Small Beginnings

I love red poppies.

And its their time of the year again

My blog header pic was taken in Provence, France which is famous for them and for lavender.

And much more of course

But I'm talking flowers.

Anyway.

A couple of years ago a few red poppies were planted in our neighbourhood garden which is right over the road from us and extends quite far down the mountain.

Every year since then we have had more and more of these glorious redheads smiling at us in the Spring breezes.

Now they are appearing everywhere.

Against lampposts; among building rubble; in driveways and empty plots . . .

on the pavements;

in cracks in the road

Maybe down the years this drab seaside town will be transformed into "the valley of the poppies" as our fierce prevailing winds scatter the seeds each season. . .

The town nestles between two mountains like a kitten between a lion's paws. And then we are boundaried on the remaining sides by two seas, the cold Atlantic one side and the warm Indian on the other - so the poppy seeds would be contained here.

But what really thrills me though is that a little dream I had about a year ago seems to be happening.

I gave my friend and house helper, Sheila, a lot of seeds and suggested she scatter them around her township area.

Her eyes lit up as we talked about how the red poppies can make ugly and depressing places beautiful and vibrant.

True to form, she did not keep the seeds for herself and her area alone.

That is not the way of her people.

She told me the following week that she had shared her vision and her seeds with people on the train and encouraged them to plant them in their areas too.

Imagine my delight when she told me recently that the poppies are coming up all over the place in Khayelisha! (which is a hideous township near Cape Town)

In my mind's eye, I see a future where the red poppies transform their world, bringing smiles to them as they do to me and maybe inspiring the inhabitants to make gardens and plant trees.

Small beginnings . . . .