Oh to be Rich!

🚍A recent bus trip to Newport, RI provided so many diverse opportunities for  photography. The city is known for the "summer cottages" of the rich and famous of the early 1900s.  Many of them lived in New York City and wanted to escape the summer heat and enjoy the fresh, ocean air. 

   They concentrated on entertaining with extravagant dinners, dances and parties. The hosts tried to out do each other to display their wealth and good taste.    

I found inspiration for a number of future blogs and felt it hard to narrow down the number of pictures to post here.  The city is on the water, providing many nautical scenes. (This will be a source for a future article.)  The opulence of the famed homes included opportunity to shoot extra wide views, or macro, zeroing in on the minute details of the number of artifacts preserved in each house.  I found it overwhelming trying to take in all that I saw.

At times, no matter how good the picture, it failed to match the view I had.  Two dimensional representations were inadequate to provide the same emotional impact as the three-dimensional experience of being in the picture and not just looking at it.

  

It reminded me of those busy sketches in which familiar objects were placed in a larger scene.  The challenge was to find the objects.  The longer one looked, the more items could be discovered.

On my tour, I noticed more interesting things if I took the time to grasp the details.  The fringe on curtains and furniture.  Designs on floors and ceilings.  Carvings over doorways and on door knobs.

  

Many of the doors in the dwellings contained a lot of glass so that the objects in the corners behind them could be seen.  Every nook and cranny made use of those spaces by putting some eye candy there...  More stages for the multitude of gorgeous property they owned and wanted to show off.

Even personal items which were rarely seen by anyone other than the owner were 

extravagantly dear.  

All of the homes were attention grabbers that bedazzled and mesmerized people before stepping inside.    The architecture, landscaping and design all foretold the extravagance of the people who lived inside.

  The Breakers was owned by the Vanderbilts who made their fortune in rail roads. Their children rode their bicycles in the large entry way hall!        

    Unfortunately time did not allow a visit to the gardens. 

Their enormous gates were formidable! 

Each of the residences had enormous entryways where ornate staircases descend from the floor above and stretched out as if to welcome those who came. The curves and carvings of the railings were fashioned by master craftsman able to incorporate complex and intricate designs.

            What are your homes like?  

An old English proverbs states "Home is a man's castle."

Would you want any of the furnishings you saw in the pictures?  What would your ideal abode be, if it could be done on your budget?  Have you photographed houses?  Some of you have built your houses or constructed your own additions and upgrades. 

There are many famous places like the White House  but for me, I am content to live by the side of the road in a comfortable, humble, place and "be a friend to mankind." (see The House by the Side of the Road by Sam Walter Foss.)

  

                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                       

       

FLOWER POWER

     This should be an easy topic for me.  I L💖VE flowers.  🌻    Yet, it is difficult to narrow the theme.  Plants are so prolific.  There are 250,00-400,00 species of flowers, depending how they are classified.   I remind family and friends to send them to me while I am alive to enjoy them. (hint) Flowers at funerals often comfort the living!

It is not only their color, but their scent and texture which are varied and attractive!

     Used in so many ways for so many occasions, flowers have been used to brighten our lives since the first child picked a fist full! I recall gathering a handful of dandelions and presenting them to my grandmother. 

She reacted as though they were a dozen roses! I had no idea that by dinner time they would go into the trash due to their very limited longevity, once picked. HA! Just try to get them out of your lawn!! Or even a crack in the paving. Such tenacity they have.

    With a bit of research, I discovered that the first people to use floral decorations were the Egyptians. Somehow, that did not surprise me.  For all the work they did regarding dead kings (and what we do now for deceased queens 😢💂) demonstrate their ornate and intricate use of architecture and items inside of those constructions.  There are four periods when flower arranging developed. In addition to the Egyptian, the other periods are Greek, Roman and ancient Chinese.   I was not surprised by the inclusion of those cultures, either.  If you are interested in learning more, I suggest you check out the website I used for the info:  www.Study.com. 

Here in the Assisted Living where I reside, we are going to have a chance to do some flower arranging soon.  There are a few gardens on the property and every floor has an area where potted plants seem to dance in the sunny spots they occupy. Flowers certainly have an emotional impact!!

    World renown gardens such as Longwood in Pennsylvania and Buchart in Canada, both of which I had the good fortune of visiting and photographing, seem to be like Paradise. Often, during my travels, I discovered   so many oases where all kinds of blooms lifted my spirit.  We may not have to venture further than our door, where we simply enjoy our own backyard or neighborhoods.

What would a wedding be without flowers? After our son's nuptial, I gathered some of the table arrangements, dried the contents, and put them into little bags with added scent, which I then gave to my daughter- in-love, her mother, and her bridesmaids.     

How many celebrate with floral gifts, be it a nosegay, a piece done in porcelain, or imprinted on Tee shirts? I am blessed to have a husband who never tires of sending, or giving me arrangements--often, "just because."  🌼
I like to surprise others with a centerpiece from time to time.   

Don't young ladies remember their first corsage?  Young men may not be keen on recalling flowers that they had, but I suspect some can remember their wives tossing the wedding bouquet.        

   

     I don't think I will ever forget my initial visit to Pike's Peak. I was fortunate to have a friend drive up there. This afforded opportunities to stop along the way. Above the timberline, were some very, very tiny colorful flowers. They grew close to the ground, and we were careful not to step on them.   

 I found it interesting that in a pretty remote place, such beautiful little plants grew. How many people get to see them, or notice them, while going up the mountain?  Yet here I was thanking God for such a beautiful experience!

    Even fruit trees and some vegetables produce blossoms!  Several types of weeds display flowers.  Queen Ann's Lace reminds me of a lace curtain.

      A friend of mine, who encouraged me to write this blog, also has a blog. Her most recent post was about plants.  She seems go have not only a green thumb, but the fingers of both hands certainly must be the deepest shade of green. You can view her blogs at www.starmint.wordpress.com and wwwchickadee99.wordpress.com.   

I am indebted to her for her encouragement as I enjoy writing, sharing pictures, and (hopefully) uplifting you! After reading her blog, it gave me inspiration to select this theme about flowers. Sometimes, the most difficult thing in writing can be the selection of a topic!  Some other time I may compose one about trees.                                               

    It was hard to limit not only the number of shots to include, but also, which ones.  

If you made a scrapbook of your flower pictures, which would you include?  Where is your favorite garden?  Even if you don't want to capture them in camera, go to a farm stand, or even Target, and invest in a few flowers today!