Last summer, this statue was built in the middle of an intersection close to our apt. Today (happens to be -40 out, but this is an unrelated fact), we ventured thru the traffic to visit the Four Friendly Animals. A dove sits on a rabbit who sits on a monkey who sits on the back of an elephant. The dove has successfully plucked an apple from the tree. To me, the moral of this fable is that we must work together to accomplish a task. 

             But Jim just handed me a book that tells the Mongolian interpretation. The animals are stacked according to age: the elephant being the youngest and the dove, the oldest.  The 3 youngest are helping the oldest, the dove, to reach the apple. It’s all about respect for elders not about mutual cooperation. Different world view. 

            We've thought a life sized elephant was a strange thing to build in UB but with either interpretation maybe it was a good idea, after all.

This is the top of a huge ancient oak that used to stand in the cul-de-sac beyond our Olympia home's driveway. It is now blanketing our yard and kissing the front door. It blocks the garage so that our daughter is stuck but she is safe. The only damage done was to the metal eaves and maybe a corner of the roof. Grateful. But also sad to lose the tree, yard, and potentially the other oaks in that stand.