Tag: Patchwork
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The Reindeer
Long before the tales of Santa Claus, images of the flying reindeer had been etched onto the Bronze Age’s stones, scattering across the deserts and steppes of western Mongolia and stretching into the Altai Mountains and up to the border of Manchuria in the east. On these stones depicted the reindeer with its antlers reaching…
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The Juniper Tree
I was following the pack, all swallowed in their coatsWith scarves of red tied ’round their throatsTo keep their little heads from falling in the snowAnd I turned ’round and there you goAnd Michael, you would fall and turn the white snow redAs strawberries in the summertime.– Fleet Foxes, White Winter Hymnal Since it was…
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Neptune
The planet Neptune is the farthest planet orbiting the Sun and is invisible to the naked eye. In 1613, Galileo Galilei had mapped the planet with his telescope, but he mistakenly perceived it as a star, even though he appeared to observe that it had moved relative to other fixed stars. Rather it was unexpected…
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Mercury
Across cultures since ancient times, mercury has been a substance of fascination and immense utility. Being liquid and shiny, it was commonly known as quicksilver and was associated with the fastest planet, which was named after the Roman god Mercury. In Greek mythology, Mercury is equivalent to the god Hermes, who was the “soul guide,”…
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The Cat
Ever since the Stone Age the cat has adopted man for companionship. In an excavated grave in Shillourokambos, Cyprus were found skeletons of a cat next to a child’s, dated 9500 years ago. That Cyprus has remained separated from the mainland since its formation suggests humans brought cats along with them to the island. Unlike…
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The Dragonfly
The Brazilian poet Mário Quintana was quoted to have said, “Don’t waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come.” As a gardener, I can say that birds will come as soon as there’s a slightest sighting of fruits, flowers, a water puddle, or even just freshly tilled soil, but it’s…
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The Black Gold Bride
“Who can find a good woman? She is precious beyond all things.” Prov. 31:10 A masterpiece of the world’s heritage, the Taj Mahal is considered the greatest achievement of Indo-Islamic architecture. Its rhythmic architectural combination of solids and voids, concave and complex, light and shadow is perfectly symmetrical and harmonious. Its elements of lush green…
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Portrait of A Lady
Your thighs are appletrees whose blossoms touch the sky. Which sky? The sky where Watteau hung a lady’s slipper. Your knees are a southern breeze — or a gust of snow. Agh! what sort of man was Fragonard? — As if that answered anything. — Ah, yes. Below the knees, since the tune drops that…
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Cupid & Psyche
“O latest born and loveliest vision far Of all Olympus’ faded hierarchy! Fairer than Phoebe’s sapphire-regioned star Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky;” –John Keats, Ode to Psyche First appeared in Lucius Apuleius’ novel The Golden Ass in the 2nd century CE, the story of Cupid and Psyche was the latest born among the…
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The Snake
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”Genesis 3:4-5 Thus Eve eats the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,…
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