There are poppies and there are POPPIES…

We were going away and still they hadn’t opened…P1140974

Now I’ve seen poppies bloom before…lots of red ones generally.  These are blooming in my garden now:P1140986

Some more exotic than others…P1150427

My old neighbor used to shake her head and wonder why I wanted to grow weeds.  Poppies were the undesirables back in the farm fields of Italy.

P1140982 I have always loved them…They’re so delicate, like tissue wrapping paper and every year a fresh set volunteer…

But this year an extra jumbo plant arose in the hot west-facing tomato bed and grew like Jack’s beanstalk!  I hadn’t planted it, at least not intentionally, but there it was, with the biggest buds ever, just waiting to burst.

And we had to leave on our trip before she delivered…P1140972 (sigh) I was afraid I’d miss all her blooms before we got back to see…

A wedding intervened, and a 5th birthday for Grandson #1 and 3,000 kilometers of highway (more on that next time) before we could get home again to have a look…

First thing in the morning I scampered out with my camera to see how the garden had fared.

The roses were lovely

P1150429

The Cranesbill Geranium blooms profuseP1150448

But the Poppies were outrageous!P1150430P1150436P1150442

Extravagant tousle-headed beauties still blooming in profusion.

Now those are POPPIES!  I love it!

–LS

On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. Ps.145:5

The best days…

The best days begin with quiet spaces in quiet places–being still to let the Creator’s voice be the first voice I hear in the morning…
It’s all the better if the sun is warm and the quiet space is outside tucked under the leafy canopy of a big leaf maple….
Maple leaf sunny am
And the best days are adorned with beauty
and the pauses necessary to really see it–

( I love Irises in general, and this variety in particular! It blooms out back largely hidden from view so I’ve taken to cutting blooms to bring the beauty near)
(my new Columbine!)P1140921
And a best day is made better when it is shared with someone you love…
P1140964
–LS
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Ps118:24
“On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate…”Ps.145:5