La Begude Lilies

Lilies are lovely, but wild lilies are magical! You can walk for hours in a field, or explore old ruins, like my cousins, Barbara and Dirk and I did a few years ago in La Bégude-de-Mazenc, in the Provence of France, and still not spot them. They are tiny!

We explored the ruins of an ancient church over 600 years old in a ravine, below a valley covered by trees and vines. A narrow and bumpy dirt road took us there. The walls of the remnants of this church must have towered 75 to 100 feet high. Some walls were crumbling, and here and there you could spot ferns, weeds, and grass, but if you were lucky you spotted something else, something magical!

I stood in the middle of this awe-inspiring ruin, of which each granite block must have weighed 600-800 pounds. Think you worked hard, yesterday? Consider what the architects of this colossal creation endured. Keep in mind there was no running water back then, so finding a fountain to refresh yourself was something unimagined.

I wandered along the walls, and by the grace of the Spirits, the universe, and divine intervention, I peered above my head to spot the tiny beauties near a corner. Luck was at hand and made a crumbling wall and ledge available for me to climb up on and get near these graceful ladies of the flower world, which were only 1 inch long each.

I finger climbed my way up the wall, stretched out by the ledge, and snapped the photo. This was one of those moments when I felt truly blessed to have a pocket camera, because had I used my Nikon film camera with an extended lens, I would have leaned out too far and fallen off the ledge.

Yup, that was a close call, but well worth it! I love being alive for moments like these. May the adventure never stop!
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