A visual feast at Macy’s Painted Garden

Screen Shot 2013-03-28 at 9.41.47 AMThis year’s Macy’s Flower Show is a definite stunner to the senses. The theme is The Painted Garden and is inspired by the colorful, brilliant flowers, jewels and market hues of India and Southern Asia. For most Minnesotans like myself, who are literally starved of color right now, the rainbow hues of the Painted Garden offer a visual feast to our hungry eyes.

As you walk through the room, all at once you are at peace as you smell the fragrance of a thousand flowers. Gentle background music lightly hums in your ears, and the room is an elaborate display of colors ranging from a magnificent variety of tropical flowers to the brightly colored hanging umbrellas and gorgeous paintings along the walls.

I still can’t decide what my favorite flower or work of art is at the Painted Garden. But I’d have to vote either for the centerpiece of the show, the elaborate, exotic elephant sculpture which proudly wears a blanket made of 20 different species of dried and fresh plant material or the insanely surreal Phalaenopsis Blue Orchids which are out of this world.

Come, take a look for yourself at some of the gorgeous flowers that paint the 8th floor of Macy’s department store in downtown Minneapolis. You will not leave this post disappointed!

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Photography: If a rose could last forever

Remember back in early and mid-Spring, I did a series of posts on the perennial gardens over near Lake Harriet?  (click here to see most recent post). I found some delightful surprises that captivated my soul and I’ve gone back several times since to see what new has come up.

The biggest attraction of all of course is the Rose Garden which blooms each summer in hundreds of colors and types of roses.  When it is in full bloom, it is perhaps one of the most beautiful places in the city.

I’d been watching the Rose Garden often during my daily runs around the lake and nothing  had transpired since the last time I’d checked.  However, Monday was entirely different.  Sophia and I set off on a bike ride along the lakes and on our way home I noticed a blur of color as we passed by the Rose Garden.  I wondered out loud….is it ready?

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Photography: From Minnesota with love

I couldn’t help myself. I am overwhelmed by the beauty of spring and the delightful array of colorful spring flowers.

I believe strongly that nature can heal you.  Enlighten you.  And brighten your soul.  I was drawn to visit the Minnesota Arboretum in the outlying suburbs for an afternoon of photo taking and embracing the beauty of mother nature’s rebirth and revival.

Hope you enjoy!  No worries, too.  After this post, I’m back to Guatemala with a visit to some of Antigua’s famous ruins!  

The tulips were so brilliant, they hurt my eyes. 

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The Power of Flowers: Spring in Minnesota

When I was planning out my travel schedule this year, it never occurred to me that I would have the fortuitous opportunity of experiencing three Springs.  Spring is one of my favorite times of year.  After a long, cold, brutal, colorless winter suddenly there is a huge rebirth of color and everything comes to life.  This rebirth of life brings so much joy to me that at times I find myself engulfed in absolute spring fever madness.

I can’t concentrate.  I can’t stand to be indoors.  My heart and soul are bursting with energy to be outside and to be alive once again.  I want to run faster.  I want to breathe freer.  My soul is begging me to be outside, experiencing the thrill of mother nature at her finest.

Photo of tulip bursting with color and brightness and growing towards the sun…

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