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Weekly Photo Challenge: Color
Sometimes, Mother Nature supplies all the color you could possible want.
Tropical Orchids – Missouri Botanical Garden 2013
Photo © Arele 2013
THE RUNNER-UP
When I was picking out a photo for my WORDLESS WEDNESDAY post today I was looking for something that would brighten up a rather bleak and bland late winter day that was being punctuated with intermittent snow showers. My first choice was this photo.
It’s a picture I took a couple of weeks ago during a visit to the Missouri Botanical Garden. While most visitors were concentrating on the superb annual orchid display, I stepped out to visit the Linnean House.
(Built in 1882, the Linnean House is the oldest continuously operated public greenhouse west of the Mississippi River.)
Every February, the camellias that grow there are in full bloom. 
And since the camellia is the floral symbol of the Chinese New Year, I wanted to capture a few pictures of them. 新年快乐 Even though the official New Year celebration ended two days ago. So why did the camellias come in second to Mlle. Renee and the gladioli? Well, I thought Renee told a better story without words for Wordless Wednesday. BTW, my original title of the photo with Renee smelling the glads is TAKE TIME TO SMELL THE ROSES, which really doesn’t make any sense at all.
THE ROAD TO MADAGASCAR!
Yesterday, my longtime friend Bill and I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s 2013 Orchid Show which was themed MADAGASCAR. Madagascar is a tropical island country in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, and many artifacts from that country were displayed among the exhibit of orchids. Enough for words, check the pictures. You can enlarge any picture by clicking on it.
It was really a fantastic exhibit!
BEYOND The Photo Challenge Post
This is the photo I used for this week’s photo challenge which was supposed to represent my idea of BEYOND. It has always been one of my favorite photos. And I took it a couple of years ago, when I revisited the Missouri Botanical Garden for the first time since I was a kid. During those early visits I was with my parents and I went where they wanted to go and saw what they wanted to see. On my own, I was able to concentrate on the things that interested me. And one of these things was the Fountain Angel by Raffaello Romanelli.
According to the MOBOT guide: Water flows from ewers in the angel’s hands and originally spouted from four dogs’ heads at the base.The figure may represent Persephone, queen of the underworld, guarded by the dog Cerberus. Originally the sculpture stood in front of a marble column with overhead basin at the Skinker Avenue entrance to the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition (The Saint Louis World’s Fair). At the close of the fair the statue moved from location to location into the park where unfortunately it became the target for vandals. Then it was put into storage until 1975, when it was restore and reinstalled next to Henry Shaw’s Tower Grove House in the Garden.
Since this was after my childhood visits to the Garden, the statue was something totally new to me.
THE OTHER CONTENDERS: Before I committed to using The Fountain Angel for the BEYOND challenge, I had considered three other photos.
1 – Beyond The Looking Glass Darkly
This is a photo I took of myself in the Modern Art Galleries of the Saint Louis Art Museum. It was my reflection in a ginormous sheet of black glass or lucite. I don’t know what it was supposed to represent, but I though of Lewis Carroll’s strange adventures of Alice.
2 – The Light At The Top Of The Stairs
Another photo taken at SLAM (Saint Louis Art Museum) on the ascending West Staircase from the classic Chinese/Japanese/Indian Galleries and going BEYOND to the world of Modern Art. I also had considered a descending version with an arched picture window view of the outside parkland.
3 – Beyond Today To Yesterday
This is an image taken in the historic Free Flight Aviary at the Saint Louis Zoo. I shot it through a porthole in a stained grass panel. It captures a recreation of the Cypress Wetlands in the Mississippi Valley of yesteryear. The Aviary was the largest free flight bird-cage ever built. 
It was built by the US Government for the Saint Louis World’s Fair of 1904. When the fair closed, the Smithsonian planned to disassemble it and then reassemble it in Washington, DC. The people of Saint Louis shouted FOWL, and the government relented and sold the structure to the city for $3,500. And so, it’s still stands here for all to see 110-years later. For FREE, too!
So, which of my four choices most says BEYOND to you?
Weekly Photo Challenge: BEYOND
In a new post specifically created for this challenge, share a picture which means BEYOND to you!
I had four photos that I felt expressed BEYOND to me. I kept studying for a while, and I kept being drawn back to this one. It’s a photo of 19th century sculpture of an angel that flanks the Henry Shaw mansion in the Missouri Botanical Garden. The photo was taken on a sunny summer afternoon, but I thought the play of shadows from the trees and the highlights supplied by the afternoon sun gave the sculpture an etherial, other worldly quality … a mysterious step beyond the world in which we live. The gardens are a great place for just sitting around and just reflecting.
VIEWING HINT: Click on the photo to enlarge the image and check out the base of the statue to really go BEYOND.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Illumination
SHARE A PICTURE THAT MEANS ILLUMINATION TO YOU
Last summer the Missouri Botanical Garden in Saint Louis featured a special exhibit of giant illuminated Chinese Lanterns. Awesome by day, they became awe-inspiring when they were illuminated after dark. The above lantern was created from re-used medicine bottles. The exhibit was a sellout every evening.
Very illuminating!
CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL … LIGHTS OUT FOR THE GRAND FINALE!
Thankfully, there are a lot of benches around the MOBOT grounds for foot-weary visitor who have completed the 2.5 mile trek around the grounds viewing all 26 lantern creations. The break was also necessary because we’re still in the midst of summer days, and the MAGIC can’t start until the sun has set which in garden time is about 8 pm. Also those in the know didn’t start showing up until shortly before eight. We had decided we weren’t going to repeat the entire trek around the garden, and we were just going to revisit a few of our favorites we wanted to see illuminated. Don’t forget you can enlarge any picture by clicking on it.
It was a great presentation and I encourage all who can to visit it — it will run up until August 19. Dining from 5:30 – 8:00 in the Sassafras Cafe/Visiter’s Center and from 6:00 – 10:00 at the The Lantern Festival Food Court in the Linnean Plaza.
CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL – ACT TWO
If you’ll remember, yesterday’s post left us resting on a Victorian bench in Mr. Shaw’s front yard drinking Ice Mountain Water and catching cool breezes before starting on the second half of our trek through the second half of the Chinese Lantern Festival.
We begin with GODDESS BLESSING BUDDHA …
And move on to THE FIRST EMPEROR’S QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY …
Next up is an illustration of a fable about the creation of the Milky Way THE DOUBLE SEVENTH FESTIVAL – cowherd boy marries weaver girl without asking mom who is the Goddess. Goddess gets pissed and brings girl back to heaven. Boy keeps looking for her so mom creates a wide river (aka. The Milky Way) to keep them apart. But one night a year … the seventh night of the seventh moon … all the magpies on earth fly up to heaven to form a bridge so the two lovers can be united.
From heaven we encounter THE FLYING APSARAS …
The next stop is THE FOUR FACED BUDDHA … even though you can only see three.
THE BUTTERFLY LOVERS illustrates the century old Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet …
Next is a gigantic panoramic lantern NINE DRAGON MURAL …
THE HEAVENLY TEMPLE …
THE COLORFUL FLOWER … leads us to the Garden’s official Chinese Garden …
And JIANG TAI GONG FISHING …
Then on to the BLISSFUL WEDDING that reminds me of a Chinese Small World.
Which brings us to the last lantern … QILIN which is a rare creature made up of many animal forms both real and mythical. The lantern Qilin is made up of many recycled glass bottles.
But this trek isn’t over yet … come back for the GRAND FINALE when the sun sets and the lanterns light up!
THE CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL – ACT ONE
Well, since it took me two days to get through the 150 pictures I took during my four hour visit to the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Chinese Lantern Festival on Thursday … this post will not only a day late, but also be sent in two parts on two days.
The Lantern Festival is this summer’s featured attraction at the Garden, and on Thursday through Sunday is has special evening hours (6 to 10) where you can view the lanterns in both daylight … and once the sun sets with their own inner illumination. Oh, and by the way, these are not your ordinary hardware store lanterns, these are the same kind of massive illuminations that were created by Chinese artisans for the Summer Olympics in Beijing four-years ago.
You get an idea of what to expect when you drive into the Garden’s parking lot and come face to face with this block long dragon. (Note: you can view any photo in a large size by clicking by clicking on it … and still larger by clicking on it a second time.)
DRAGON EMBRACING THE PILLERS The Garden’s central fountain features a large dragon surrounded by four fish like dragons …
… at each corner of the reflecting pool.
LOTUS FLOWERS and LOTUS PONDS
The Garden’s Central Axis features a face off between two PORCELAIN DRAGONS …
Both dragons are made from porcelain plates, bowls, cups and saucers … about 45,000 to create each dragon.
This SAIL BOAT was made from reclaimed plastic bottles.
And if you follow the MOONLIGHT PATHWAY …
You’ll discover the PANDA’S PARADISE!
Who doesn’t like cute little pandas?
But even better than pandas, we noticed Mr. Shaw himself offering us a chance to sit down and take a break. In case you didn’t know, this is Mr. Shaw’s garden. He built it around his home, and when he was done enjoying it he left it to the people of Saint Louis to enjoy forever.
And what better place to take a break — the second half of our trek continues tomorrow.
... a somewhat unknown or perhaps imaginary actor, writer, director, producer, photographer, friend, brother, uncle and all round good fellow that you really should get to know because he lives with that most glamorous fourpaw Mademoiselle Renee. (Mlle. Renee for short)
