White elephant: A possession that is useless or troublesome, especially one that is expensive to maintain or difficult to dispose of. According to Wiki, the tradition derives from tales which associate a white elephant with the birth of the Buddha, as his mother was reputed to have dreamed of a white elephant presenting her with a lotus flower, a common symbol of wisdom and purity, on the eve of giving birth.[5] Because the animals were considered sacred and laws protected them from labor, receiving a gift of a white elephant from a monarch was simultaneously both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because the animal was sacred and a sign of the monarch’s favor, and a curse because the animal had to be retained and could not be put to much practical use, but cost a significant amount to maintain.
Hmmm…that sounds very much like a description of Princess Rosebud, don’t you agree?
April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals month….I’ve protested and spoken out with Peta against the cruel practice of elephant rides at our San Diego County Fair in Del Mar. The life of a captive elephant (or any animal) trained for humans to profit by is barbaric and must end. Please join me in caring about the lives of other species. We must work together to end animal abuse. Click on the link to learn more: http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/tags/elephant+rides/default.aspx
Here’s my very own white elephant. She is extremely beautiful and, as you can see, quite useful, holding a vase of alstroemeria flowers from our garden. I found her at Ross Dress for Less for $29.00. The vase is from Anthropologie. I picked up some color chips from Home Depot to repaint the wall for contrast but I haven’t decided on a color yet.
More elephants!
They’re everywhere!
An elephant box
Cute elephant lamp in our entry
Related articles
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- Watch New HBO Elephant Documentary “An Apology To Elephants” (spiritandanimal.wordpress.com)
- Watch New HBO Elephant Documentary “An Apology To Elephants” (sunsetdaily.wordpress.com)
- Urge India to Stop Using Elephants to Demolish Buildings (forcechange.com)
Enchanted Seashells by Princess Rosebud 
Reblogged this on My Blog spiritandanimal.wordpress.com.
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Thank you so much for the re-blog. Poor animals. They don’t deserve what humans do to them.
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Elephants are one of my all time favourite animals. Very interesting, to learn about the history behind the white elephant. They are such majestic, caring and wonderful animals. It breaks my heart that people would abuse them. They have family bonds so similar to us and mourn the loss of loved ones just as we do.
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Yes, it’s heartbreaking and I know you do so much and we can all educate the general public to be aware of using animals for profit like elephant rides and camel rides and here in San Diego at Sea World, the whales in captivity or those traveling animal circuses. Who gives humans the right to abuse animals. Everyone who attends a show like that is complicit in their abuse. It’s so sad. So sad and so wrong.
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 8:51 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Your white elephant is beautiful!
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thank you, she called to me at the store and I couldn’t leave without bringing her home!
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 9:16 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Pretty! I’m surprised there are no shells on those elephants.
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Don’t be surprised, but you’re not the first person to say that. My answer? The elephants are so beautiful, they don’t need any embellishment!
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 9:53 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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I HATE hearing about animal cruelty – and elephants seem like such gentle creatures. I love your decor – what color are you going with behind the white elephant?
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Thank you!! I decided to carry the same colors in our formal living room, I had created a custom color that replicates the inside of a seashell (duh) and it’s kinda light pink/tan/champagne. For me, it’s very subtle, you know I like strong colors but there’s so much open space in this house, I have to be smart with my color choices. In fact, I just painted it, and I’ll text a pic and put it up on FB when everything gets back together. What I love about paint is if I don’t like it, I can just get another color!
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 10:56 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Paint is THE BEST for a change up because it never costs too much to re-do! 🙂 Can’t wait to see how it turned out.
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Love, love, love all your elephants! Such peaceful creatures, unless of course you mess with their babies. Rather like we humans. 🙂
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Exactly! Us mommies are fierce when we’re protecting our children (of any age). It’s funny, when I found my white elephant, I noticed that I had a few others, so I guess I now have to add that to the things I collect! I just made a Pin board for elephants, too. LOL http://pinterest.com/enchantedcshels/elephants-are-special/
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 11:46 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Elephants are such gentle souls. They, along with humans, are the only known animals to conduct death rituals—holding vigil over a dying herd member, giving it food and water, trying to resuscitate it, “burying” the body and even remaining at the burial site in respect. They’ve been known to also carry the bones of poached elephants back to a burial site.
They’re so remarkable.
(A pale yellow would look nice on that wall, and pair with the vase very well too I think.)
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I wish I could take your suggestion and I agree with it, too, but I felt like I had to go with the living room wall color; I already painted it! What do you think? http://img.ly/ueEG
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 12:39 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Hard to go wrong with a nice neutral, Shelley. Then you can switch the vases and flowers freely too.
I noticed maroon-ish window treatments up the stairs? You could always play on that and do a soft mauve or faded sienna, just on the wallsquares facing the door, IF you ever wanted to play with accent colors.
Feels breezy and flowing now though–I like!
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I like the way you think, the dining room drapes are a dark cherry red than maroon, the lighting is a bit off. I need the capt to come back, he has a really designer instinct! The house is just so open, if everything doesn’t flow, nothing looks right, (like my aqua and fern green bedroom!)
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 1:16 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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I love elephants, especially yours! BTW that definition covers every husband I ever had. Maybe I should have stuck to the real thing.
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Thank you, you might be hearing about me speaking out with Peta again the next time they protest animal abuse here! BTW hubs is the one who picked out the upholstery for our salmon and green sofa! sometimes they DO know a little something!
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 2:27 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Love elephants, and LOVE that vase. I really must come shopping with you. Fur realz. 🙂
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You have an open invitation, girlfriend!
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 3:32 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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You collect elephants like my mother does. Next time I’m at her house I will count them and let you know the number to see if she can possibly compare. Do elephants in jewelry count?
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Yes! Elephants in jewelry count very much. I forgot to add pix of my jade elephant, you just reminded me! I would love to know how many your mom has. She must be a wonderful person 🙂
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 4:08 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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I love your elephants! But, interestingly enough, I did not spot even one seashell in your photos either… you must have a very big house!? Thankfully (for hubs) they don’t need shelves too.
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Ha ha! I tried to take the pics of elephants without showing the seashells all around them, but they’re there, don’t you worry about it! I didn’t want to detract from the “elephant” in the room lol
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 7:16 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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I also collect elephants – another sign we were destined to be friends! I have wooden elephants, glass elephants, brass elephants & marble elephants! All my elephants face east because I heard it’s bad luck for them to face any other direction.
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I didn’t know about facing them east, hmmm, I’ll have see if I can turn any of mine around! I’d love to see pix of your elephants. Do a blog or a Pin board!
On Fri, Apr 19, 2013 at 10:24 PM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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I’ll have to do that one of these days!
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I collect elephants too – absolutely love yours!
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How fun I’ve found so many other elephant collectors, lets see pics!!!
On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 6:04 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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Funny story:
So many many many years ago (probably like 50), my Gram was at a garage sale. And she didn’t really want to buy anything. But she felt like she should…so she spent a quarter on a small elephant figurine. She put it on display in her home. And from there a MASSIVE elephant collection spawned…one that my Gram really never wanted. All because people saw the elephant and thought, “Oh, she likes elephants!”
And then when she passed away, we all got elephants. And my aunt kept saying that we should keep them hidden so we don’t spawn a giant unwanted collection. But I keep mine on display. Because it would be hilarious if it did.
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Come on girl, don’t torment me, where are the pics??? I want to see. Now. 🙂
On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 7:27 AM, Enchanted Seashells…Confessions of a Tugbo
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