Monday, June 18, 2007

Photos - Mary's Garden

I thought I would share some photos of my mom's Mary's Garden.

The first photo is the herb garden. There is a statue of a pelican overlooking the small garden. I think I bought this statue at a flea market over 20 years ago. At first I didn't think it went well with the surroundings. My mom told me the pelican was a Catholic symbol. Well in searching I found the following at Fisheaters



Pelican: The Pelican is a symbol of the atonement and the Redeemer and is often found in Christian murals, frescos, paintings and stained glass. The pelican was believed to wound itself in order to feed its young with its own blood. In the hymn "Adoro Te," St. Thomas Aquinas addresses the Savior with, "Pelican of Mercy, cleanse me in Thy Precious Blood." Allusion is even made to this belief in "Hamlet" (act iv): "To his good friend thus wide I'll ope my arms And, like the kind, life-rendering pelican, Repast them with my blood."


So I guess the pelican stays right where it is.



MG2
MG1

These photos show the Blessed Mother statue given to my parents by my brother in Washington State. I believe my mom restored it as it broke in transit. There is a hydrangea bush, little blue flowers in front of this statue. The rest of the garden has hostas, petunias. There is even a little vegetable garden on the other end. After all, what would a home be without Jersey tomatoes in the garden state?

veggies

6 comments:

  1. There's a reference to the Pelican in the Orthodox Holy Friday service.

    Beautiful Mary Garden!

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  2. What a beautiful Mary Garden, Esther! I love the symbolism.

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  3. My eye went right to that pelican in that first picture...I love vintage garden statues, and hard to find now. Very nice Mary garden.

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  4. Mimi, thanks for sharing that and for your kind words!

    Jean, thank you!

    Alexandra: Thank you. I love them too. The reason I chose that one was because it had a bowl that could be used for bird seeds.

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  5. Hi Esther,
    Oh I'm so excited that we have 2 pelican statues on our new mantle.
    Great significance.

    Do you know the Name of the Mary statue? It is very beautiful.

    I tagged you for a meme about why you started blogging.

    Have a great day!

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  6. Laurie, it may be Our Lady of La Salette. That is who my mom thinks it is.

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