A fresh bouquet from Lorlee's garden

A colorful bouquet of iris and a signature poppy arrived in the digital inbox this morning from gardener Lorlee Bartos. They're all dewey fresh, because Lorlee collected them just yesterday. Spring will come to Minnesota soon, she promises, and hopes these Texas blooms will last us until then.

Please look closely at the magnificent blossom above. It appears that if you tore off a petal, it would bleed.

Thank you to Lorlee for her thoughtfulness. The photos have been arranged in a digital vase below for everyone to enjoy. All blooms are from around Lorlee's house. Possibly, the galvanized wire grid you see is the fence that separates her property from an Interstate freeway.

Lorlee has been written up in the Dallas press for willfully encroaching into that freeway space with flora, something her family used to do to the Soo Line right-of-way near their farm by Forada. Her mother, Mrs. John Bartos, whom we all knew as a strong-willed Catholic- Democrat-Farmer-Laborer, felt it was a shame for it to go undecorated and took action.

Lorlee writes:

Some iris and a poppy, mostly taken today. Isn't digital wonderful?

A few years back, there was a new restaurant in town called Iris. They invited artists to take the concept of iris and create artwork. There was Iris the Dog Star, Iris the goddess, iris in a horse's eye, etc. I was one of the invited. They chose six of my photos which were put into two triptychs (sp) of close up shots of iris, single petals with dew, etc.

Unfortunately, the restaurant closed last year. Don't know what happened to my art. That year I took several hundred shots of iris.

Lorlee

(This will have to hold you until your own bloom)