Stopping Time & Saving Beauty

by | May 14, 2023 | Gardens, photography, spring, tulips | 22 comments

The nursery school my daughters attended had a large grassy playground with a kalachuchi tree as big as a large house on one end of it. Every day when I dropped my daughter off, there were tens of dozens of kalachuchi blossoms on the grass, and the gardener was sweeping them up and throwing them in the trash.

(You may know the kalachuchi as a plumeria or a frangipani—big and fragrant with five perfect petals. Such a sad sight to see them thrown in the trash!)

This was long ago, before cellphones. Otherwise, I would have taken a picture of the still-fresh-looking blossoms. Instead, each morning I would put one in my hair and hold another between my fingers so I could sniff its perfume on the way home.

Tennessee Williams once said that “Snatching the eternal out of the desperately fleeting is the great magic trick of human existence.” I assume he was referring to the magic tricks performed by writers and playwrights like him.

But we all have that same urge to stop time and save beauty. Why else would we whip out our cellphones every time we see something we like? A beautiful sunset, someone blowing bubbles on the beach, cherry blossoms and crocuses and daffodils, all of them gone too soon. We take countless pictures of our children and grandchildren. We know how fast they grow. We need to capture their young adorableness in a photo while we can.

I thought about this urge to stop time and save beauty a few weeks ago on our visit to the tulip fields. It seems that simply looking at the tulips and daffodils was not enough for the visitors. Everyone wanted to save the beautiful flowers … on their phones. Presumably, the next thing they they would do would be to share them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and message them to their friends.

People also posed with the flowers, saving a memory of themselves together with the tulips.

Some people planned ahead and dressed up for their photos.

Tennessee Williams didn’t have a cellphone, but he did perform the magic trick of saving his memories, thoughts, and skill in 29 major plays. Some examples: A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Night of the Iguana, and, his most autobiographical play, The Glass Menagerie.

I didn’t dress up.

22 Comments

  1. Mabel Kwong

    That is quite a memory, the beautiful kalachuchi blossoms swept away by the gardener all those years ago. It is an interesting topic, of being present around us and taking photos of what’s in front of us. Taking photos is way to look back on something and relive the moments. For me, taking photos is a way to observe more closely. Though I must say sometimes I do prefer not fiddling with a camera and simply enjoying the moment – fully immersed in my surroundings and allowing the world to show me what it is right there and then. A balance between the two is always nice 🙂 Lovely photos of the flowers, Nicki. And a lovely photo of you too 😊

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      Before cellphones, photos were more expensive, and we had to wait until we finished a roll and had it developed before we could enjoy the picture. Consequently, we took few photos, and many of them were posed. Then we pasted them in photo albums. That’s another difference. Now I take so many pictures, but I don’t preserve them. My sister has a whole shelf full of our mom’s photo albums.

      About fifteen years ago, I went on a two-week guided tour of Sicily and southern Italy with some friends. I’d never been to Italy, and I knew the tour would move fast from place to place and that there would be lots of information for me to absorb. So I didn’t take a camera. And that was probably a good choice. On the other hand, I’d love to have a record of all the wonderful places we visited. Life happens so fast, and sometimes we miss a lot. But we do the best we can.

      Reply
  2. Debs Carey

    I suffer with conflict on this subject. When I have my camera (or even my mobile phone) I do like to capture and then share something beautiful. But then I also love to just live in the moment and fully experience it, leaving any thoughts of snapping it for posterity behind.

    So many of our memories – especially the earliest ones – turn out to be traceable back to photographs, so I cannot berate myself when I do take them. But I equally love those occasions when I’ve made a conscious effort not to take a picture (or when I cannot for practical reasons) and find the image remains in my mind’s eye for longer than if I’d snapped the shutter.

    It’s a tricky one…

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      I also feel conflicted about picture taking. About 15 years ago, I went on a group tour of Sicily and southern Italy, places I’d never been before. Everything was new to me. Plus, the tour had an ambitious schedule. So I decided to just be present, observe, and enjoy myself. I didn’t even bring a camera. I suppose that was the right choice. On the other hand, I’ve forgotten so much that now I sometimes wish I had photos to look back on. It was a fascinating trip. It would be nice to remember the names of all the towns and sights we visited. I might have kept a journal, but I probably wouldn’t have had time for that either.

      Living in the moment and capturing it in some way both have their virtues. I remember one week when I captured some of the beauty of Baguio, Philippines. some friends invited me to stay with them and devote my time to sketching. They had a driver who drove me around to different spots every morning and afternoon. I had a wonderful time and came home with a notebook full of sketches that I turned into paintings.

      Reply
  3. nrhatch

    Gorgeous shots, Nicki!

    Like you, I would have dressed warmly. 😀

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      Thanks, Nancy.

      It was a cloudy day with some sprinkles–not really cold, but my jacket felt good.

      Reply
  4. Sophia

    I share the urge to stop time and loved your collection of photos!

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      Photography is a bit like writing. Whatever we experience melts away if we don’t pay close attention and remember and, even better, lend some weight to it by turning it into a book and sharing it.

      Reply
  5. Maureen Rogers

    So gorgeous Nicki. I haven’t been up there for a few years so it was wonderful to catch a glimpse through your photos! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      Oh! There are so many more photos we could have taken, especially if we’d driven around or used a drone. Ha ha. Last time my sister and I visited the tulip fields, we drove around and took a few pictures from the roadside.

      Reply
  6. Autumn

    So much effort into fleeting moments. No wonder we try and save them.

    But I applaud keeping it real with your comfy and warm clothes!

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      It was cool with occasional sprinkles that day, but that didn’t stop the people who had dressed up so they could use the tulip fields as a background for selfies. That was new to me.

      Was this one of the fleeting moments you were thinking of: baking one of your beautiful cakes and then seeing how fast it gets eaten.

      Reply
  7. Kate Crimmins

    Love the picture of you!

    Reply
  8. Anne Byam

    What a lovely collection of photographs you have shown here Nicki. I am a very very amateur photographer but have always been drawn to photographing trees, flowers, ( hundreds of pics I think ) … and anywhere in the garden or out and about … but always flora of some kind. Can’t often get my family / friends to behave themselves in front of the camera, so don’t bother to pursue that too often !! The other pics in my collections, are of all my many pets over the years, and with two now, there are dozens of photos of them.

    I very much enjoy reading your articles / stories. I am not one to comment too often on things I read or see, but this really hit a lovely note.

    ( I am the Aussie friend of Ann S. in Washington State ).

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      I’m so glad my apple phone has figured out all I need to know to take pictures. For a very brief time in the eighties, I tried to figure out things like F-stops, but I soon lost interest. When I was a kid, before I was old enough to have a phone, I liked to draw. A little neighbor girl and I liked to draw camellias. Family? I have one daughter and one grandson who don’t like to get in the picture. The rest are well behaved. Pets (animals in general) are such a delight. I don’t have a pet how, but I love the cute and amusing photos people post.

      Thank you, so much, Anne for reading my posts. (I’m guessing you mean my dear cousin, Ann.)

      Reply
  9. L. Marie

    Happy Mother’s Day!

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      Happy Mother’s Day to you. You’re such a good motherly friend to so many writers.

      Reply
  10. L. Marie

    I often save photos of flowers (and clouds) on my cell phone Nicki. Your photos are beautiful! They are like a scoop of loveliness and color to brighten someone’s day, especially if the day is gray like it is here.

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      We have lots of gray days here, especially in the winter. That’s why I appreciate the blue skies we’re having now so much. I hope your sky will turn blue soon.

      Reply
  11. Ally Bean

    We all try to enjoy what we can, don’t we? You’ve explained the *why* behind all the photos of flowers that I take. You and TW have it right: I’m saving the eternal via an image on a cell phone… which in and of itself is kind of a magic trick. I like the photo of you, you look perfectly dressed for the situation.

    Reply
    • Nicki Chen

      Everything our cellphones can do is amazing. Thank you to those scientists and tech people who made it all happen.

      I understand that much of what Tennessee Williams wrote was inspired by his life and the people he knew. And yet, his life was nothing spectacular. I guess he appreciated it, paid attention, and made use of it. It’s hard for a writer (at least for me) to see an interesting story in the things that are just ordinary for us.

      Reply

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