Chinese New Year

Today we celebrate the Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon.  The Dragon symbolizes power, nobleness, honor, luck, and success in Chinese culture.  There are a dozen signs, so each show up every twelve years.  I was born in the Year of the Dragon in 1940, so this is my eighth:  1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, and now 2024.  See the zodiac years beginning with 1904 in the illustration above?

This is a photo of my best friends Jane Yelliott and Donna Carey when we celebrated the Chinese New Year on January 23, 2012.  We all wore red, the color for the day (notice the red dragon above), and we went to a Chinese restaurant.  Jane died in December 2013.  I wouldn't have moved away from Chattanooga if she were still alive.  I would house-sit and cat-sit for Jane when she traveled to places like Ireland with family and friends.  Jane was a well-known artist, and a plaque honoring her is on the historic Walnut Street Bridge in Chattanooga.  Here's Jane receiving a different award in 2012:

I met Jane in a Sunday School class that had invited me to come teach a series of lessons.  When I realized what a great artist she was, I asked her to illustrate the story Kiki and the Rain Room that I'd written about my cat (see HERE).  Unfortunately, she died before she could do that.  Now where was I went I got off-track?

Chinese New Year!  Does anyone want to go grab Chinese food with me?  Wear red!

** Long after looking at photos for this post, I realized Jane actually DID show my cat in her art.  But it was the cat I got after moving to St. Louis.  Doesn't that look like Clawdia on Jane's art installation on Market Street in Chattanooga?  The whole thing (see below) is called "Catfish Fantasy" and was created in 1994; I moved 20 years later.

** Read THIS, if you want to know more about Jane.  It shows one of her "cows" painted on plywood.  Shown with Jane's "Family Zoo" exhibit at In-Town Gallery during an art opening reception are Jane's family members:  Susan Batten, Ryan Norris, Finch Yelliott (her husband), Shula Yelliott, and Jane Yelliott.