Teasels growing wild

A photo from my archives, taken on 16 September 2012, during a wonderful week's trip down to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park with special friends from England, Linda and Tony (explanation is in my "US holiday, September 2012" set).

I had an absolutely amazing week away with my friends from England, Linda and Tony. We left Calgary early on 11 September 2012 and returned late on 17 September 2012. Believe it or not, this was only my second holiday in about 30 years! Some of you may remember that when my Brother in England died almost two years ago, several of my long-time friends who lived in the same city stepped forward and helped me deal with everything long distance, from my Brother's funeral to finding everything possible in the house a good home (donated or sold). All my parents' belongings were there, too, so it was a mammoth task to go through everything and put aside every single personal item or document, which were then shipped to me here. Just one of the priceless things was when Linda went through all my Father's old movies, picked out every inch of them that she thought I would want to have, and then took them to be copied to DVD. Of course, everything was done thoughtfully and lovingly - and it still has me shaking my head that anyone could spend so much time doing SO much for someone else.

Anyway, to cut a very long story short, Linda had told me many months before that she and Tony were coming to Canada again and Linda really hoped I would join them for a week getting down to Yellowstone National Park and back. Because I hadn't been away in so long, I was extremely hesitant : ) However, I did go, and had the most wonderfully enjoyable (and spectacular!) time going to not only Yellowstone, but also Grand Teton National Park, and Glacier-Waterton Peace Park! Can never thank Linda and Tony enough for this! I've known Linda since she was a baby (she's about four? years younger than I am, around my Brother's age), so we had a week's precious time to "catch up". I'd only ever met Tony once, when they came to Canada for a holiday six years ago. He deserves a medal for putting up with me for a whole week!!

I visited Mammoth Hot Springs and the rest of Yellowstone National Park 30+ years ago, when my kids were very young. I was thrilled to get the chance to see this fascinating area again.

Even after six days of the most amazing scenery and wildlife, I still had plenty of joy to feel when we stopped at a Mission Mountain pull-off on our way north to Kalispell, Montana, US, and saw a row of Teasels. I so rarely see these, but I love to photograph them.

"Teasel is considered an invasive species in the United States. It is known to form a monoculture, capable of crowding out all native plant species, and therefore is discouraged and/or eliminated within restored open lands and other conservation areas."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipsacus