Loose Leaf Notes

It’s never too late put flowers on the table / to let the song birds of your childhood / sing like Jericho through middle age / To let them be blue/ and enjoy them when they’re golden / to visit Claude Monet’s garden in spring…

Ever since I wrote that poem with the above closing line, it’s been known in my circles that visiting Claude Monet’s garden has been on my bucket list.

I’ve been a fan of the French Impressionists artists, like Monet, for a long time and have wanted to see his garden and the iconic lily pond and green bridge pictured in one of his paintings since I first knew about them.

I not only made it to Monet’s lily pond and garden, but Joe and I put our feet in the pond while sitting on the bridge.

We took pictures from every angle, like this one that I call “the fantasy shot.”

We met Monet’s garden’s gardener.

And toured the painter’s home.

After my husband agreed to teach a teen meditation retreat in England this August, it seemed like a good idea to take a vacation together before the retreat. With the help of our friend Jody from Rose of the Winds, we put together a custom trip that included 3 days in Paris, including a train ride to Giverny, where Claude Monet lived, painted and gardened, followed by 5 days eating and hiking in Italy (another bucket list bullet point).

We took the petite tour train in and out, through the town on Vernon, which was fun in of itself.  Once we arrived, even waiting in line to buy tickets was worth it!

So, it might be too late for some things in life, like hiking the Camino or wearing a bikini. But it wasn’t too late to see Monet’s Garden. I still have a smile on my face!

-Read about our day one in Paris and the Leaning Tower of Eiffel HERE.