The Beautiful Flowers of Carmel

I visited Carmel many times before moving here and I always went home with the striking image of flowers in my mind.   Everywhere I went in Carmel, there were aways flowers.  In people’s yards, hanging from their houses, in restaurants, in the plaza, in the park, in  the retail stores and even in front of real estate offices.

I would go home determined to plant more flowers in my yard, which I usually did.  I’m not sure there is anything else that is a growing thing that can put me in such a delightful mood!  I love asparagus, but it does’t make my heart sing like flowers do.  So enjoy some of the “belles fleures” of Carmel.

‘Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.”                                      ~Luther Burbank

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”          ~Henri Matisse

“I must have flowers, always, and always.”  ~Claude Monet

“Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.”  ~Theodore Roethke

“I will be the gladdest thing under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.”
~Edna St. Vincent Millay

“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in–what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.”
~Victor Hugo

I will end with my favorite flower.  Talk about making my heart sing – gazing at, experiencing it, and smelling it -a rose makes my heart sing Handel’s Hallelujah chorus of the Messiah.

So I urge you, stop and smell and enjoy and savor the roses and all the other beautiful flowers of Carmel.  If you’re somewhere else, smell the sweet gifts of nature wherever you are!  But we hope you’ll come to Carmel soon!