A series of essays….
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SO DELIGHTFUL TO THE EYE — A LARGE BOWL OF DELICATE, COLORFUL CALLA LILIES! |
….as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E Hughes
I love it when the evening sunlight spreads itself so generously across the golf course behind our cottage. The Master Pastry Chef has outdone Herself as she generously smooths lemon buttercream along the gentle hills and slopes of the eighth fairway and splashes the trees and newly formed leaves with glittering fragments of gold leaf. Tree trunks are illuminated with pure light as the sun slowly sets in the western sky and I wonder if the playfulness of the sun and clouds will offer a sideshow of plum and salmon ribbons of color bursting through the diminishing blue sky. I can only sit here and hope to witness more of God’s magic as evening flows into night shadows.
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THE EVENING SUNLIGHT LIBERALLY FLOWS ACROSS THE EIGHTH FAIRWAY! |
Our little cottage remains a constant work in progress, inside and out. We always knew this would be the case going into this rather large project almost six years ago while still living and working in Orlando. How can one fail to nurture and love something as giving as the roof and four walls that protect you from the elements and coddles you in such an indulgent way? Whatever work we do on our little cottage, the joy of living here comes back to us ten times over.
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RHODODENDRON AND LAVENDER FILL THE SMALL FRONT YARD. |
Yesterday, before sitting at our back deck to relax and observe the highlighting of the eighth fairway, we spent the day in Claude Monet mode, manipulating light and shadow to portray landscapes in a groundbreaking manner; arbiters of our personal works of art. Instead of depicting water lilies resting on a serene pond and Japanese footbridges, we filled cornflower blue and terra cotta pots with calla lilly pastels, the rich greens of rosemary and sage, and marigolds popping with the brightness of tangerine orange and sunshine yellow.
As a young man, Monet always enjoyed the outdoors. He had spent his entire youth moving from town to town along the river Seine. But wherever he lived, he planted flowers. He justified his obsessive garden-making on the grounds that flowers gave him a subject to paint while he was indoors. We learned about this specific point on our visit to the artist’s garden and home in Giverny, France, located fifty miles northwest of Paris, a few years ago. We were fortunate to have walked along the famous gravel paths, drifted under the arbors clad in a profusion of color and fragrant scents that arched just above our heads, and take note of the giant water lilies thriving among the gentle ripples of Giverny’s famous pond. Yes, we strolled across the Japanese footbridge and marveled at being able to walk in Monet’s footsteps and actually experienced the spiritual presence of this brilliant man.
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SEVERAL PICTURES FROM OUR VISIT TO GIVERNY— DAN IS WEARING A HAT STANDING ON THE JAPANESE FOOTBRIDGE. |
Dan has captured the essence of Giverny by painting from the pictures we’d taken while exploring those hallowed grounds. Just like the budding artists who moved to Giverny to learn from the master himself, Monet’s gift of individualizing the beauty that surrounded him continues to influence many of us who paint and enjoy gardening, today.
Our Monet moment yesterday consisted of combining swatches of color from the living plants we’d found most pleasing to our own eyes and transferring these plants in groups or stand-alone vignettes within the flower beds and pots. It was pleasing to discover how masterful, if only by the sheer joy of the work, a gardener utilizes shapes and color just as Monet had enjoyed doing so many years before. Gardening feeds the soul, encourages personal artistic expression, and stimulates, through our physical labor, the production of endorphins that help us diminish the perception of stress and pain.
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THE BIG, BLUE POT THAT LIVES ON OUR BACK DECK |
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FLOWERS AND HERBS— OUR ATTEMPT AT KEEPING THEM FROM BEING NIBBLED ON! |
As the onset of the glorious sunset was tempting me with lemon buttercream and the sparkle of golden trees, I knew I was absolutely exhausted from the day’s labor. Grabbing an ice cold can of cherry and lime flavored La Croix sparkling water from the refrigerator, it was time to step out on the back deck, find a comfy seat, and observe the beauty that surrounded me. This is, truly, a magical time of the day!
Tomorrow we will tackle a few more studies in color and balance around the yard, revel in the fact that our fourteen-year-old granddaughter will be getting her first Pfizer inoculation, and eventually become exhausted, once again, while loving every moment of it. As each day, week, and month goes by, you will find us sitting on the back deck and marveling at the beauty all around us, including our own works of art, all while attempting to never take any of it for granted as long as our time here exists. Color us—happy!
Copyright © 2021 by Jacqueline E Hughes
All rights reserved
Photos Copyright © 2021 by Jacqueline E Hughes
All rights reserved
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