Tomorrow night 11/15/2024 will be the peak of the last super moon of 2024. (AI generated image)
The chill in the air today gave me hope that our winter will be memorable.
The beaver prepares for winter. It builds a dam and stores up food. Here it looks to be praying by the water, asking the moon for guidance. This month’s full moon is named in its honor.
This reminds me of the new Reservoir Park in Loudoun County, which is a partnership between Loudoun Water and NOVA Parks. It is situated on the southeast side of Beaverdam Reservoir. I have not yet had a chance to visit it this year. I will have to put this on my 2025 list of things to do if I do not get a chance before then to visit it.
My hope is that the sky will be clear of clouds tomorrow night. It is raining now and expected to continue through until morning. Shine bright Beaver Moon!
Sweet olive flower artistically designed as a drop earring. I imagine it can whisper.
Osmanthus fragrans is its scientific name.
This flowering plant is native to Asia from the Himalayas through several provinces in China, Taiwan, southern Japan, and S.E. Asia as far south as Cambodia and Thailand.
In China, it is the “city flower” of several cities, and in Japan it is a “city tree” of several prefectures.
In Chinese mythology it is said that it grows on the moon. Wu Gang was a Chinese character who is known for endlessly cutting it down. It is seen as a divine punishment for him because this “self-healing” Osmanthus could and would regrow an equal amount every day.
I was inspired to look up this flowering plant when I saw this pair of earrings today. All the information here I have gleaned from Wikipedia. The picture has been edited from a picture on the Etsy website. Wikipedia did not suggest this flower can whisper. This thought came from my imagination, and when I read about the mythology, it confirmed to me it must have magical powers. Ha!
I even looked to see if I could grow this fragrant flowering plant in my garden. I think it needs a slightly warmer garden zone than where I am located. In the future when I get the chance to seriously renovate my garden, I will explore this possibility again.
This is an AI generated image. The prompt was “general dynamics artificial intelligence.” I was curious how AI would picture artificial intelligence.
I pass Sally Ride Dr. almost every day I drive home. Occasionally I take a different route. This past Friday I finally wondered what was located on this road. I looked it up to discover a General Dynamics location was there.
I knew the name Sally Ride because she was an incredibly accomplished woman who worked for NASA as an astronaut for several years. She had a long and impressive resume. Sadly, she is no longer alive, though her legacy lives on. Today I discovered one of her projects which coincidentally is specifically for middle school students. Here is the link: https://www.earthkam.org/about .
The name of this drive has been in my mind all weekend. I learned that Dr. Sally Ride graduated from Stanford University in 1973 with a double major in Physics and English. She continued at Stanford, earning her Master of Science and doctorate degrees in physics in 1975 and 1978. In 1977, Ride answered a newspaper ad placed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
After learning this I think they should rename the road: Dr. Sally Ride Dr. This would make me smile.
I am a little hooked on using the AI image generator. I wanted a picture here, so I indulged my curiosity. Here it is alone at the office working unassisted.
As we enter September, the relief of cooler weather will arrive. This morning the thought of apples came into my mind. Fall is full of festivals and apples in Virginia.
I stayed up late last night finishing the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I picked it up Friday at a thrift store along with his book, The Girl Who Played with Fire. After finishing his first book, I will have to wait to read his second. The book is a thriller, and it took my mind into a horrible darkness that can reside within some humans. The dragon theme has now been fully played out. I am ready to move on.
Twenty twenty-five is the year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac. Perhaps this thought brought apples into my mind.
Moving into the theme of apples, festivals, and love brings my mind into much lighter territory.
The apple is also a symbol for education. Out of curiosity, I asked the AI image generator for an apple cut into fifths. Here is its first attempt. I realized I needed to be more specific. I asked for one apple cut into equal fifths. Finally, I asked for the heart of an apple. The image above is the result. This is my favorite.
Carmen and me. Picture taken in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Carmen worked for my parents in Cuba, the place where I was born. I do not remember her since we left when I was only one. I have a vague memory of waving to her from a car when my family and I were leaving Cuba. However, I cannot say if this is a real memory or one picked up from a picture.
I was told she tried to cornrow my thin white blond hair that stood straight up like static was hovering over my head. She was unsuccessful in her attempts, though my hair did eventually settle down like in this picture.
I was told that Cuban black beans and rice was my first solid food. Carmen labored to push it through a sieve to make it like a mush that a baby could eat.
For years after we left Guantanamo and Carmen behind, I would request for my birthday meal – black beans and rice with bacon or pork added when I was older. No sieve was needed by then.
By the time I left home for college, this tradition had been dropped.
The squeaky toy you see in the picture above failed to capture my attention. I seemed to be focused on the off camera scene. Carmen’s dress looks appropriate for a U.S. naval base.
When I was five and living in Newport, Rhode Island, I had to go before a judge, in his private chambers, to become a naturalized citizen. My parents were not allowed to be present during his questioning. Both my parents were American citizens, and we were living on a military base, so this seems strange to me. When I was a much older adult I was informed by a Department of Motor Vehicle employee that this was no longer a requirement.
“The lehua is the first tree that springs up from a recent lava flow. It’s for that reason, when we speak in Hawaiian and we speak of people who are skilled, strong, and beloved, they’re often referred to as pua lehua, or lehua flowers. They like the lehua, have a kind of resilience, a strength and a grace about them.”
written by : Kalena Silva, University of Hawaii Hilo Professor of Hawaiian History
I have been on a part-time web quest of Hawaiian botanical plants this week. It all started when I read in the news that May 1st was Lei Day. This is a Hawaiian cultural event. I had heard of lei before, though I never knew they had their own day.
When I first looked up the word "lei" in my dictionary (to see if it had a plural form) I discovered the word "lehua". Subsequently, I learned about the Ohi'a lehua tree (scientific name: Metrosideros polymorpha.) What struck me with resonance was the fact that it is a species of flowering evergreen tree in the Myrtle family (Myrtaceae).
This reminded me of the Myrtles in my own family. Since Mother's Day is coming up in the middle of this month, I decided to revisit and honor my mother and her mother, Myrtle, and a surrogate mother of sorts, Great Aunt Bess. In honor of Lei Day, I belatedly show them wearing their lei during their visit to my mother living in Hawaii at the time. (mid- 1950's)
My mother is in the middle, and to her right is her aunt Bess, and to her left is her mother, Myrtle. All of these were strong and resilient women. All three worked hard throughout their lives. They all had grace and gave generously of themselves. Bess taught me to read, using phonics, during the summer before I entered 1st grade. She never married, and was a school teacher her whole adult life until she retired. My mother taught me many things, and thanks to these 3 women I had no college loans to pay off. My grandmother, Myrtle, made many clothes for my sister and I. She made sure we had nice looking clothes to wear when we were children. In my mind, all three of these women should be called ‘pua lehua”.
The cleavers, also known as sticky willy, was running wild with an invasive power, trying to smother everything in its path in and around the raised beds.
The dirt under my fingernails is evidence of my rescue efforts early this morning. The Hostas and dwarf Nandina are safe for now.
A large trashcan is now full of goose grass, another common name for sticky willy. It has even more common names.
Its scientific name is Galium aparine, and it is an annual herbaceous plant.
It is claimed to have many medicinal purposes, and this was interesting to read. However, I have neither the time or inclination to learn and practice herbal medicine at this time.
My time schedule is currently full. I was lucky to squeeze in the time for early morning weeding.
When I was done weeding I spent a few minutes enjoying all the blooming azaleas in my garden. (I have posted a few of them.)
Then it began to rain.
Not all of the cleavers is gone. There is some left for the butterflies and moths to enjoy. I will have to watch it so that it does not overrun its neighbors.
Mercury Man Sam came into my mind early this morning on his liquid silver wings. He has a charming gaze and his eyes are full of wit, though I never could tell Whether he was mocking me or not. As the day progressed my mind cleared itself of the memory of mercury wings. I have decided he held no malice. He will always be remembered for his brilliance.
In other news, the white Christmas cactus in our front window is in full bloom this morning. Its name is a misnomer because it will bloom whenever the conditions are right.
On the other side of this bay the white orchid has ten blooming flowers. The peach orchid has two. The peach one put on its full show in March.
This white orchid has 10 flowers today. The peach one (not pictured) has 2.
Every time I looked out my kitchen window today, the air was alive with flying helicopter seeds. What maple tree was shedding these is unknown to me. All maples produce these helicopter seeds, including the silvers and reds. They are also known as whirligigs and twisters, and a few other fun nicknames. Samara is an official name for them,and in Hebrew it means "guardian."
I prefer to find the dry ones that have landed on open ground. This way I can have fun launching them into the air for a second or third flight. Maple seeds evolved to have wings in order to increase their chance of procreation. They need to fly to get out from under their parent's shade.
The spiral of the snail shell can symbolize eternity & family ancestors.
I wrote the above title back in 07/28/2015. I remember it because I had used it as a profile quote at that time. I had written a post pondering the concept of speed and pace in different individuals. "Slow and steady wins the race" is the motto I need to live by these days. I have not always been this way.
It is human nature to compare things, however, we must be strict in allowing individual styles to pace themselves whenever possible.Life should not always be about competition. Everyone cannot run at the same speed because we are all built differently and have developed differently, molded by our environmental stressors. Our brains process things at its own built in speed, and the speed of its overall biological systems. We have to stop thinking that slowness is inferior. Slowness can be a hidden strength in the long-run.
movingforwardslowly 