into different vessels of fur and feather.

Whether one sees God as the brilliant cosmic engineer behind the laws of nature, or as the poetic spirit woven through the beauty of a twilight forest, looking at the silhouette of a cat and an owl reminds us of a fundamental truth: there is an extraordinary, orderly magic to existence that constantly invites us to wonder, What if?

What If

 "What if you slept? And what if, in your sleep, you dreamed? And what if, in your dream, you went to heaven and there plucked a strange and beautiful flower? And what if, when you awoke, you had the flower in your hand? Ah, what then?"

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Hummingbird and the Hummingbird Moth

 The parallel existence of the hummingbird and the hummingbird moth provides a beautiful foundation for a theological postulation.

In mainstream science, this phenomenon is known as convergent evolution—where two completely unrelated species independently develop the exact same traits because they are adapting to the same environmental challenges.

But if we look at this through a philosophical and spiritual lens—the kind of grand, cosmic perspective Marie Corelli herself loved to explore—we can construct a compelling argument for the existence of a Divine Creator.

The Visual Parallel

Take a look at how remarkably identical these two entirely different creatures appear when they are at work:

The Hummingbird Moth. Source: Sander Meertins / Getty Images

The Hummingbird. Source: mbolina / Getty Images

Here are three distinct arguments postulating the existence of God based on these two remarkable creatures:

1. The Argument from Cosmic Blueprints (The Divine Template)

The hummingbird is an advanced vertebrate with bones, feathers, a warm-blooded metabolism, and a complex avian brain. The hummingbird moth is an invertebrate with an exoskeleton, scales, and a completely different evolutionary lineage.

Yet, when you watch them in a garden, they are virtually indistinguishable. Both hover perfectly in mid-air, both move in erratic, lightning-fast darts, and both use a long, needle-like apparatus to drink from deep tubular flowers.

A teleological argument (an argument from design) suggests that this is not a coincidence or a random accident of nature. Instead, it implies the existence of a Master Blueprint. It postulates that the Creator conceived a perfect, beautiful archetype for "the consumer of nectar"—a combination of hovering grace, precise speed, and delicate elegance—and loved that specific design so much that He painted it onto two completely different canvases: once as a bird, and once as an insect.

2. The Argument from Divine Extravagance (The Aesthetic Creator)

If the universe were governed purely by cold, unfeeling, utilitarian survival, the moth could have evolved many simpler, less flamboyant ways to feed on flowers. Crawling into them, or biting through the base of the petals, would require far less complex physics than beating wings at up to 85 times per second to hover perfectly still.

The fact that the hummingbird moth exists alongside the hummingbird suggests a Creator who values beauty, harmony, and poetic repetition over mere functional efficiency. It implies an artistic Intelligence that takes joy in creating echoes throughout the natural world, delighting the human observer with a grand, recurring theme of life.

3. The Unification of the Microcosm and Macrocosm

In many spiritual traditions, God is understood to be present in the smallest details just as much as in the grandest structures.

The hummingbird represents a masterpiece of the higher animal kingdom. The moth represents a masterpiece of the insect world. By weaving the exact same magical behavior into a tiny insect and a larger bird, the Creator links the lowliest crawling things of the earth to the creatures of the sky. It postulates a unifying force that binds all tiers of creation together under a single, brilliant style.

To encapsulate: The hummingbird and the hummingbird moth are like two different instruments—say, a violin and a flute—playing the exact same complex, beautiful melody in perfect synchronization. The existence of that shared melody strongly suggests the hand of a single Composer who wrote the sheet music for both.

A Very Unusual Town

This is It! Key Lime Pie

 I have been searching forever for the Key Lime Pie that I ate every day in Marathon in the Florida Keys. A no frills deli carried it. It was sooo delicious every morning frozen.  I have finally recreated it. It is super easy and no bake. This is it:

one fresh lime; zest and juice

one 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

2/3 cup Nellie and Joe's Key West Lime Juice

one 8 oz. container Cool Whip softened

no crust

Combine everything in a big bowl and transfer to a tin pie plate. Freeze overnight.

Enjoy!

Prize Winning Key Lime Pie

 

Ingredients

The Crust

• 1 ½ to 2 cups graham cracker crumbs

• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

The Filling

• 2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk

• ½ cup full-fat sour cream

• ¾ cup Key lime juice (such as Nellie & Joe's Key Lime Juice)

• 2 large egg yolks

• Zest from 1 lime (or key lime)

The Fresh Whipped Cream Topping

• 8 ounces heavy whipping cream, very cold

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 3 to 4 tablespoons powdered sugar

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Instructions

1. Prep and Bake the Crust

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

2. In a bowl (or food processor), mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until combined.

3. Firmly press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of an 8 or 9-inch deep-dish pie plate.

4. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes until just lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.

2. Make and Bake the Filling

1. Keep the oven temperature at 350°F.

2. In a stand mixer or a large bowl with an electric mixer, combine the sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, Key lime juice, egg yolks, and lime zest.

3. Beat on medium-high speed for 2 full minutes until the filling becomes noticeably thick and smooth.

4. Scrape the filling into your cooled crust.

5. Pro-Tip from the Chef: Place the pie plate onto a baking sheet before putting it in the oven (this protects the pie from accidental thumbprints when you pull it out!).

6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. It is done when the edges are set and the very center only wiggles slightly when shaken. Do not let the top brown.

3. Cool and Chill

1. Let the pie cool completely on the counter for at least 30 minutes.

2. Transfer it to the refrigerator to chill for at least 3 hours before serving. (Colleen notes that cold air falls, so placing it on the very bottom shelf of your fridge will help it set the fastest!)

4. Garnish and Serve

1. In a chilled mixing bowl, whip the cold heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks begin to form. Add the vanilla extract and powdered sugar, and whip until firm.

2. Scoop the whipped cream into a pastry bag with a decorative tip (or just a Ziploc bag with a corner snipped off) and pipe it onto the chilled pie an hour or so before serving.

3. Finish with a light sprinkle of extra fresh lime zest or graham cracker crumbs across the top.