10 November, 2025

Omg Jodie, this installment had an original start date of 12 April, 2017.  I was looking at current Chronicle documents and opened this page and discovered that apparently, I never wrote more than the opening sentence of this installment!! (smile) 

So-o-o-o for eight years, I’ve been under the impression that I wrote about, my Loch Ness Monster “Nessie”, Pegasus (The Winged Stallion), and the Unicorn(s).  I’ll also go ahead and include my “Sword in the Stone” piece as it’s how I decided to represent the legend of King Arthur!! (smile)

I remember one really nice Sunday morning; I went out to the Santa Monica Outdoor Antique & Vintage Market.  Held at the Santa Monica Airport, it was a very cool relaxing place to simply cruise up and down the many aisles looking at interesting items and just enjoying the sunshine.  While I saw a number of glass pieces there, none of them really captured my interest, particularly as I had determined to spend only $20.00!! (smile)

I spent probably two hours walking around and decided that I’d call it an afternoon, as I was entering the very last aisle on the lot.  As I approached the very last vendor in the aisle, I saw this Dragon-like piece sitting on the table.  I really liked the piece but saw that the asking price was $30.00 (sigh)  The lady sitting at the table was very pleasant, and I said to her the Dragon was very unusual, and I was happy to see it, particularly as I collect glass sculptures.  I went on to say that if I had it, I would call it The Loch Ness Monster and display it near my sailboats!!

The lady smiled and said, “That’s a nice idea, I bet it would look great with your sailboats”.  My guess is she most likely anticipated me purchasing it.  I said, “Yeah it’s definitely a cool piece , but actually I only have $20.00 dollars to spend so I’m just glad to have seen it and you have a very nice rest of your day”  Now….I’m walking away from the table, and not really disappointed in not having made the purchase, because I truly felt the piece was worth the asking price, and I wasn’t gonna try to negotiate with her, as I thought she was nice too.

Don’t get me wrong JoJo….I have on occasion asked a vendor to consider a lower price if I don’t think the piece was worth it. (smile).  I hear her call out to me, “Hey….I really like the idea you have for this piece. You only have $20.00….Let’s give “Nessie” a home”!!

Alright, so a few days have gone by and now I guess I’ll get back on track.  I’ve always been a fan of mythologies, Greek, Roman, Norse being among the favorites, but I’ve also liked Egyptian followed perhaps sparsely by maybe Aztec and a few others.  

OMG….creatures such as the Chimera, Griffin, Phoenix and of course various Dragons have captured my fancy over the years.  A lot of people know Pegasus the Winged Horse, but I’m willing to bet they don’t know more of the creature’s origin / story overall. (smile)  For example…

Pegasus, actually had a twin brother, Chrysaor born from the blood of the Gorgon Medusa after she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. Their father was the Greek God Poseidon.  Pegasus was born as a white, winged stallion, while Chrysaor was a giant or young man often depicted with a golden sword, reflected in his name which means “he who has a golden sword”.  

Chrysaor sorta gets slighted a lot as I think most people are more intrigued by Pegasus and relegate his twin to being simply considered another “Giant”.  He gets lumped into that group with no significant myths of his own and primarily serves a genealogical role as Geryon’s father. In some versions, he became the ruler of a kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula…Bummer!! (sigh)

I’m actually stumped trying to remember when and where I found my two winged horses, but I do know that I found the larger one first, and upon getting the smaller one came to consider them “Parent & Offspring”….sound familiar?? (smile)

By the time one gets into discussing Unicorns JoJo….there’s so-o-o-o doggone much to discover!! (smile)  I’ll admit that I had only thought of them as “Horses with a Horn” if you will, as I didn’t take the time to really delve into their origins, meanings etc.  Man….was I surprised to learn what I didn’t know!! (ha,ha,ha,ha,ha)

Unicorns are not found in Greek mythology, but rather in the accounts of natural history, for Greek writers of natural history were convinced of the reality of unicorns, which they believed lived in India, a distant and fabulous realm for them. Wait….What??

Other sources contend the origin of unicorns is a myth that evolved from multiple ancient cultures, likely based on misidentified animals like the rhinoceros, wild ass, and antelope.  During the Middle Ages, the unicorn became a symbol of purity, grace, and Christ, often depicted as a white, horse-like or goat-like creature that could only be tamed by a virgin. The horn was believed to have powerful healing abilities and could neutralize poisons. In reality, narwhal tusks were often sold as “unicorn horns”.  Goodness….who knew?? (smile)

Just like my Pegasus pieces, I no longer can say exactly where or when I picked up my unicorns…although I do say that my “Unicorn Bust” is one of my favorite pieces overall throughout my entire collection!! (smile) 

As it was with my winged horses, when I came upon a smaller unicorn piece, I put them together in display and referred to them as “Unicorn & Colt”.  Not very imaginative, but sufficiently descriptive!! (ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha)

I was meandering through an Antique Mall a gazillion years ago and came across a very unusual piece.  It’s an oddly shaped, 12-sided (14 if you then count the top & the bottom) crystal clear paperweight looking thing, with a hole in the top and because it’s clear you can see that it appears to be able to hold a small supply of ink, and might’ve been an ink well-ish piece of sorts. 

I was intrigued and thought right away, “I wouldn’t mind finding a cool letter opener, and sliding it into this item and I’d call it, “For he, who would be King”.  Yeah….I liked it!!  I went ahead and bought the inkwell piece (I don’t think it was more than $10.00, and it was so-o-o-o unusual I definitely was gonna find something to do with it) and then went on the search for my letter opener, as I certainly didn’t think I was gonna find a glass or crystal sword that would work!! (

Months later, I’m cruisin’ through another Mall, and I see my Letter Opener.  It had a hilt that looked so-o-o-o cool….it was my perfect Sword!! (Whoo,Whoo!!)  I think the seller only wanted $5.00 for it….JoJo I was excstatic!!  I created my “Sword in the Stone” for $15.00 and I absolutely love it!! (ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha) I don’t know what I’d further include under this title, but at 1,271 words now, I’m really feeling pretty good about having written a decent Chronicle today.  Okay….so it took 6 days, but I’m fine with getting back in the creative writing exercise mode at this point in time. (ha,ha,ha,ha,ha)  I found that writing about my “Creatures of Myth & Legend” was every bit as much fun as I have when I glance over at them and take a nice trip down memory lane!!