Category: Uncategorized

Pua Lehua

“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”.

April 2024 Garden Update

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.
Kleefkruid (Galium aparine) (1596 – by Rijksmuseum is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Elemental Mercury Wings

Christmas cactus blooming in April 2024
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.

Maple Helicopters

The maple helicopters were flying today
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 Only Supreme Tempo is One’s Own

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.






An Elephant Foot and Footprint

Scientific name: Beaucarnea recurvata.
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.

March 2024 Garden Update

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.

Hippocampus Secrets

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.

National Aquarium

SMILE

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.