Draggin' my tail behind me

Draggin' - as in dragging my body around - led to a search of an illustrative photo to describe my lack of energy. I strayed on to this site where there is a nice page with dragon art and the origins of dragon myth, and Buddhist Dragons, which tied in with my growing interest in the art of Sumi-ei - and you are saying, where in the heck is she going? Well, seems to me there is nothing draggin' about Dragons. I hope you find the below link (and I really hope you FIND the dragon page - I could't link it for some reason) as fascinating as I have - for me its sort of unknown "dragon lore" and a dragon is anything but draggin.

My personal feeling on mythical creatures is that somewhere in time existed a creature, and coupled with man's imagination - we have come up with many creatures we can't explain or prove. I think in the Christian Bible, the Dragon may just have been known as Leviathan. I digress...back to the day....oh, and by the way, doesn't this guy look like a cute puppy or kitty? Or have I lost it?

Against every crying out piece of my body, I gathered up all the pieces and my cane and dragged all the pieces to the attorney's office today. We wrote a letter firing the old attorney who won't call me back. I feel good about this guy - already, within five hours, I find that Monday I can start the back treatments - Monday because tomorrow is too soon. I have bronchitis, have had for two and one-half weeks, and I shouldn't let it go until one has a handicap of breathing air, sore ribs from coughing, fever, and general overwhelming lassitude. One reason I waited too long was being too tight to even pay co-pays. Yah, some of you with no insurance are crying out "SISSY!" Also I haven't found an antibiotic yet that doesn't make me sick in my guts. So, I'm to the point, I don't care - just help me breathe and quit coughing.

In the meantime, the sprinkler system is in and sprinkling where it should sprinkle. I want to put in plants - today was yummy - 70 degrees, the water is still and magical, the palms softly rustling in the breezes, and all the lawns and grasses are turning green. The trees that lose their leaves (not all do here) in the winter are budded, waxy camellias, and the ever present bright profusions of azaeleas everywhere. It took mostly neighbor and some hubby 3 and 1/2 days to put it in - give or take. Whataneighbor!

Dragon info from www.onmarkproductions.com - sorry I could not get the link to this page with all the neat pictures to come up - so I'm adding an excerpt which is copywrited but I think I'm ok with the author's link plainly referenced.

DRAGON MYTHOLOGY. A mythological animal of Chinese origin, and a member of the NAGA (Sanskrit) family of serpentine creatures who protect Buddhism. Japan's dragon lore comes predominantly from China. Images of the reptilian dragon are found throughout Asia, and the pictorial form most widely recognized today was already prevalent in Chinese ink paintings in the Tang period (9th century AD). The mortal enemy of the dragon is the Phoenix, as well as the bird-man creature known as Karura. In contrast to Western mythology, Asian dragons are rarely depicted as malevolent. Although fearsome and powerful, dragons are equally considered just, benevolent, and the bringers of wealth and good fortune. The dragon is also considered a shape shifter who can assume human form and mate with people.

Dragons figure importantly in folk beliefs throughout Asia, and are dressed heavily in Buddhist garb. In India, the birthplace of Buddhism around 500 BC, pre-Buddhist snake or serpentine-like creatures known as the NAGA were incorporated early on into Buddhist mythology. Described as "water spirits with human shapes wearing a crown of serpents on their heads" or as "snake-like beings resembling clouds," the NAGA are among the eight classes of deities who worship and protect the Historical Buddha. Even before the Historical Buddha (Siddhartha, Guatama) attained enlightenment, the Naga King Mucilinda (Sanskrit) is said to have protected Siddhartha from wind and rain for seven days. This motif is found often in Buddhist art from India, represented by images of the Buddha sitting beneath Mucilinda's hood and coils. (Above paragraph adapted from book by M.W. De Visser.)

In China, however, dragon lore existed independently for centuries before the introduction of Buddhism. Bronze and jade pieces from the Shang and Zhou dynasties (16th - 9th centuries BC) depict dragon-like creatures. By at least the 2nd century BC, images of the dragon are found painted frequently on tomb walls to dispel evil. Buddhism was introduced to China sometime in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. By the 9th century AD, the Chinese had incorporated the dragon into Buddhist thought and iconography as a protector of the various Buddha and the Buddhist law. These traditions were adopted by the Japanese (Buddhism did not arrive in Japan until the mid-6th century AD). In both China and Japan, the character for "dragon" (see orange-colored ideogram at top of page) is used often in temple names, and dragon carvings adorn many temple structures. Most Japanese Zen temples, moreover, have a dragon painted on the ceiling of their assembly halls. See below photos.