Completely random image (just because it’s beautiful)

Apfelbaum, Gustav Klimt, circa 1912

I passed my Klimt stage about a decade after my short-lived Monet stage and around five years after my Toulouse-Lautrec stage.

But Klimt’s apple trees have remained favorites, the apple tree being one of my most beloved symbols. When I was seven I used to climb up into the branches of the apple tree in our backyard and read. And ever since, I’ve thought of them as the perfect refuge: strength, shelter, beauty, nourishment. A sensual delight with the heady perfume of the blossoms, the tart-yet-honeyed taste of the fruit, the rustling sound of the wind through the leaves, and feel of the rough bark beneath my legs.

So this morning I’m doing a Kate and basking in the beauty of this apple tree.