Elephant's Child

Today I was unable to think of much else. In the end I browsed through Elephant's Child's blog.

Then I decided to steal one photo from each February from her blog - with links - as she and her blog both had their birthdays in February - she began blogging in February 2011.

-- 🐘 --

From her very first blogpost, February 7, 2011. A reply.

Like the Elephant's Child I still suffer from insatiable curiosity.

In February 2012 she visited a Japanese garden in the vicinity with her Skinny Portion (husband) - even though she knew that the visit would make her suffer, she brought beauty to all of us:

2013, her Skinny Portion was hospitalized, and she pilfered Toxic waste bags for her used cat litter


February 2014. Once again Skinny Portion is having surgery, but they visit museums anyway, and inside the National Library to see 'Mapping Our World: Terra Incognita to Australia.' her first find was a fridge magnet.


February 2015 seemed a bitch, but as always she had an eye for the beauty around - and shared her fishies with us:


Somewhen in 2015 (probably October) Elephant's Child took over the Words for Wednesday, This was how I stumbled over her blog.

February 2016 EC was hosting Words for Wednesday and supplied this wonder from her garden and mind

In her contribution she tells of her dual mind:

My mind is both a treacherous and a dangerous place. Crowded, but ambivalent (on a rare good day) about the directions it will let me go.
There is beauty there. Lots of it. Kaleidoscopes of colour and whimsy. If that side was given its head I could live in a terrific, exquisite and exciting world. I could be bold, take chances, and life would be an adventure.
Then there is the other side. A side which focuses on detail, and denies colour. The zombie side. Meticulous. Boring. Grey. Grim. The nitpicking, pedantic side. The side which smears grease over new ideas, over vibrancy, over anything worth having...
That side is strong. That side is fiendish and very, very successful. If the lighter side gives tongue to ideas which hint at furry, purry joy, at sunshine, at rainbows or at hope they are immediately stifled. Smothered in routine, in habit and in fear. Suffocated.
We are told that our minds are adaptive, that they can learn and grow. I wish. I am angriest at the realisation that my mind is stagnant. There will be no evolution. Grey and gloomy triumphs. Again.

We were lucky to have Elelphant's Child around, and no blog recapitulation of hers would be even close to perfect without a 'roo fix.

And as Elephant's Child did not post in February 2017 at all, but needed a 'roo fix, it's what we'll get too


Once again Elephant's Child had one of her blog breaks due to the summer heat in February 2018, but she visited the colourful Enlighten festival and told about it in March as she returned

Where she also enjoyed these quirky squids.


In February 2019 she found and bought Rainbow chrysanthemums, wondering if the colours were natural, I do too

But these were real:


February 2020, wildfires were raging, but even in those Elephant's Child found beauty


Elephant's Child's birthday was in February as well. In 2021 she celebrated by going to her 'roo fix lake and saw this funny pair. I loved that she showed photos of the - for me - exotic anmals in her surroundings, and once I posted a fox, she told me that it was an exotic animal for her. She showed me how big the world is.


In February 2022 during a visit to the National Museum of Australia and Elephant's Child celebrated her love for the  native fauna.


February 2023 Elephant's Child's One night wonder was flowering, and I was humbled and happy that she joined the Colour a monthly challenge, I had adapted after another blogger discontinued it.


In 2024 Elephant's Child took an extended summer break in February, but returned in March to show us the Balloon Spectacular  


In 2025 again Elephant's Child had a summer blog break in February, but in January she showed us this wonderful mural:

All Australian, all her.

-- 🐘 --

Now I miss two items, that can't be had in Australia in February. Frozen bubbles:


and the Walk Out of the Shadows, Into the Light

This is from her very last walk, September 10, 2025. She knew the end was near, and tried to tell us, but we would not listen, and she offered comfort and support.

Charlotte (MotherOwl) 11 September 2025 at 07:03

Heavy matter made even heavier by your words: "This may be my last year so of course I went." ... Words elude me ...

Elephant's Child 11 September 2025 at 08:24

Charlotte (MotherOwl): I am sorry to add to your emotional burden - and do hope that I can do this walk again next year... and the year after.

Never more will we be asked to Come walk with me, around the garden, into the dawn, or anywhere else.

Elephant's Child, I hope you are now in a place where beauty, flowers, wildlife and frozen bubbles abound.

From her kast Sunday Selelction - with the impressing number of 833.