In the beginning (moths)
![Image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzDtCkzaLPOlWxIPtWSd5QDrG1AiwHUB1kinJvwo7NoMQcqfZazV5jZmiZmwcsy8z6sVbtb07GXvyhS_PWLPhPZGGvf1c3M7P-cOLTsRhWqUde6eMriaGz5hVlasX0aQ9n0TJ5t87Sa4_ZhAFSiqB_rO2T1jMcVgoyhySixDXsyBwq2ggt30bK56Hashcf/s1600/ElephantHawkmoth01.jpg)
The first moth that I have any recollection of appeared as if a short, stubby, pink cigar, hanging onto a pile of freshly laundered clothing that was spilling over the top of a washing basket. At first I wasn't sure what this 'thing' was - a medley of pink bubblegum and mossy green - was it really a living thing and not some toy misplaced by a younger sibling? But on closer examination it was real enough. It moved. And it had wings. Even then, without any known education or experience, I somehow knew that this was no butterfly but a moth. It was the summer of 1973 and I had no real interest in natural history, but that was about to change... As if priming me for what was about to unfold, a second moth came to me that summer. A big thing, all chocolate brown discs on a white background, with splurges of orange. Two moths and two absolute belters. I needed to know more. And so, like so many schoolchildren before me, I sought enlightenment via one of the ubiquitous Observer Bo