The Year of the Rabbit
#3
I love when I can carve out some creativity time when I am busy ‘doing other things’. Needless to say life is quite busy- family, work, chores…the various and sundry obligations of life that take up almost all of one’s time. But while I try to make time for my interests-and often succeed- it is also a delicious bonus when I can get a stolen moment piggy backed onto the doing of other things. Such was yesterday. I took my kid to go sit the SAT at a high school about an hour from home. He can drive but it was wickedly early so I drove him. I thought well now I have some time to kill. I knocked out my various errands and thought eh I guess I’ll go for a walk even though it threatened rain. But wait-The high school where my kid is taking the SAT is called Chatfield. Maybe that means the Chatfield Farms location of the Denver Botanic Gardens is near here? Yes! 11 minutes away and opening at that time as well. And it was perfection. Colorado is having a very rainy spring- and Chatfield was as green as green gets. It was overcast which intensifies that green feeling. Is there a word for the most saturated green a green can be? Maybe ultra-verdant. That was Chatfield yesterday. I had always wanted a chance to visit this part of the Denver Botanic which is located miles away from the downtown one that I love and have frequented over the years. And there is a sculpture there that I had hoped to see while it was still up-it shows up in all the literature and emails. The sculpture is called ‘One Fell Swoop' by Patrick Dougherty and has been up for a few years if I am recalling correctly. It is a naturally derived willow branch sculpture- aptly named for its swoopy ins and outs. It is interactive- you can walk into it and around it and you can sit in it- and I did. I felt like a little rabbit in my warren. Each part of it offered up a different shape and each opening a new window onto all that green. I was able to appreciate this lovely piece of environmental art without any other people for a while before moving on and walking a few miles through the wet lands and iris gardens. The sky started really pouring when I got to my car, soaked, flower drunk and thoroughly happy to have had that moment to myself. Back to life.
-amy 6/4/23