Poppies and Thoughts

My friend Ronnie and I made a spontaneous visit to the NYBG on Friday.  We haven’t gone out drawing together in a long time and so this was a wonderful day in many ways.  The day was lovely, weather wise, and so even though there was an Emily Dickinson Garden theme at the Conservatory we stayed outside and sat on the edges of a cherry blossom tree.  Fortunately there were still some tissue pink blossoms on the tree and when the wind gently blew it snowed a few remaining pale pink petals our way.  We made some drawings and talked.  The sun was bright and hot so we went inside for some coffee.  Then we made our way over to the Conservatory and went in to see how Emily Dickinson lived with her flowers.  Ronnie sat down immediately in front of the poppies and began drawing and painting.  I was told by the guard to get rid of my remaining iced coffee.  I did so.  I came back and walked around the scene for awhile and shot some pictures of the most incredible array of flora I had seen in quite some time.  These were all the flowers and plants that Emily Dickinson was surrounded by while living in her house and from which she wrote her poetry.  Apparently she never left her home.  I wondered what my life would have been like had I never left my house.  Different, to say the least.  So I went back to Ronnie, who was sitting in front of the poppies, the best seat in the house, of course, and sat down and started drawing.  In what seemed like an instant, the guard came over and asked us to move.  We gathered up our paper and materials and moved along. So, I only have this one poppy drawing from that afternoon. But I thought, had I never left my house I never would have made this drawing or the cherry blossom drawing, sitting next to my friend and doing what we both love to do, draw!

In the name of the Bee –

And of the Butterfly –

And of the Breeze – Amen!

Emily Dickinson

I love this…Nature is Emily’s religion – Amen!

Margaret