Mother Nature

I am quite sure that this is the happiest water lily in Florida.  It gets to live in a well-tended pond just outside Chanel on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach - where beauty of all kinds is admired.

When I walked toward the long (at least 15 feet!) raised cement water garden, I wondered if I was looking at a "stunt flower" - a waxy imitation designed to look like the real thing.  But this flower is as real, as it is gorgeous.  It must have opened that morning because the petals were pristine.

I was leaning over photographing it, when a woman and two children wandered into this area.  I struck a deal with them that I would use their camera and take their picture, if they would stop and take a photograph of this water lily.  They accepted and I told the girls (about 6 & 8) that "It's not often that you get to be this close to a water lily," which seemed to make it all the more exciting for them.

Sometimes in the middle of beauty-by-design (a cement landscape, Chanel shops, and glamorous cars) you need to put the spotlight on Mother Nature.