Color explosion...

Kaleidoscopes... I've been enchanted with them since I was a child and spent hours mesmerized and enthralled by their ever-changing patterns and designs. I took one apart once, just to see what made it tick and to try to discover where all those pretty colors and designs were coming from. I ended up with a cardboard tube, a handful of bits and pieces of glass, and some mirrors that I didn't know what to do with. It was devastating because I couldn't get it all back together again and ruined the whole thing. It was one of those "learned the hard way" lessons that I was never curious enough to repeat.

Fast forward to my adult years, a pleasant afternoon stroll with Lew through the Renaissance Festival here in MD, and the discovery of a stained-glass kaleidoscope at one of the vendor stands. I delightedly admired it, reminisced about my childhood days, then promptly forgot about it as we went along our merry way. I was pleasantly surprised later in the year when he presented said object of admiration to me for Christmas. Thus was the beginning of a lovely collection, one that he (and other loved ones) added to regularly until we ran out of room to display them.

My collection includes several different models - dry object cell, oil cell, marble scope, object wheel, even musical - many various types and bodies, all with gorgeous, magical results. I can still spend hours gazing at the never-the-same patterns and lose myself in their beauty. I'm especially fond of the oil-filled scopes - an infinite display of shimmering, slow-motion pleasure.

They now live in an enclosed glass display case that protects them from dust and other damaging effects, and have provided a wonderful source of fascination and curiousity for the grands over the years. We pulled them out again last night and I got such pleasure from listening to their oooohs and aaaaahs and cooooool!, as they too got caught up in the magic of these captivating instruments. All these years later, they're still as enchanting as ever.

Kaleidoscope

A kaleidoscope is a celebration
of organization and transformation
where color and form reveal regeneration
through exquisite patterns displaying integration

From mirrors and angles to blossoming angels
and beautiful diatoms emerging from diamonds
a small carousel of brightly colored cells
can reveal endless schemes all with natural themes

A sweet rainbow pie that delights every eye
entertaining our cones with some wonderful tones
where enchanting ballets on a honeycomb stage
create snowflakes and ferns in a touch of a turn

A point of creation grows imagination
from seminal twinkles in mineral sprinkles
where geodes that germinate unveil their inner space
flowers that stem from the seeding of gems

Jubilance rules in a bright pool of jewels
from small buds and seed pods to novas and nebulas
where gardens and galaxies melt and gel endlessly
cradled in living swirls cuddled in cosmic whirls.
~by Mark Bloomer~