Water Lilies

"Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love." - Claude Monet


This is the lily pond at Penn State's Arboretum that I've visited nearly every morning this week. See the past few days' blips for just a few of the beautiful things I've seen there.

Friday morning was no exception. I was there for just fifteen minutes before my work day began, photographing the water lilies and the lotus buds that have begun to bloom.

Every morning that I've been there, I've arrived around the same time, and I've run into the same couple: an elderly man and woman out for a brisk morning walk around campus, out to the Arboretum, and back.

On this morning, I smiled at them (again) and they smiled back. Then the couple and I spoke for the first time. "I'm looking for your tent. Did you pitch a tent here?" the gent asked. I laughed and said No, that I had just stopped by for a few minutes to photograph the lily pond and especially the gorgeous lotus plants that have come into bloom.

They wanted to know: Was I doing this for some kind of class project? I said No, just for my own enjoyment. They seemed pleased at that response. They nodded knowingly, smiled even more broadly.

"It's so beautiful here," I said, pointing to the lilies, to the lotus buds (you can see the reflection of the lotus buds on their tall stems in the left middle part of this photo).

I told them that in the afternoon, the dragonflies arrive and it's really amazing to see. They said they hadn't seen the dragonflies; they only go there in the morning. We both agreed it was nicer to be there in the morning when it's cool, as the day begins and the lilies open. We exchanged a few more pleasantries and then went our separate ways.

I have read that in his latter years - the last 30 or so - French Impressionist Claude Monet painted hundreds of paintings of the water lilies at Giverny. I imagine his gardens were even much more impressive than these. And having spent the week admiring the beauties of the lily pond at the Arboretum, I can understand his obsession perfectly.

One could do worse than to be a painter (or photographer) of water lilies.

Monet, this may be a bit presumptuous of me, but I dedicate this photo to you and to the water lilies that you loved.


P.S. Read about George Griffith, a Penn State alum who was also obsessed with water lilies and lotus plants, and who donated some very special ones to to the Arboretum, including some Chinese lotus plants grown from rare 2,000-year-old seeds.