TODAY'S FLOWERS ~ The Life of a Poppy

The Poppies, Papaver somnifera, are still magnificent.
From this shy curtsying bud bending her head,







to the proud young girl standing tall.



throwing off her shackles she invites in her admirers



and shares her bounty with all comers.



They come in droves, all hungering for succour
are sated at her breast.

At night she shuts her doors to rest.

Enduring wind and rain with fortitude and using it to

adorn herself with miriads of rubies

until, reaching the height of maturity and power,
she begins to fade yet increases in beauty

even as she fades away.

Please enlarge at least the last two shots to see the

the wonder of glistening raindrops.

Thank you to Luiz Santilli Jr. and the Flower team

for hosting this beautiful meme.

SkyWatch and Nature Notes

Yesterday afternoon clouds came welling across the
farm yard



thickening and towering high into the sky....



it was all just teasing...they passed over head without
shedding a single tear.

With the spring rains we have had, we also have the
associated hip high weeds but to compensate, a
population explosion of poppies, Papaver somnifera,
as well.



Since at last we have some water in the dams,




the turtles are migrating up the hill from the tiny
puddle in the dry summer creek that sustained the
life of at least some of them last summer.
The frogs have changed their nightly deafening din
on all sides to an ominous drumming of the Pukel
men with the loud and persistent honks of the bullfrogs..



For the first time since it was planted in the park
some 10 years ago, the candles on the Aesculus
hippocastanum, are alight and , if the season
remains good, we may get our first conckers yet!



There are only five flower spikes...I would have been
extatic with just one!



Time to leave the park. Even the water darkens since
the sun has set.



All photos enlarge as always.


Click on either and/or both Logos and visit the skies
and changing nature elsewhere.


My thanks to the skywatch team as well as to
Michelle of Rambling Wood for hosting these memes.