I've seen California poppies, and it's true they're nice. But the prettiest poppies I've ever seen were grown in a garden by the hotel at Lake Louise, which is up in the glacier mountains in bus-driving range of Jasper, Canada. The gardener there plants poppies to die for. My preference is Iceland poppies, which are effervescent beauties, and I'm fond of the Flander's field poppies which grace the graves of brave soldiers of WWI in France because of a poem written by a very brave Canadian soldier who died there.Good eye. As I recollect, I was looking for some pretty poppies for my flower files, and ran into this one from the Switzerland, as I recollect. The picture appears to have other flowers than poppies, but I was totally taken with it. I am fascinated by the way the poppies grow, and before they open, their heads are bowed downward as if praying. And when they open they are so very pretty, there is just no other flower like them.Nice picture. Europe somewhere?I thought thieves had it made with a statue of limitations. All the woman has to do is tell the grand jury the same thing Hillary said, which is "I forget...."
They failed to put her feet to enough fire when she has harassing members of the Executive Branch a year or so back. That was as low as you can go. The Democrats' Congressional trainwreck has become a nidus of black widow spiders.
If you want poppy pictures, California is loaded with them as they grow wild all over the place from early spring on. Those look to be mostly cultivated to me.
I was into photography until they took my Kodachrome away and did a lot of nature and landscape stuff.
In Flanders Fields
BY JOHN MCCRAE
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
From wikipedia: BY JOHN MCCRAE
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London magazine Punch.
It is one of the most quoted poems from the war. As a result of its immediate popularity, parts of the poem were used in efforts and appeals to recruit soldiers and raise money selling war bonds. Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict. The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where "In Flanders Fields" is one of the nation's best-known literary works. The poem is also widely known in the United States, where it is associated with Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
When I was a very small girl, maybe age 4, my grandmother, Mattie Shurtleff, took me down to Weingartens' sidewalk (near Weingarten's in Houston,) where we sold little red crepe paper poppies to passers-by to support the veterans who were disabled who fought next to my Grandpa Shurtleff in WWI, where he won a silver star for retrieving 7 or 8 wounded soldiers under heavy fire from the Kaiser's marksmen. For some reason, grandpa wasn't hit by the firing. Through the grace of God, he was around the years I was growing up on account of his rare deed's unusual feat of him getting out alive. I learned about God's grace from that man. And I learned to love the wounded veterans he fought so fiercely for for the rest of his life. He and grandma spent a lot of time doing for those in wheelchairs and worse, visiting them, taking them treats, and donating their time to fund-raising like grandma standing on the corner of Weingarten's every year on Memorial Day handing out little handmade poppies to the public. Here was the grandest lady in town, standing on the street corner, pitching for WWI vets. I just loved her. They were the best.It is one of the most quoted poems from the war. As a result of its immediate popularity, parts of the poem were used in efforts and appeals to recruit soldiers and raise money selling war bonds. Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict. The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where "In Flanders Fields" is one of the nation's best-known literary works. The poem is also widely known in the United States, where it is associated with Veterans Day and Memorial Day.
