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To live and enjoy every day to its fullest, use my gifts to help others, I travel to wherever passion finds me.

What Will She Paint?

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Friday, March 12, 2010

COUNTING SMALL...1, 2, 3

Some things may seem small to you, but they're big to me. 
For instance I always was interested in fossils and archeological finds. 

Before going into my own story,  some differences between the squid and the octopus.
They are both related to the snail. The squid has a stiff  structure, which is called a pen, and acts as a flexible backbone. The octopus has no remnant of a shell.
They are different in appearance. A squid has 2 tentacles and 8 arms. An octopus has just 8 arms.
They are different in size. An Octopus can range from 1 cm. to 5+ meters long, but a squid can become 20 meters in length.
They each have different living conditions. A squid lives first in schools and becomes solitary later in life and lives in an open ocean. An octopus lives solitary and lives in a den on the sea floor. The latter sea creature can inject poison to its prey, causing paralysis.

On one of the last few visits to San Diego we went to the harbor to take some photos of the Star of India, which is a large sail ship. I saw a man with a wide rim hat at the board walk, sitting at a table full of pendants. I have been looking for pendants for a long time, but most of them "don't speak to me." I like to have something meaningful, if it's hanging around my neck:)

When I came closer and heard the conversations going on from the people standing around, I overheard that they were fossils. He had a few bigger ones that were squid fossils. I decided that they would be too heavy for a pendant. Then he asked me if I was looking for something particular. When I responded that they were too big, he pointed out this smaller one to me. 

It looked like a perfect symmetrical cut of a squid. When it came to paying, I discovered that I had to go back to my car for my purse. I hurried since several people were huddled around the table, intent on purchasing. 

When I came back a lady who had been standing there the whole time, told me that there had been two other people who had picked it up, wanting to buy it, while I was gone! You can imagine that I was now even more delighted! We chatted a while with this well-traveled man who was once a university biology professor. He seemed more pleased that we were interested in the fossils than my purchase. 
I ordered beads from Fire Gems to show off this unusual pendant.

Another small thing but nonetheless very important to me is that one of my lipstick plants had been decimated by a pest to two lone branches last year. I didn't want to throw it in the trash -just thinking about it made me sad. 

By blogger friends I have been told that this plant grows in the wild in Africa. Latin name: Aeschynanthus, and there are about 35 varieties. Oh wonder, It survived the house move last year summer, and  has grown back  within a year to this. 

Great was my surprise that a saw some tiny little buds a few weeks ago, and now there are two branches  blooming. I couldn't be more thrilled about the little (BIG) wonder of nature! 

About the third little blessing I decided to do that in one of the following post, so this one doesn't become too long. Adieu my friends and have a nice weather weekend.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

I enjoyed reading this post. Nothing is nicer than finding joy in seemingly little things.

Diane AZ said...

Beautiful fossil pendant. I didn't know that the squid and the octopus were related to snails. Your lipstick plant is doing so well, I like the close-up.

Midwest to Midlands said...

I've never heard of a lipstick plant before, beautiful!

Stephanie V said...

That pendant is very beautiful. The translucence and the delicate tracery of the squid are so unusual.
I haven't seen a lipstick plant in many years...I'm glad that yours came back to health.

penny said...

Looking at the little things in nature enables us to learn about our past. Great post, Thanks!

Dimple said...

Your pendant is beautiful. I love rocks, and if they have fossils in them, so much the better!
I'm glad your plant has recovered and is blooming; lipstick plants are very interesting to me.
Blessings!

A Lady's Life said...

I love finding things like this.
I think nature is wonderful and I always keep my eyes open for messages our planet sends us.
:)

Rudee said...

The fossil is amazing. I want to see a photo of it hanging from your neck. It'll be beautiful. Are you beading the necklace yourself?

The plant is gorgeous. I'm glad you didn't give up on it.

Irene said...

I killed my lipstick plant and have no idea of how to take care of it, but I have no greem thumb when it comes to houseplants. Your little fossil pendant is nice and it is meaningful. I thought you'd go for diamonds or rubies.

Delwyn said...

Hi jeanette

I don't know this lipstick plant but the flower looks pretty wonderful.

I know of a lipstick palm though...it has red stems.

Happy days

DawnTreader said...

It's a beautiful pendant.
I never saw (or heard of) a lipstick plant before but I know the joy of managing to "save" a plant which you had nearly given up hope of. I can't wait to see if my clematis out on my balcony has really managed to survive this hard winter. Looking at the tiny hints of buds there seems to be some hope for it, but not sure yet.

Jeannette StG said...

Stine,
Glad I gave you some enjoyment Stine:) Those "little" things give life much color and joy!

Jane (Midwest),
I added a little info on my post about the lipstick plant for you and others who may not know this plant:) - in Europe I had never heard about it...

Diane,
Decided to research the comparison about the squid and octopus, when I discovered that I didn't know how the squid was called in Dutch:)

Stephanie,
Thank you, Stephanie -it's very special to me.
It seems that the lipstick
plant is not always available in nurseries. After I killed the first one, it took a few years before they were back in the nursery.

Pam,
You're welcome Pam. Maybe it is later in life that we realize that we are part of something bigger than just our own family!

Dimple,
Rocks -I can't get enough of them LOL (the rocks that are considered jewelry:) ). Since I've heard that there are so many varieties, I'm going to look for some more (and my living room will look like a jungle (smile).

A Lady's Life
So true! We are never finished with learning about our planet! Bytheway, thank you for all the comments on my ART NOTES blogpage!

Rudee,
when it's something simple (no clusters or complicated designs with seed beads or something like that) I like to bead it myself.
Here's another one who's glad she did not give up on something apparently dieing!

Irene,
I killed my first lipstick plant too, but when I bought the 2nd one, I read up on the origin of it, and that helped to take care of it -they need a lot of moisture (in the air).
It may sound very strange, but diamonds do not mean anything to me - I rather have an unusual design than glitter (even though it's expensive glitter LOL).

Delwyn,
It comes originally from Africa, where it grows as a bush. So maybe growers do not import this plant where you live?
Thanks for telling me - I don't know the lipstick palm -gotto look it up:)

Jeannette StG said...

Monika,
Wonder if it maybe too cold for the lipstick plant where you live, since it comes originally from Africa?
Sure hope that your clematis survived the the cold and the snow. If it does, I hope that you show it with the leaves:)

Gary's third pottery blog said...

LIPSTICK plant??? Wow!

Silver said...

I didn't know that the lipstick plant originated from Africa. I did have it before, and like most exotic plants that i have purchased and added them on to my garden, most of them just didn't do that well and eventually died out. But i did have the pleasure of tending to it for a while and enjoyed the beautiful blooms for quite some months.

oh, btw, your fossil find was gorgeous too ;)

love,
~Silver

Zuzana said...

Beautiful pendant and a great story.
I am too very interested in fossils.;)
As for you plant, I had one of these once along time ago. I gave it to my mom when I was moving to the US, but it had white flowers.;)
Have a lovely weekend,
xo
Zuzana

Unknown said...

The pendant is beautiful! This year I "lost" a few plants in January and February due to just not being able to take care of their light needs, but I was not too unhappy, most were plants that I should never have been able to over winter - a 3 year old pepper plant and impatiens.

Jeannette StG said...

Gary,
That's its honest-to-goodness name, Gary:)

Silver,
I have the plant indoors -so I guess even Calif. is not warm enough for this plant. It needs to be misted regularly and watered 2x a week. I love it for its beautiful blooms. Have a great Sunday, Friend!

Zuzanna,
Wow I like to see the one with white flowers!I love archeology because it shows how people of previous civilizations lived!
Hope your weather is good in the weekend!

Joey,
Sad to lose plants...Wow, an impatiens where you live? I never trusted myself with that these beautiful flowers, they wilt so guickly here!

Maria said...

Hi Jeannette, I love the close up of your lipstic flower. It's a perfect picture! Luckily you managed to safe the flower!
Have a nice Sunday!

Kerri Farley said...

Oh it is the little things that means so much! Wonderful blessings! Can't wait to read about the third :)

Jeannette StG said...

Maria,
Thank you, Maria:) Is the lipstick plant available in Austria? Have a good week!

Kerri,
You got that right! The little things keep us happy!
You have a great week!

Unknown said...

No photos of the Star Of India?
What a disappointment this is. :;

Jeannette StG said...

Matthew,
That will come another time, Matthew:) I never knew it is so hard to take good pics of sails till I attempted to take pics of that big sail ship!

Reader Wil said...

How fortunate that your lipstick plant recovered and is blooming again.
Your pendant is very special indeed.