On February 28, 2001, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, located some thirty miles below the surface of the earth and a few miles away from Olympia Washington, moved the ground for a bit more than half a minute. Damage was surprisingly light, due, in part, to structural retrofitting throughout the region, and also to the epicenter's depth.
A sand tracing pendulum, located at a shop in Port Townsend called Mind Over Matter (since moved to Sedona, Arizona), produced some very interesting patterns.
The smooth curves you see to the outside of the Earthquake Rose are what you normally see when someone sets the pendulum in motion to make a tracing...and without seismic assistance. You can see the patterns left when someone started it before the earthquake. This happy coincidence made what many people are describing as an eye...some even saying that it looks like Poseidon's eye...do you remember that he was the god of earthquakes as well as the sea?
The earthquake's handiwork is the design in the center. While it's tracery makes up the pupil of the eye, it also strongly resembles a rose, which inspired us to call it the Earthquake Rose.