Sketching the Pandemic Year week 11 March 8-14
We had made it back home safe and healthy. But the world over the magnitude of the health crisis was just starting to show. Having dodged the virus while traveling, our instinct then was to stay home just to be on the safe side. That meant observing nature in our back yard more closely and there is always something to watch, wonder and learn. The finches, cardinals and sparrows were happily feasting on the crepe myrtle seed pods. We have a table and chairs under that tree where we often lunch or sip tea. I saw these seed pods that fell from the tree - may be dropped by the birds on to the table - with the long dramatic shadows. Researching I found out that crepe myrtles are not native to USA but were introduced from Asia in 1700s. And it is an acquired taste for these birds :)
The seed pods sketches were perfect against the coconut that is from the National Postal Museum- a coconut that was mailed from Hawaii by Raymond Boulder to his wife in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1944 during WWll ! He carved the address on the coconut shell and affixed the postage to a piece of cardboard that was attached to the coconut by a wire !! According to an article in Smithsonian June 2019, apparently there is such a thing as mailing a coconut - at the Hoolehua post office in Hawaii, ‘The coconuts are free, all customers have to do is payoff shipping and the USPS will mail their decorated coconuts to addresses around the world!’ Right now the question is when will we be able to check that out ?
Crepe myrtle seed pods in the sun. Sepia Ink and watercolor by Meera Rao
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