Rolling Carpets of Azaleas!

Wanted to share this link to a slideshow taken with the "azalea-cam" of a favorite local spot, the R.W. Norton Art Gallery . Each Spring the gallery's gardens become a living magic carpet of azaleas! Millions of blooms in shades of pink and white cascade over the rolling, pine-tree shaded hills in masses so wide you can't see around them and so tall you can't see over them! As soon as word travels around the area that "Norton's is in full bloom" people start flocking with cameras in hand and little children in tow, intent on capturing that perfect Easter portrait or to just stroll through the lanes between the plantings in awestruck wonder. Art students and Sunday Painters join the throng, setting up their easels or using one of the benches as a vantage point to balance sketchbook and supplies. I was one of them once upon a time - choosing to render in soft pastels a branch of light to medium pink blossoms dotted at the throats by the Creator with tiny spots fushia. I have no idea what the name of the variety was - I just thought it was the most lovely thing! Luckily it was in the middle of the afternoon one school day so there was no-one in the gardens but me and a couple of my artsy friends, allowing us time to work until our drawings and paintings met final approval. Hunched in intense silence over our projects, I remember that all the while the stillness was broken only by the staccato of birdsong, the babbling of a tiny brook flowing in a ravine just behind us, and the gentle breeze whispering through the pines overhead. This year is a much different story - my friend Betty tried to go over there last weekend but the cars were lined up for blocks so she decided to try again on a week day. As for me, my baby is grown now and having already had his first Easter portrait taken among the rosy blooms some 22 years ago, I think this year I'll just enjoy those pictures again and keep checking Norton's web site to see what the azalea-cam provides for viewing pleasure. Do take a look yourself and enjoy!