The North Carolina State Flower is otherwise known as the Dogwood. Growing up in North Carolina, it's no wonder why this tree is my favorite (along with the weeping willow) . Its beautiful flowers fall to the ground much like the token cherry blossoms in most Asian inspired movie scenes. When I was little, living in North Carolina, we had a charming roofed lounge-swing in our backyard that my father built for my mom and canopying over it was a beautiful dogwood. The sight of a dogwood always takes me there and brings back so many happy memories. We would swing together while the cool breeze would sway the nearby forest that bordered our backyard.
According to legend, Jesus Christ was crucified on a dogwood tree. Because of his compassion for the dogwood and so that it would no longer be used as an instrument of crucifixion, Jesus decreed that it should become a smaller tree and that its petals should bear the marks of the nail prints in his hands. This, says tradition, resulted in the rust-colored touches around the notches in the branches. So prominent has this legend become that it is the only thing many people think of when they see the dogwood today. But, it should be noted that this is only fictitious tradition. The Bible says nothing of the sort. The Bible does not identify the type of tree used in his execution. Maybe because the type of tree is of little or no importance. What is important is what his sacrificial death means. According to the Bible, His death is a ransom paid for our sinful condition brought on by the willful sin of our first human father, Adam. Again, this is just a "legend." It is a nice story, but there is no Biblical basis to it. The legend of the dogwood tree is very likely not accurate.
...and while on the topic of North Carolina and its wonders...
The Emerald
Anyone who knows me well is very aware of my obsession with jewels and gems and precious stones, as I've mentioned in previous posts. One of my many favorites is the emerald. I was in a nostalgic mood so i decided to surf Google for North Carolina things and I found out that the General Assembly of 1973 designated the emerald as the official State Precious Stone. A greater variety of minerals, more than 300, have been found in North Carolina than in any other state. These minerals include some of the most valuable and unique gems in the world. The largest Emerald ever found in North Carolina was 1,438 carats and was found at Hiddenite, near Statesville. The "Carolina Emerald," now owned by Tiffany & Company of New York was also found at Hiddenite in 1970. When cut to 13.14 carats, the stone was valued at the time at $100,000 and became the largest and finest cut emerald on the continent.
...and then there's the wild berries...
The wild strawberry
These little babies grow everywhere, usually combined in bright green clover patches with mini white and yellow blossoms, they're more vibrant in color than your average strawberry and i still don't know if you can eat them, however i always wanted to.
...and wild blackberries...
I still love to hunt for blackberries. I loved those childhood days where we would be playing outside and get hungry and just walk over to any wild blackberry bush and eat the most plump, juiciest berries. Our hands would be stained blood-fuchsia, appetites would be all kinds of spoiled for when Mom and Dad would call on us to come in for dinner. Good times.. good times.
The Giant Southern Magnolia Tree and the multi colored Crepe Myrtles were also another fave of mine. Outside my childhood church and school, stood many tall magnolia trees and flowering crepe myrtles.
I used to love to hurry outside at recess or after a church sermon and smell the sweet fragrant magnolias in the wind. The same wind would blow billions of different colored crepe myrtle blossoms everywhere. We used the magnolia buds as grenades and sweetgum trees spiky ball seeds as bombs. I would also get my hands full of maple seeds (helicopter seeds) or known by me as little habeetletina naked angels (don't ask) and throw them up in the air just to watch the millions of little "helicopters" spin down to the giant landing field (the grass).
Honeysuckles gathered on many of the fences at school and I loved to pull out the stamen and eat the drops of nectar. Yeah I know I'm a dork. So's your mom.
I can never forget the coolest bug ever. The lightning bug or firefly is one of the most amazing creatures to me. I loved it when it was amost dark out and it was as if the night creatures were coming out to roam the earth- you'd see little orange and yellow glows all in the forest and sometimes they would "light" on you and i would place them in jars and sit there mesmerized by thier unique beauty...
There's alot more but these were/are just "a few of my favorite things" growing up.
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