Cheese Table Flowers

Photographs by Erika Flynn

Emily Henry of Chickadee Hill Flowers making some final on-site adjustments her large cheese-table urn arrangement, 2015.

Home Garden

Photographs by Erika Flynn

I love the time of year when the lilacs leave thick mats of fallen blossoms on the ground. This spring carpet is a fine luxury. I leave the irises to spend their blooms away. Their stalks and molting brown petals are so enchanting. On the night I took these photos the air was damp and heavy. It was low tide and I could smell the wet seaweed on the beach all the way down the block.

Aerial Fancies

"Tulip Farm - Netherlands", photographer unknown

"Tulip Farms of Holland", photographer unknown

"San Francisco Bay salt flats" by Michael Layefski

"Potash evaporation ponds with blue dye near Moab, Utah..." by Kevin Beebe

"Evaporation Ponds" by Jesse Varner

Aerial vantage points provide the oddest perspectives.  Once upon a time — I was standing tiptoes on a chair in the kitchen trying to reach a far-away basket of snacks.  Up on the chair, I discovered that the top of the fridge was caked with a fine layer of fudgy kitchen dust. It was the first time I noticed that our old blue and green rug showed a flock of some birds eating berries.         

In a roundabout way, we arrive back to tulips in Holland with my favorite duo of design - Charles and Ray Eames' Powers of Ten (1977). This amazing and a legendary little film, which profoundly ponders structure and scale, was based on the essay "Cosmic View" by Dutch scholar Kees Boeke.