lights and flowers

I am writing by the golden light of a beautiful ceramic lamp, bought the last time I was in Dingle, Ireland. One of my favorite places on the planet. The glaze reminds me of the way the sea looks in the sunlight sometimes – especially when you look out at the Blasket Islands. I am not from Ireland, but I am homesick for it everytime I look at the lamp for too long. The lamp was made by Louis Mulcahey, who along with his wife Lisbeth are wonderful artisans living in Dingle. You can see their work here and here.

I who am blind can give one hint to those who see — one admonition to those who would make full use of the gift of sight: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to the other senses. Hear the music of voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra, as if you would be stricken deaf tomorrow. Touch each object you want to touch as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if tomorrow you could never smell and taste again. Make the most of every sense; glory in all the facets of pleasure and beauty which the world reveals to you through the several means of contact which Nature provides. But of all the senses, I am sure that sight must be the most delightful.

Helen Keller wrote that in 1933 – as part of an essay called “Three Days to See.” She was writing about the everything she would choose to see if given three days of sight. But it is really an charge to the rest of us – not to miss everything that is around us – even the smallest things….like light and flowers.

I have friends on this side of the screen who are flower farmers. They call themselves avant – gardeners. They call their business flower & bee. A great inspiration in so many ways, they are doing something meaningful and beautiful. The above image is of a bouquet from them, sold at one of their pop up shops last year.

blossom flower bud spray bloom floral flora sprout spray wildflower

Sometimes my dreams are seamless between the virtual and the physical. I am sure there are those of you out there who know this feeling. The above image is of a peony blossom from my garden paired with one of kean kelley’s vases full of blossoms. Kelley is one of the reasons I started blogging. She recently put out a call for bloggers and I thought, “oh geez I love her work and I could write about it all day.” But I didn’t have a vehicle – so this blog was born. She epitomizes the concept of “small things worth seeing.” You will see her work all over the grid – I love recognizing it and seeing how people utilize it. You can visit her mainstore here. Expect to see more about her on these pages. But for now, enjoy the blossoms, the little light with crystals, and the stand up frames (these last two are some of her latest creation.)

blossom flower bud spray bloom floral flora sprout spray wildflower

candle-light illuminated lit luminescent bright golden sunlit bioluminescent

ablaze sunstroke lamplit floodlit inflamed reddened bright iridescent

luminescent incandescent glorious fairy light sunbeam sunburst sun ray

twilight gloaming sunup sundown aurora glow radiate

gaslight torchlight moonshine meteor