It would be hard to imagine a more perfect weekend!!!! Carrie and her family came all the way from New Jersey - 8 of us altogether at my favorite restaurant in Towson,  Strapazza's, for the season's last Feet on the Street.  It was a wonderful evening of laughter, dancing and celebration - Happy Birthday Jill and Michael! What a gift to have all of you come to Towson and include me in your festivities!

Saturday was a delight - back at Strapazza's for lunch with Mycala and then off to the exquisite Court House Gardens. Sketched several times over the weekend and Zippy and Sparkiie took walks and had a Sunday afternoon date! And to add to the celebration, the Ravens and the Orioles both won today's games. 

One of the suggestions I gave my 'A More Creative You" class was to list their Wishes. The assignment prompted me to redo my own and add them as goals to add to my Rose tree. Some are silly, others most likely impossible, some simple and others more challenging. Two that were rather unexpected this year were my trip to Paris and purchasing a new home in the historical Lake Walker in Baltimore!

After losing my first list of wishes entirely, I'm grouping them in sections of 10.
Wishes that have come true are bolded and italicized!

I hope this will inspire you to make your own list!

The Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees played ten innings without scoring. I'm wondering if they were as distracted by the air show above Camden Yards as we were! It was a thrill to first hear the sonic booms and then see the arial acrobatics!  The Yankees finally scored in the 11th in inning, followed by the Orioles. The Orioles won the game, 2 to 1. 

The tall ships, sailing into Baltimore's Inner Harbor for the Star Spangled Banner Spectacular Festivities, was virtually a ballet!  The extent of the artistry was far beyond what I had anticipated. The detail on the ships was the exquisite! I had no idea it would be so creative, varied, intricate, or vibrant! There was a dog on the side of one of the ships that reminded me of Zippy!

Today the Newcomer's of Northern Baltimore County hosted a delightful luncheon in the private dining room of the Rusty Scupper that faces the harbor, giving us a perfect view of the visiting tall ships! But not all of the entertainment was outside!  Arlen St. John, who arranged the spectacular extravaganza, transformed into Mary Pickersgill before our eyes!  With the help of her delightful granddaughter, and a few simple props, "Mary transported us back in time to tell us her story and the challenges involved in creating the enormous Star Spangled Banner that inspired the song by Francis Scott Key. 

Mary Young was born on February 12, 1776 to another flag maker, her mother, Rebecca Young. She learned the craft which later gave her an economic base to support herself and later others. Mary married Pickersgill, but became a widow at the age of 29. She was able to support herself through her flag business and was commissioned to by Major George Armistead to make a flag for Fort McHenry. It was to be "so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance." The flag was completed ahead of time, delivered to Fort McHenry where it inspired the song that eventually became the United States National Anthem, written Francis Scott Key during the Battle of Baltimore.

Mary Pickersgill bought the house she had been renting in in 1820. She contributed time and resources to supporting disadvantaged women who had been widowed, were unemployed or found themselves in need because of economic challenges. She founded a home for aging women, and later built an adjacent home for aging men.Over a century later the facility became the Pickersgill Retirement Community, located in Towson, Maryland. 

Her home, located at the northwest corner of Albemarie and East Pratt Streets in downtown Baltimore, is now officially known as the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House. Sincere thanks to Arlen and Newcomer's of Northern Baltimore County for bringing history alive and celebrating history in the making in beautiful Baltimore!

Yantra (यन्त्र) is the Sanskrit word for a mystical diagram, especially diagrams or amulets supposed to possess occult powers in astrological or magicalbenefits in the Tantric traditions of the Indian religions. Traditionally such symbols are used in Eastern mysticism to balance the mind or focus it on spiritual concepts. The act of wearing, depicting, enacting and/or concentrating on a yantra is held to have spiritual or astrological or magical benefits in the Tantrictraditions of the Indian religions.

Shapes and patterns commonly employed in yantra include squares, triangles, circles and floral patterns but may also include more complex and detailed symbols, for instance:

• The lotus flower typically represents chakras, with each petal representing a psychic propensity (or vritti) associated with that chakra;
• A dot, or bindu, represents the starting point of creation or the infinite, unexpressed cosmos;
• The shatkona (şaţkoņa) (Sanskrit name for a Hexagram) is composed of a balance between:
• An upwards triangle which according to Tantra denotes energy, or more specifically action and service (seva). It may also denote spiritual aspiration, the element of fire, or Shiva. It is also said to represent the static substratum of the cosmos;[citation needed]
• A downwards triangle which according to Tantra denotes spiritual knowledge. It may also denote the creative power of the cosmos, fecundity, the element of water, or Shakti;
• A swastika represents good luck, welfare, prosperity or spiritual victory;
• Bija mantras (usually represented as characters of Devanāgarī that correspond to the acoustic roots of a particular chakra or vritti).

Geometric element meanings:

• Circle = Energy of the element water
• Square = Energy of the element earth
• Upward-facing Triangle = Energy of the element fire; energy
• Downward-facing Triangle = Energy of the element water; knowledge
• Diagonal line = Energy of the element air
• Horizontal line = Energy of the element water
• Vertical line = Energy of the element fire
• Point = Energy of the element ether