Poppies

This was the only pink Poppy of its kind in bloom at the Reader Rock Garden two days ago. I loved the colour and the drooping buds : )

I love poppies at all stages and so this was where I headed off to straight away on Friday, when several of us went south of the city to Jim Coutts' homestead, just north east of Nanton. I was thrilled to bits when I noticed the distant sea of red and knew that Jim's wonderful Poppy garden was still in bloom. Our annual trip to see his gardens and homestead was in September last year - and there wasn't a single petal left on any Poppy, which was so disappointing. Interesting to note that Jim used to be the former principal secretary of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. After visitng Jim and being shown around his incredibly beautiful homestead, we drove west through William's Coulee to botanize a hilltop of virgin prairie grassland belonging to Rob Blades (about 5 acres; 1 mi W of Meridian Rd, on Connemara Rd) and then to botanize some prairie grassland belonging to Howard Hornecker. Thanks, Jim, Rob and Howard for giving us these wonderful opportunities! And thanks so much, Laura, for driving!

One of the last Poppies in flower at the Reader Rock Garden recently. Spent the afternoon at the Calgary Zoo today. I hadn't been for ages, but finally managed to get over there today. I was really hoping to find some flowers still in bloom in the Zoo gardens, and I wasn't disappointed : ) While I would much rather be trudging through a damp forest somewhere, photographing nature in the wild (like a REAL nature photographer, LOL), I still find the occasional trip to the Zoo very enjoyable and photographically rewarding. Not sure why, but my computer is displaying my photostream much larger than usual, with photos larger and also all the typing is in large size - so annoying and I can't remember how to get it back to normal. Can anyone help me - please? A bit later: thanks Lorien, Rebecca and Suzie for taking the time to try and help!

Taken at the end of July at the Reader Rock Garden. Poppies are one of my favourite garden flowers, and I love them in all their stages. A change from mushrooms, LOL. However, I did spend a bit of time in a local park today, looking for mushrooms. I saw a lot, but many were the same. In one little spot in the forest, I just had to stop and watch the birds. I couldn't believe it when I saw not only a family of Blue Jays, but also a Sharp-shinned Hawk (or a Cooper's) and at least two Pileated Woodpeckers and they all seemed to be chasing each other from tree to tree. Actually, the Pileated Woodpeckers kind of kept me company for a while, when I searched for mushrooms, but gave me no chance to get even one shot - same with the other birds. Oh, and I also heard a Great Horned Owl "hooting" nearby. The only thing to "spoil" it all was that I knew that I had to keep an eye on the time as I had to get my hair cut.

Thought the centre of this small Poppy was pretty. And then my batteries died....

Wasn't expecting to find a Poppy seedpod at this stage, still surrounded by glorious petals. I was also puzzled for a moment when I first saw these flowers, as they really didn't look like Poppies : ) This photo makes me feel as if the pod is happily swirling its beautiful red skirt, LOL. Seen at the Reader Rock Garden on 28th July.

Can never resist a Poppy seedhead or looking deep down to the centre while the petals are still in place. This pretty Poppy was glowing in the garden at the Calgary Zoo.

This unbelievably gorgeous Himalayan Blue Poppy was growing at the Reader Rock Garden back in June. Definitely need some bright colour today - the weather is atrocious, as a major snow storm has blown in! I'm not stepping outside my front door for the next two days. To help me get through this, I gave into temptation and bought a large Stollen from Safeway (rather like a fruit bread with some almond paste in the centre - mmm,,,)

I love all stages of Poppies and this one kind of made me smile. Made me think of a little old Grandma with her tall Grandson with bowed head, being given a little bit of advice : ) Photographed at the Reader Rock Garden on August 4th. A beautiful sunny day - lovely to think about, even more so after seeing our weather forecast yesterday, with seven of the next 10 days getting snow (though this can change completely as the hours go by). Can you imagine having heavy snow falling - when you've just been through a devastating 9.0 earthquake, an even more horrific tsunami, have lost some or all family and friends and neighbours, and now have the threat of severe nuclear radiation hanging over your head? And the rest of us (me included!) complain about deep freezes and snow! How lucky so many of us are, with a warm roof over our head, enough food at hand, and no sudden, massive loss of loved ones in our lives!!!