It's so fluffy!

Note: This is ONE flower in my hand.

Peonies and Roses

I had just come back from walking downtown for an errand and a visit with a friend, and having noticed that more roses and peonies had bloomed at the front of the house, I decided to take a few pictures. The peonies were so darn full and fluffy, as were the roses right next to them that I then went back into the house to grab the clippers. As I came outside, and was heading towards that part of the garden, I saw a man walking up the sidewalk... walking rather slowly... so... yes... tourist? came to mind. I carefully chose which flowers I wanted to cut, deciding on three peonies and a couple rose stems, and saw that the gentleman had stopped and was looking at the house.  I said hello and  we started to chat.  Anyways... he was from Germany. He and his wife had been in Ontario for a couple weeks and were now driving through BC and Alberta. I asked him how he had liked his trip so far and told him that today was very cold for this time of year. (And... it was.... very... cold ... and ... blustery.) But.. he said he liked BC. Funny thing... he didn't comment about Ontario. The chat ended and I said "enjoy the rest of your trip" and he said "you have a nice life".  ... I don't know why... but that just seemed to be the sweetest thing.

As I am sitting here typing this, I recall yesterday I got a phone call at about 6:15pm. Now... I very rarely get any calls, except from family, and on rare occasions, telemarketers, fundraisers, surveys or "you've won...". Lately I have had a couple prank calls, so I had no idea who it would be this time. Now... for telemarketers, fundraisers and surveys, you know they have a written shpeel in front of them that they have to recite, and I am polite and very good about listening to the whole bit, unless... unless they are trying to sell something that I don't need. In this case, it was an independent bank survey. To cut a short story short, I made the guy laugh... and that made me smile.

So... anyways... back to today... I put the peonies in a vase and took a few pictures of them outside (see second photo) while the sun had made a short surprise visit.  I knew there would be ants in the peonies, as there usually are... so I shook them out as best I could, but not a one came out.  I took the vase inside and took a few more pics and after a while I noticed two small ants come out from hiding within the petals. I went outside and shook each peony out again, but still nothing, except for a tiny light brown spider on a webstrand. I shook her out and then accidentally dropped one of the flowers over the railing... Had to do some light gymnastics to pick it up. I brought the flowers back in the house and I figure just as long as the little buggers stay in the petals, things will be fine.

I couldn't get over how big and fluffy the peonies were, but had no way of indicating their massiveness, so I tried taking a few pictures with one of the blooms in my hand. Nothing seemed to look right, until I finally got one shot (the first photo).  And... no... no ants came running out between the petals and down my arm.