Diapause and the allure of a Mexican holiday

Mayflies have a lifespan of 24 hours. It will experience high noon, or the middle of the night just once. Sunrise to sunrise, as the case may be, and one sunset in one's entire lifetime. There would be no other sunsets that it could compare the one it would chance upon with.

Once in a lifetime morning, and if it shines all day that day, it would have no knowledge of rain. Just those 24 hours, the lives of some are over within a few hours.

On certain days, 24 hours would be a video editing session, or maybe a dress rehearsal and fine tuning of the production design in time for the following day's opening night. Other times, that would be two carafes of coffee. a trip to and from the kids' school, three loads of laundry, a lunch of left overs, a trip to the market, another trip to and from the kids' school, a drink, an hour at the kitchen, a dinner, and a night's sleep, then wake up for the... if I were a mayfly, there would be no repeat of those two carafes of coffee.

Koi fish live up to over 200 years. Now I didn't know that. Those colorful fish we throw bread crumbs at at friends' garden ponds, restaurant frontages. That's about five times what I've experienced so far. You can take up medicine ten times and still have a hundred years of medical practice. At what point do they get bored? The first century? The hundred and seventy fifth birthday? It takes me about four to five months to stage a play from the time I come across an existing script that stimulates me to the time the cast takes the last curtain call up here. At twice a year, starting in my 20's. I could have the chance to stage 360 stories on stage.

Monarch butterflies live for just a few weeks month, a little over a month from the egg to the adult stage. They spend most of their lives not as butterflies... that happens only in the latter third or quarter of their life cycle. Now that's interesting.

Yeah, it's never too late.

I read too that monarchs can live up to as much as 10 times their expected lifespan... if they happen to enter diapause and take a winter vacation to Mexico.

Hm.

43, and so far so good. Mexico's too far right now, I'll be fine with a fine sunset, a fine one out of a lot more, I hope.

It's not a Monarch, but a pretty one nonetheless