Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Artistic depictions of butterflies have been used in many cultures including Egyptian hieroglyphs 3500 years ago. The ancient Greek word for "butterfly" is ψυχή (psȳchē), which primarily means "soul" or "mind". The Russian word for "butterfly", бабочка (bábochka), also means "bow tie". It is a diminutive of "baba" or "babka" (= "woman, grandmother, cake"), whence also "babushka" = "grandmother". (Research from Google,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly ) (Please click the image to enlarge) In our Chinese culture , two butterflies flying together symbolize love. Also, Butterfly Lovers is a famous Chinese folktale. In some old cultures, butterflies also symbolize rebirth after being inside a cocoon for a period of time. My birthday again, and I would love to share my butterfly story and captures with viewers, also I feel reborn as well:)! When we were kids, of cou...

Can you believe that my orchid (yellow cymbidium) finally is blooming now after TEN years of rest? What a "Sleeping Beauty"! (Click the image to view a better result). A good friend of mine - she is a plant expert gave this orchid to me (a plant lover) during the spring time when I just got settled here. It was in a one gallon container, and bloomed with gorgeous yellow flowers. I was so touched by her sincere friendship, at the same time I was overjoyed to watch the flowers whenever I had a little time.  She also taught me how to treat this type of orchid, what kind of fertilizers used during which season, how often to water it with a treated water (temperature, no chlorine, etc.). I did take very good care of my orchid like a super princess. Left it and moved it around in a perfect spot, no direct sunlit, only the morning sun or later afternoon ones. No matter how busy I was, I'd rather have missed my breakfasts hundred times, but the first thing I spritzed ...