Oddly Opalescent Opaleye

Day 15 of Blogging from A to Z.  Today’s letter is O

Oddly Opalescent Opaleye

opalescent eyes

reflect fresh blood stains upon

nature’s own buffet

© Perle Champion

So many of today’s myths were once legend, and I wonder if they have a basis in some ancient past.  I wonder if real dragons once roamed the earth.  Did the story of dragons begin with the sighting of dinosaurs? Did the story get passed down through oral history through the generations?  We’ll never know for sure, but I choose to believe that in some way they once shared our earth.

  

The Opaleye is a medium-sized dragon, often weighing 2-3 tonnes. It was iridescent, pearly scales and pupil-less eyes that match, making it widely known as the most beautiful dragon around. It is not incredibly aggressive and produces a scarlet flame. Opaleyes prefer to eat sheep.* http://www.hp-lexicon.org/bestiary/dragons.html

Chinese New Year in Birmingham, Alabama

There was a dragon in Linn Park Saturday morning. The youth held the traditional dragon up with poles and paraded him undulating through the park, preceded by a baton-wielding majorette and followed by drummers and a group of small children in costume and others in jeans.

The procession made its way through Linn Park, down the sidewalk and into Boutwell Auditorium to further perform on the stage. The gathering crowd was grateful to be inside as it was 30something outside.

There were tables set up all around the room.

Some were selling lanterns, parasols, jewelry. There was also the Birmingham Asian Cultural Center & Chinese Garden Foundation, the Chinese School, and my favorite The Birmingham Chinese Church where a gentleman, whose name I could not understand, wrote my name in Chinese.

Birmingham has many faces, many cultures. It was great to see so many of these enjoying the morning's Chinese New Year Celebration.


© Perle Champion