THE NOSEY NEIGHBOR-Statues & Anne of Green Gables

THE NOSEY NEIGHBOR. June 16, 2021

~INSPIRATION LIVES ON.~

Neighbors have been trickling out of their homes.

If you need to get away for awhile, consider a photo walk in your neighborhood and let your imagination run wild. Walking is always a good choice. There's nothing more refreshing and relaxing than a walk.

I found a white shade of Bougainvillea, a rarity in my neighborhood.

I’m a strong fan of Anne of Green Gables.

What makes Anne so endearing to me are her outspoken dramatic use of words and her boundless vivid imagination, mile-a-minute chatter, and impulsiveness.

Her creative mind transforms anything she finds into endless imagination, and her ability to find wonder in all aspects of life.

Anne’s imagination provides her with refuge in times of struggle and propels her insatiable desire to learn.

“Isn’t it splendid there are so many things to like in this world?” she says.

And, “It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will.”

I still appreciate Anne-isms:

I seek out kindred spirits. I appreciate bosom friends.

On a bad day,

I’m in the depths of despair.

While her imagination gets her into trouble from time to time, or leads to great disappointment when life does not live up to her imagined expectations, she refuses to dim her curiosity or zest for life — encouraging others, to think outside the box and beyond their own surroundings.

“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive—it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we knew all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?” ~Anne

Digressing from my diatribe about Anne, on this mornings walk, I was curious as to the purpose of these statutes I have been noticing around front entrances and on gate posts.

What is the saying that “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

I got to wondering about the correlation between its just a culture thing or did they symbolize the desperate times we live in as people grasp for something to satiate their fears.

I came across a St. Michaels the Archangel statue in someones front yard. Isn’t Michael considered one of the fallen angels?

Do you know the background of this powerful and popular saint? No, neither did I.

Michael means ‘who is like God?’ He is venerated in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam as one of the higher angels, or archangels, who serves Holy Trinity and His children.

“In Christian tradition, Michael is an agent of healing, and many shrines and sanctuaries for the sick were built in his honor. During the Middle Ages, Michael's intervention was credited with ending outbreaks of the plague.”

“In Jewish tradition he is described as a prince of Israel who intervened to protect the Israelites at key moments in their history. Among Christians he is hailed as the leader of God's armies in heaven and an agent of healing. He is also an angel of death, the judge of souls and a bestower of mercy.”

I found several of The Three Graces, a Neoclassical sculpture, in modest clothing, in bronze adorning the wall towers of a home I walked by in the south western quadrant of my neighborhood. Most Three Graces are happy nude dancers bronze statues and have their origin in Greek mythology.

Lion statues facing outside guard the entrances (from said evil eyes, spirits and also preserve prosperity.) They are everywhere.

These visual reminders of a broken world and how people deal with a broken faith shattered my revere. I was confronted by my eagerness to find beauty in my neighborhood, yet here I was day after day passing who knows how many people, judging by the cars in the drive ways, individuals whose hope is in these statues or whatever faith they have or don’t to alleviate their fears and a hope for the future.

A sadness weighed on me as I continued on, a large Buddha statue peeked out among the flowers, an offering in its lap.

1Linda Treanor

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