AN ARTIST'S DATE AT TULIP TIME!

This past week I actually managed to go on an 'Artist's Date', Julia Cameron style. If, by any chance, you're unfamiliar with her book 'The Artist's Way', the idea is to fill the well and increase your creativity. Being open to new experiences that could nourish you is always a good idea.

Yes, it was okay to leave my desk and forget about plot, characters, etc. on this warm spring day. I'm at that point where I need to let my manuscript 'sit' for a bit, before I do another read-through, and hopefully, a last revision. Meanwhile, I'm working on a humourous story for middle grade kids.

For a delightful hour or so I wandered through dazzling displays of tulips. Along with other adults, seniors and others needing carers, families, mothers with babies and young children, teenagers with their bicycles, tourists and so on, I gazed in wonder at the luminous or soft colours, and marvelled at all the thought that goes into designing the beds every year. Every year at the Tulip Fest I experience happiness in the air, as if the sight and presence of all these flowers bring upliftment to everyone's spirit. Here are a few glimpses for your enjoyment. Come tiptoe with me!

Here I am in front of a mixed bed. Behind me (as on the notice) you can see the tulip specially created by the Dutch for our Canada 150 year celebrations.