The Gift of Flowers

There are now, just this week, red poppies on campus; I must confess that I like them even better than the California orange—maybe because they remind me of Greece, of Adonis, of my Cretan novel which still languishes waiting for a long lazy summer (and the wisdom) to revise it.

Georgia O’Keeffe, who famously lived in my home state, and whose museum now stands on the site of my father’s old office, was generous in her gift of bright flowers.  She said of the need for that:

"When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else.  Most people in the city rush around so, they have no time to look at a flower.  I want them to see it whether they want to or not."  
—Georgia O'Keeffe

Take time, today, to look at whatever flower comes to hand, painted or live.  Lose—and find—yourself in that world.

image:  Red poppy (Papaver rhoeas), 55294 Bodenheim, Germany, Vera Buhl