Once Upon a Lily Pad

In an instant I fell in love with Claude Monet's ethereal, gentle paintings of floating lily pads with their lyrically rendered blossoms.
His brilliant paintings fed my imagination with his beautiful stroke work, saturated color and a strong "sense of place." His paintings created a desire to become a diminutive Thumbelina and live on a private Lily Pad.
There I could bake tiny vanilla cakes, frosted pink, and served on its satin smooth surface.
Every Thumbelina needs a crown; what could be finer than the Blossom with its gentle pointed petals and palette of pastel colors ? 

The Funny Bunnies and I, nearing sunset's magical hour, found ourselves walking around a lake with a floating necklace of Lily Pads. Surely there was a Thumbelina preparing for sleep or perhaps taking her tea.
We certainly looked for her.

 Thumbelina may be the Princess, but....
the Kings of the Pond are the many carmel, sepia colored ducks, with fine black etched feathers.
This was their Kingdom, too.

Little girls and boys (and grown ups, too) love fairy tales, and this walk around the enchanted pond gifted us with such an  adventure.

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Thank you to Kim Klassen for her textures: Robin's Egg, Celery, Mistletoe and Zen

( used on the first three photographs.)

Thank you to Kent Weakley for providing excellent instruction in all things digital.

 Be sure to visit Rebecca's Postcards from Paradise.  The best thing you can do for yourself today.