Ode to Gaudi

"Smile, breathe and go slowly".

Thich Nhat Hanh

When you go slowly, you notice the small details, the way the sunlight gleams through the leaves.  When you breathe, you take it all in, knowing it is all you, nothing is separate.  When you smile, you pass this to each person who perceives your smile, and each person who does not.

 
Antoni Gaudi was a Catalonian who noticed, who felt whole in nature and who could smile through his creations.  I adore Gaudi and his amazing melding of fantasy and nature.  They are a bit Seussian.  I love how he brings the natural world to life inside human dwellings.  One Gaudi house feels as if you are inside a giant dragon creature, complete with skeleton supporting the structure. 

My girls and I read the beautifully illustrated and written children's book, "Building on Nature, The Life of Antoni Gaudi" today in homeschool, and before I got to the 3rd page, B. asked, "Can we go look him up on the internet?  I have to see!!!"  She loved the iguana fountain best.  K., the dragon gate.  I couldn't pick for anything......it's all my favorite.

Not everyone understood or admired his work.  He didn't care.   Nature was his language, his creations, a living poem.  Every small detail in our world caught his loving eye.

Our cottage is filled with little bits of this and that, mostly collected by the girls and myself, out puttering in nature.  Birds' nests and broken egg shells (from a red winged hawk last spring!), shells, and bones.  Lots and lots of bones (a raccoon skull!!).  Here are some of my favorites, resting now in the garden.  I think Gaudi would like our creations too.

Creative blessings to you