flowers and seeds

{borrowed from this kind person on flickr.}

poppies are really lovely flowers. I love them.
(sidenote: I also love these. a lot.)

the seed pods of poppies are so awesome-looking. don't you agree? if I had a garden, I would grow poppies of all colors. I wonder how hard it is to harvest the seeds? I could put them in muffins. or salad dressing. or on wonderful pizza crusts or bagels or anything else bread-like.

{also borrowed from a kind person on flickr.}

and as meaningful flowers go, poppies are probably at the top of the list. death. sleep. resurrection. remembrance. sacrifice. that poem by John Mcrae (who has nearly the same name as John Mcrea, the lead singer of Cake--interesting). perhaps to some people, poppies symbolize specific people and specific memories. specific sacrifices. I was not alive anywhere near World War II, and I can only imagine those kinds of memories.

to me, the poppy is a token of time spent in foreign (but not really all that foreign) countries. poppies remind me of new perspectives and new traditions and minds being opened. they remind me that I haven't always been the same person. there is much I owe to the people and places and opportunities I've had so far.

{borrowed from yet another kind person on flickr.}

not so long ago, I told myself I would bring home one of these fake poppies from Canada and wear it every year. sadly, I don't know exactly what happened to that idea. maybe my plastic red poppy is sitting in a box somewhere... or maybe it's been completely lost.

can we say in this case that it's the thought that counts?