Horse Chestnut Candelabra

“In spring, their branches held aloft pinnacles of white and pink blooms; in the twilight, they appeared as ghostly candelabra.”  —  Clare Cooper Marcus, Iona Dreaming: The Healing Power of Place

Horse chestnut blossom, upright as a candle

“The leaves of the horse-chestnuts take advantage of a moment of inattention to burst forth.  Every year it is the same surprise, the same annoyance at having let oneself be taken by surprise.  Spring comes stealthily, like the children’s Santa Claus.  Each time I plan again to lie in wait, to keep a sharper eye on its entrance; but there remains something mysterious, something furtive about it.  One stops thinking about it for a moment; one’s eyes close or turn away toward a book . . . One raises one’s head: it is there.”
— from The Journals of Andre Gide, Vol. 3 (April 18, 1932)