Friday 12 July 2013

Poppy Power

I have been away for a number of days at my 'old' caravan with no Internet access hence no blogging.  Just before going I took some photographs as I walked through my local Ward Park and today I am showing you the "Poppy", Papaver orientale.


Poppies have long been used as a symbol of sleep, peace, and death: sleep because of the opium extracted from them, and death because of the common blood-red colour of the red poppy in particular. In Greek and Roman myths, poppies were used as offerings to the dead.  Poppies used as emblems on tombstones symbolise eternal sleep.  This symbolism was evoked in the children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which a magical poppy field threatened to make the protagonists sleep forever.


A second interpretation of poppies in Classical mythology is that the bright scarlet colour signifies a promise of resurrection after death


When grown for opium production, the skin of the ripening pods of these poppies is scored by a sharp blade at a time carefully chosen so that rain, wind, and dew cannot spoil the exudation of white, milky latex, usually in the afternoon. Incisions are made while the pods are still raw, with no more than a slight yellow tint, and must be shallow to avoid penetrating hollow inner chambers or loculi while cutting into the lactiferous vessels.  (see below)









Thank you for visiting my blog and I will now get caught up with reading your blogs since I was away.
Thank you all who have left comments.

22 comments:

  1. Super orange colour. Hope you had a good break?

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  2. A flower that I have always found fascinating. There are a surprising number of colours, sizes and species. The are found in a wide variety of environments. Nice pictures Margaret, thank you. Ray

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  3. A flower that I have always found fascinating. There are a surprising number of colours, sizes and species. The are found in a wide variety of environments. Nice pictures Margaret, thank you. Ray

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  4. Stunning photos of the gorgeous poppies. Have a great day Margaret!

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  5. Hope you had a nice trip, Margaret... Sometimes it is GOOD to get away from the internet and computers. BUT--it's hard!!! ha

    Beautiful poppy... Love that color.

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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    1. HI Betsy I did had a lovely time. Very quiet adn peaceful, no one there but me in the country but I am over looking the sea and it is beautiful. No Internet, no running water, no electricity, no mains gas, but I have all I need and I love it. Oh I forgot, I do have the cows, calves and bull for company!!! Margaret

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  6. Hi Kerri, Gunilla, Tex, Raymond and CT, Glad yo liked the 'Poppy' and the experimentation of it. If this weather keeps up I will be off again to my 'old caravan. Got photos of my time there but need time to process them. I am once again trying to reply again to see if t will work!! Margaret

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  7. you have shown some lovely photos , i do like the last one.


    peter

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    1. HI Peter Many thanks. Yes I did quite a bit of experiementint with that one adn I was quite pleaed with it also. Margaret

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  8. Spectacular! I said I would copy what I replied to you on my blog here, so here goes:

    It took me ages to get the reply thing sorted out but in the end I worked out I needed to go through SETTINGS > posts and comments > comment location and then select 'Embedded'.

    If you already know this and it still isn't working, just ignore me!

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  9. Wow, a wonder that can cause by that is heroin, very well done Margaret.

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  10. very photogenic these flowers with their tissue-like petals; beautiful colour and photos from you Margaret

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  11. these are gorgeous, so much pretty detail!! i think "orange" is a very under-rated color!!

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  12. Superb macro shots Margaret.

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  13. your photography takes my breath away, these are stupifying ;-) no pun intended..I had forgotten about the Oz connection, and again this is interesting information.

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  14. Hi Margaret,
    Beautiful pictures of poppies.
    All are very sharp, well done!
    Regards, Irma

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  15. I love poppies, beautiful images Margaret! Have a happy weekend!

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  16. Great shots there Margaret! I particularly enjoy the last photo. Interesting info too :)

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  17. Brilliant pictures Margaret. A very interesting and informative commentary too.

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  18. A colourful and very interesting post Margaret...[;o)

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