Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens - Lotus Flowers in the Mid-sumer Days - DC

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens - National Park, U.S. Department of the Interior 

The typical mid-summer day in DC is hot and sticky.  Some people would prefer to stay in the air-conditioned room, splash in the pool, or walk in the shopping mall - I called it a fad for fitness-mind suburban folks.  We, three seniors, hopped in the car without much needed plan for a short trip to escape the heat.  Jen-Jen, the retired registered nurse from U.S Air Force suggested the change of scenery from the daily grind between Sam’s busy office work and caring for his ill mother may do some good.  So off we went to Kenilworth Aquatic Garden.

It’s hard to believe a beautiful garden like this exists right in DC - 550 Anacostia Ave, NE.  

Sam is a know-it-all guy with DC’s roadways.  He mumbled with I-295 and before I knew it from the GPS screen in his car, we were in the entrance of the garden.  I remembered passing through the nondescript community with the littered trash scattering on the road and the front porches of the houses. 

Jen-Jen’s White Umbrella

The lotus flowers, pinky white, red and a variety of interesting aquatic plants grow in many ponds.  The dirt paths winding among them make for perfect nature walk.  I teased Jen-Jen for bringing her white umbrella in this perfect weather.  It’s very ‘70s like the good old miniskirts and matching umbrella back in the college campus days.  I actually like to get a little Vitamin D from sun exposure.  I am now a senior who suffers from Vitamin D Deficiency.

 

Frogs & Duckweeds & Tadpoles on the Lily Pad

Along with the different kinds of vegetation in the pond, I pointed to the duckweeds, which I used to collect with my grandfather back in the days of my early childhood.  That’s quite a memory for my duty to feed the ducks with frogs and duckweeds.  Most of my friends all amazed to know my story of why the frogs I caught with my grandfather would disappear from the sack where I kept them overnight with tight knots hanging on the bamboo stick under the roof.  That’s my daily feed to those ducks I raised for my farmer’s family.  Our live-in farm laborer suggested that I should keep a sickle along with the sack to prevent the frogs from jumping out.  I obligingly followed his order as a child to the elders with skepticism.  And it did work!  Folks, you tell me why? A child’s myth?

The Edible Mushrooms Grow on the Magnolia Tree - Amazing

 

Lotus Flowers 

  

They are beautiful.  The best is the way, which they emerge from the dirty, murky pond full of unpleasing algae and mud.  We most often associate the flowers with purity and beauty in Buddhism - that pretty Guanine, 觀音 sitting on the lotus flower.

Queen Ann’s Laces  

Sam’s know-it-all is not limited to his knowledge of labyrinth roadways in DC, he is also a self-professed horticulture buff.  He pointed to the wild white flowers growing rampantly on the field.  He just blurted it out, “Queen Ann’s Laces!”  I thought I was supposed to be looking for some exquisite flowers such as roses or lotuses.  No!  "These wildflowers are everywhere on the roadside which you normally do not pay any attention,” Sam claimed.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

I thought it proper to switch the role of these two beautiful flowers - Lotus should be the gorgeous queen who reins the kingdom of the garden and the graceful laces should be reserved for the humble peasants who are busily working in the field. 

The feeling of being beautiful is really in the mind of the beheld.  Agree or not is up to you.

Picasa Link - Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens on 7/12/2015 - https://picasaweb.google.com/112480790564624696310/July272015?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCL7M8M6_msrkxQE&feat=directlink