Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

...Where Water and Land Dance.

So says the tagline of this National Park in Anacostia. Melanie invited me to go with her on a Saturday morning and it was such a magical experience. I felt like I was in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory garden where every turn of the head discovered new beautiful things to experience. We saw frogs, butterflies, dragonflies, fish, turtles, waterfowl, frog eggs, and some of the most beautiful water lilies imaginable.

The most meaningful discovery for me was the Lotus. In my art historical studies, I've encountered wooden and stone carvings of lotus plants and read about how much the plant meant to ancient civilizations. I always remembered how my Japanese art teacher told me how amazingly beautiful the lotus is, but until yesterday I've never seen one for myself.

This was the first part of the lotus I saw. You've probably seen these in floral arrangements. It's in the final phase of life here- dropping its seeds.

But this is the lotus in full bloom. They glow.

You can see the light green teacup shaped center. When the petals drop, it continues to mature to the brown pod you saw above. They look like fields of shower heads.

 Here's some Japanese Buddhist art that portrays a bodhisattva (enlightened person) seated on a Lotus thrown. I fell in love with this piece in the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery and wrote a little paper about it. After digging through some of my old papers tonight, I discovered this excerpt that I wrote about 2 years ago:

It is interesting to me how the Lotus flower is an important aspect of this statue. The fact that the Bodhisattva sits on it must mean it is a holy or at least a revered flower. The Lotus flower is a motif commonly used in Ancient Greek art, which is considered the foundation of Western art and architecture. I would venture to describe the Lotus flower, then, as bridging the gap between east and west. I have never seen a Lotus flower, but I hope to see one someday. I think after studying its motif so frequently in art history, that it would be a special flower to me.

***

Isn't it great that I've finally seen it and it did turn out to be such a special experience? Speaking of bridging East and West, here's a beautiful poem my aunt sent me about the Lotus:

Lotus Mystique 

(unknown author)

Sa fleur toujours voilee

Au soleil radieux,

Se penche, desolee

Et reve un plus doux astre aux cieux.
Mais de la nuit sereine
Qui verse l'ombre et la fraicheur,
La pale et blond reine
Caresse et ranime la fleur.
Et la pauvre reveuse,
Oubliant ses peines du jour
Au baiser de la lune, heureuse,
Soupire et tressaille d'amour.

This poem speaks about how the Lotus is most alive and beautiful in the light of the moon. A park ranger we spoke to told us the Lotus dislikes the sun as much as humans do...not saying we hate the sun, but we do often hang out in the shade, try to keep cool, and can get sick if we have too much exposure.

ok another mesmerizing discovery is the Victorian water lily, as seen above. I'd never seen anything like it. These were discovered in the Amazon River and named after Queen Victoria. She was so the right queen at the right time, don't you think? That was a time of so many natural discoveries all over the world and everyone wanted to name everything after her or her husband, Albert. I love them :) These lily pads can grow huge and I've seen pictures of small children sitting on them.

Thanks for indulging me and letting me share some of these beautiful things with you!