Before Easter I was researching palm plants because I was curious about the use and meaning of palms at Easter. Along the way, I discovered the plant seen above. This came to my attention because one of its common names is Ponytail Palm. It is not really in the palm family. I prefer to call it by another of its common names which is Elephant Foot. I ended up purchasing one because it is an attractive addition to a table in our living space.
While doing this research I also learned a little more about a quilt square I found among my mother-in-law's quilt supplies and fabrics. It was in a plastic bag with a note from where she had purchased it. It was made by a Hmong artist who had immigrated to Minnesota.It is pictured below.
Hmong elephant’s foot print on a flower cloth (paj ntaub).
The elephant foot motif can be found in many cultural items of the Hmong. Some have this motif as a tattoo.
This was learned during my casual research for my own edification, and I am definitely not an expert on the subject.
When I think about elephants I think about their strong matriarchs that can make or break the success of their family units.
Elephants keep crossing my path. Recently my husband bought me a bracelet with elephants and amethysts since it is my birthstone.
I am not going to read too much into the elephant symbols frequency in my life. I do come from a family of strong women, and I will leave it at that.
The Japanese Cherry trees are blooming early. The pink in front is very old.
When looking out our front bay window, all we see is pink covering the branches. It spreads dominantly across our view.
The white cherry in the back garden are daughter saplings from the older trees that had to be cut down. The fluffy white spreads out joyously, fulfilling their family legacy.
The little dwarf iris you see here were planted as bulbs long ago. Six were planted, though I never see more than two or three.Their bloom is brief. These two were spotted early morning on a dreary rainy day by the mailbox.It was voting day, and I had an early morning errand to run. Their appearance cheered me up. My reward for such an early morning.
The Camellia japonica is named "Kramer's Supreme". It is planted in the back garden in front of my bedroom window. This past Friday I spotted the first fully opened flower. I cut the branch to bring the flower inside to spread cheer and beauty to us all.
There used to be a National Aquarium in Washington, D.C. It was located at 1401 Constitution Ave., Washington, D.C. It was permanently closed September 30, 2013. Fortunately we were able to visit it before it was closed.
I was especially drawn to the seahorses. Their bright yellow coloration made them stand out in the dark. The pair stayed close to each other and often wrapped their tails around one another.
Since this time, I have learned that the scientific genus name for seahorse is called Hippocampus. In neuroscience the hippocampus is a structure hidden within our human brain. We have two hippocampi, one in each cerebral hemisphere. The hippocampal neurons string together the past and future in our minds. It forms part of our limbic system which is associated with hunger, pain, pleasure, satisfaction, sex, and instinctive motivation. I imagine the hippocampus holds many secrets.
Another resident of the D.C. aquarium was this sea turtle. I imagine it also holds some secrets somewhere, though it does not have a hippocampus in its brain, nor do the seahorses from our seas.
The other day I was sitting in one of my classes, that has the chairs arranged in a big circle without desks, and I looked across the circle and a beautiful blue National Aquarium sweatshirt caught my attention. I had recently spoken to the girl wearing it. She reminded me of a girl that was in one of my classes years ago. Not only does she look similar, she also has similar mannerisms and speech patterns. I had asked her during our previous class if she had an older sister. She said, “no”, and she added, “I am from Peru.” I smiled at her and told her she reminded me of a former student.
Her sweatshirt brought back to me fond memories of my family’s numerous visits to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland. It is located about an hours drive from our home. We had been members at one point in time since we went about twice a year when my daughter was younger.
I had purchased a few souvenirs over the years since their gift shops are very nice and help to support the aquarium. Here is one of my favorite purchases which I still wear to this day. It is one of my favorite work-around-the house shirts. At the time of purchase I had recently completed the whole series of Harry Potter books written by J.K. Rowling, and therefore I felt as if I needed to purchase this Hairy Otter shirt. It makes me laugh.
As you can see, it has been well worn, and it will continue to be worn.
One of my favorite attractions at the National Aquarium was the Dolphin Show. The dolphin picture posted above is from a visit during the year 2010. Here is another picture from the same visit.
National Aquarium, Baltimore, Maryland in the year 2010.
I believe they did away with the show venue in 2011. Today in 2024 they still have dolphins, but the experience has evolved into something other than a show like above. I read that their hope is to return all the dolphins to the sea by 2026..
Seeing the student’s blue sweatshirt has inspired me to make plans for us to go and revisit the National Aquarium in Baltimore. It has been too long since our last visit. I hope we can see the dolphins again before the year 2026.
Love grows all around, though some seeds sit fallow in the ground. This red dahlia was grown in honor of my husband since it bore his name. Is this lovely butterfly a Viceroy or Monarch? Whichever one it is does not matter in its taste for nectar.
This picture was taken outside the door at Meadowlark Botanical Garden in Vienna, Va. I think the year was 2011 (Update: I went back to the original file. This picture was taken 10/12/2008)
Here is the picture of the succulent wreath that was my inspiration for my 2023 holiday wreath. I found the picture today.
I still plan to improve on my own wreath-making. My second wreath will be more seasonally appropriate. Wish me luck.
2/11/24– Today I decided to include a picture of my 1st attempt at a succulent wreath. My next attempt will not be holiday themed.
"Sing and dance and scrapbook is all they know how to do." This sounds wonderful to me. This movie is upbeat and funny. "No troll left behind" is the king's motto. Poppy is very pink and perky. She bubbles over with optimism.
To tell the truth, I have not watched it all closely with my full attention. However, its music and songs have been drummed into the background of my brain. Currently, my daughter does not want to watch anything else. She shakes her head and sings at the top of her voice, "Put your hair in the air!" I would highly recommend this movie for family friendly entertainment. I went looking for my old troll doll. It had green hair and never any clothes. I played with trolls long ago. They are timeless.
This past year has been a year of emotional growth for me (yes, even at my advanced age.) Here is a picture of me when I was anywhere from 1 to 3 months old. My sister here is 2 years older than me. I had to laugh when I saw it in my father's slides. She does not look too happy to have a baby sister. I amazingly sensed her emotion and put up protection to my face. (Smile) To be fair to my sister, I can never remember her actually hitting me. I always looked up to her and adored her.
I still play with the numbers during my idle time. I was doing that today while I was waiting for something. I have previously written about the numbers 226 or 622 because these numbers connect me to my father. What I have never mentioned is the fact that all three of his children had the same due date two years apart.(1955,1957,& 1959) February 26th was the auspicious day. His first child, my brother, was born early, his second child, my sister, was born late. His third child, me, was born right on the due date. If you go 9 months back in time you arrive at graduations. I never could connect it to an important event in my parents' lives since their wedding anniversary was in early September. Oh well, all of this is history now.
I am ready to move forward into 2024 with patience and resilience. My daughter's favorite radio station's motto is "Always encouraging", so my daughter repeats this frequently...echoing the words. This acts as my constant reminder that we should always give hope, confidence,and courage in our spoken words, and we should follow through in all our actions.
The other day when I was at a store doing self check-out I was encountering a few problems. There was a young man waiting patiently behind me at a respectful distance. I smiled at him and I thanked him for waiting patiently. He smiled back and responded, "Take your time." His graciousness was greatly appreciated by me. I would like to pay this forward and work on patience with everyone I encounter in my daily life, and always be encouraging. This is my biggest goal for 2024. I do plan to work on other goals...always being patient with myself.
In search of some unique jewelry gifts for my daughter, I have been going through boxes of inherited trinkets and beads. I rediscovered some crafting supplies I purchased long ago. Re-using & re-designing is a earth friendly practice I like to employ. My mother had a very long white stone necklace with black fabric spacers. It was ugly in its original design, not to mention the length made it too heavy. Since I am a scavenger at heart, I disassembled a part of it to re-use. The necklace fasteners I found in my old crafting box became useful. I chose the one that had an upbeat message: "Peace begins with a...Smile" Possibly in the upcoming new year I will get back into jewelry crafting. Below are a couple of pictures.
P.S. Another interesting find is an arrowhead charm. I think it is made of petrified wood.
Today I have been thinking about our visual culture. The images that have come into my mind are the ladybug, Ruby Gillman- The Teenage Kraken, and the Chinese Zodiac Dragon. Out my window are the real life images of the birds that make our garden their home. I have been seeing more dark-eyed juncos. These come and stay in our garden for the winter months. Some call them the snow birds. The females and males are colored differently. The picture here is a female dark eyed junco, and the males are a darker gray almost black. I began seeing them around about a month or so ago. Today there are several of them out around our bird feeders. It is raining and they do not seem to care if it rains or not. I think they prefer snow. I am still hoping we will see some of the white stuff this winter. Traditionally February is our snowiest month here in northern Virginia.
Here is a ladybug image from my garden long ago. Ladybugs or Ladybirds have been associated with the Virgin Mary by some people.
movingforwardslowly 