Friday, August 10, 2007

Water Lilies





Almost a century ago, Claude Monet was getting old. He had cataracts in both eyes, but still he loved to sit in his French garden and paint his water lilies......over and over and over. Nearly 250 water lily paintings from the last thirty years of his life have survived.












I begin to understand his fascination with the way lilies and bridges go together.




Water lilies are queer, elegant plants with alien-looking seed pods.



Casually called water lilies, they are known in the botanical world as American lotus. Lotus are quite prolific, even considered a weed in some places because of how rapidly they spread. Their roots are edible - American Indians dug them up for food. The floating leaves are flat pancakes on the water, resting pads for toad launches. But as the stems rise, the leaves droop into a graceful cup.

I like the reflections in the water.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow Mom, those are really nice pictures. I really like your writing too. It's interesting. I never really thought about water lillies before but they sure are pretty aren't they?

marmaladeinstead said...

You are a great blogger. Please don't quit after I go back to school.
<3

Anonymous said...

Those are so pretty! Is this somewhere near your house?

Miss Alice said...

Kristi - These lilies -er- lotus are on Carter Lake - the one right across the street from the Omaha airport. I had never seen them before.

Rebecca said...

they're BEAUTIFUL!