Sacred Lotus

I have just received an e-mail telling me that our good friend Doug (Flickr member dougwaylett) collapsed today and is in the Trauma unit. Please join me in sending strong thoughts and prayers his way, and also for his wife, Flo .... Thinking of you both! Stay strong, Doug! There are more rare lichens out there for you to still discover! Update 8:00 p.m. - apparently, Doug has now been moved to a different ward, and I'm so hoping that this is good news. Update before I go to bed: Doug's wife was eventually located and told. When I was given this last update, Flo was at the Hospital with her hubby, thank goodness. Doug had been moved from the Trauma Unit to Intensive Care. Doug, hope you are able to get a good night's sleep and we all hope you are a little stronger tomorrow. We are all thinking of you! You, too, Flo! UPDATE on Doug, next day, Sunday: it is with great sadness that I have to let people know that good friend Doug Waylett passed away today. Apparently, he had just given a talk in the herbarium at the University of Calgary yesterday and was looking at some lichens, when he had a massive heart attack. This will be a tremendous loss, not just personal, but Doug was a great source of information on plants, lichens and fungi. His passing leaves a huge void, especially for those who knew him well here in Calgary. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Flo, and their family.

I keep coming across yet another photo of a Sacred Lotus seedpod - sorry to bore you with these : ) I just find them so fascinating and beautiful. Sometimes, I have caught them when they were bright green, but this one is older and has turned brown. Photographed at the Calgary Zoo on 23rd August 2011.

Photographed at the Calgary Zoo on 11th September 2011. The enormous flower of the Sacred Lotus is so beautiful. "The lotus was of great significance to many ancient cultures, and in particular to the Eastern religions. From ancestral times, the lotus regularly appears as a symbol of purity, peace, transcendence, enlightenment, rebirth, beauty, and fertility. In India, the lotus flower is considered to be of divine origin and is viewed as sacred by both Hindus and Buddhists. Buddha was said to sleep on a lotus six months of the year, and Shambala (Buddhist heaven) is sometimes represented as a field of flowering sacred lotuses." Taken from the first link below. www.holisticaroma.co.uk/shp/TheSacredLotus.htm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera

Not the best of butterfly poses, but you have no idea how long it takes to wait for any butterfly to land on one of these amazing Sacred Lotus seedpods, lol! I was lucky to get this one shot, as the butterfly took off immediately. Actually, I do have a nicer photo of a different butterfly on it, and will post that later. Taken in the ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo on September 30th. It's quarter after midnight and I have to be up at 4:10 a.m. to travel to Canmore, near Banff in the Rocky Mountains, for the Canmore Christmas Bird Count. A lot of walking all day, so I know I won't feel like uploading any photos as soon as I get home early evening, so thought I'd quickly get these uploaded tonight. I might just do the same tomorrow night, as I have to be up the same sort of time on Sunday morning, too, for the Calgary Christmas Bird Count. I always find back-to-back Counts difficult to do.

Tiny waterdrops on the edge of a very large Sacred Lotus leaf, taken in the ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo on September 26th. Not sure what the tropical plants are that are seen in the distance.

Another photo from my archives of a Sacred Lotus seedpod, taken at the Calgary Zoo, on 23 August 2011. "The pods/seed heads contain the Lotus seeds within little circular chambers on the flat surface of the top of the pod. These circles appeared to cradle the seeds, which are round, within the pod until fully ripe. Both the chamber of each seed and the seed itself got larger and larger until the pod bent over to finally release the seeds into the water." www.flowersociety.org/lotus-plant-study.htm

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Photographed at the Calgary Zoo on 10th September 2011., this enormous flower of the Sacred Lotus is so beautiful. "The lotus was of great significance to many ancient cultures, and in particular to the Eastern religions. From ancestral times, the lotus regularly appears as a symbol of purity, peace, transcendence, enlightenment, rebirth, beauty, and fertility. In India, the lotus flower is considered to be of divine origin and is viewed as sacred by both Hindus and Buddhists. Buddha was said to sleep on a lotus six months of the year, and Shambala (Buddhist heaven) is sometimes represented as a field of flowering sacred lotuses." Taken from the first link below. www.holisticaroma.co.uk/shp/TheSacredLotus.htm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera