Photo: John Haynes

What a delightful moment when we walked into the Club Center Lobby and found ourselves in a bower of flowers.  A group of our neighbors, in collaboration with our Activities staff, had organized our own “Art in Bloom” event. We were seeing the results. Thirteen creative spirits responded with exhibits of floral arrangements and pictures of the paintings that inspired them. Most took their cues from the French Impressionists. 

We worked our way through displays ranging from lush collections of roses to spare uses of irises and saw imagination at work everywhere. Next to a picture of a ballerina by Degas, we found a bowl of lamb’s ears, the silver foliage echoing the dancer’s tutu.  One exhibitor recreated Manet’s “The River,” complete with a little house and—surprise—a river of jello! Now that was clever! And it proved irresistible to some who had to put it to the touch test. Even the fabric under one arrangement gave a hint of the lacy sleeve worn by a lovely lady painted by Renoir. Japanese influence appeared in another display with tiny flowers in tiny vases artfully arranged atop little teakwood stands. In an interpretation of Monet’s “In the Garden,” we found a trellis made of twigs sitting on a green lawn, everything covered with flowers. So romantic!

Not too far from those glorious flowers, residents could see a diorama of a proposed orchard park for Carolina Meadows. A lovely path winding through the trees, tiny people sitting on benches, and a little gazebo which, when the top is lifted, shows a table with miniature replicas of food and wine. 

Those fertile minds here at Carolina Meadows are always thinking of something new for us to see and do.