Memories

Poppies in Bloom! week 25, 2021 by Meera Rao 

The spread on my upcycled Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2021

We recently returned from a trip to the UK. While we were there, during early November, we saw 'Poppy Appeal' to benefit veterans and their families. My research showed that the use of poppies to commemorate veterans not only in the UK but also in the USA & Canada began after World War 1.  An American woman, Moina Michael, was inspired by a poem, In Flanders Fields, by Canadian soldier-physician Major John McCrae in 1915, began wearing poppies every day as a symbol of sacrifice by the soldiers.  Soon, poppies became the symbol of remembrance of the lives of soldiers lost in wars. It's a coincidence that the page from my 2021 upcycled Smithsonian Engagement Calendar, which served as my pandemic diary and was long overdue for its place on my blog, had a sketch of the poppies from our garden. 

The Smithsonian photo on the facing page is of Tropical Harvest,1973, a design by Suzie Zuzek for Key West Hand Print Fabrics, Inc. It is now at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Museum. 

Poppy table at Edinburgh Railway Station, Scotland, Nov 7, 2025 photo by Meera Rao

 Nature's Quilt, week 25, 2021 by Meera Rao 

The sketch for week 25 from the 2022 Smithsonian Calendar upcycled as my pandemic diary is a colorful patch from our garden that seemed to mirror the photo of Howard Mehring Dark Star n.d. -acrylic on collaged canvas from the Anacostia Community Museum. The Yellow coreopsis, Red/Orange cannas, and the purple-hearts all resemble a flower quilt!

The spread on my upcycled Smithsonian Engagement Calendar 2022

 

Awesome Nature

                                                                                    

Hi-Yu ( Abundance) Pen and Ink /watercolor By Meera Rao

I had a few holes here and there in both of my 2021 and 2022 Journals - a few weeks that I was unable to sketch for some reason or other.  I felt I should fill them up, complete the recording and then start posting - a bit unreasonable on my part but then sometimes that's how I move unfortunately. I relied on my photos to jog my memory. Now that I have filled in every single week in both the journals, hope the posting will be be easier on my psyche - even if its two and three year delayed. 

week 21 Smithsonian Engagement Calendar Pandemic Journal 2021 

The photo on the Smithsonian Engagement calendar which I had upcycled as my Covid diary / journal has Hi Yu Apples crate label, from Wenatchee, WA now in the collection of National Museum of the American Indian, The label is done in Ink on paper.  

"Before they were replaced by the cardboard boxes in the 1960s wooden boxes bearing colorful designs were used to ship fruit and vegetables. Often the designs featured Native American motifs. HI-Yu the Chinook language words meaning abundance was the name of a brand of apples shipped from Wenatchee, WA." True the word for the week, in our garden on that week the blueberries and blackberries were in abundance ! We did not get to enjoy them because the birds were having feast  and we weren't invited :) 

Week 21 Smithsonian Engagement Calendar Pandemic Journal 2022 

This week's photo in the Smithsonian Engagement calendar 2022 is "Niimiipuu(Nez Perce) quiver and bow case c.1890 Idaho. It is made from otter skin and fur, hide wool cloth, muslin, glass beads and silk ribbon and is in the National museum of the American Indian.  

On May 17 2022, I had gone to check the trees I had planed to sketch for a Tree sketching Class I had volunteered to teach later in the month at the Historical Endview at Newport News, Va. As I was walking around the property I saw a snake skin under one of the bushes. Upon further research, I learned that snakes shed a layer of their skin in on continuous piece, a process called 'ecdysis'  which occurs between four and twelve times a year. Why? While snakes body continues to grow, the skin does not! How cool is that !

Snake skin on forest floor  watercolors by Meera Rao.