Remember to breathe

Here's something beautiful to do for a week:
1. Go to your local grower's market, flea market or florist and buy a bunch of poppies that are still in their pods. Mine cost $3.50.
2. Put them in a sympathetic vase and sit them somewhere that you can watch them out of the corner of your eye.
3. Don't forget to look at them.



Kids and cats love poppies. So do I. It's not until you spend a week with them that you understand why we call them poppies. They pop! They perform! They split, unfurl and then stretch themselves, and if you spend the time you can actually watch them do it.




My pods sprouted strands of cat hair as Mr Pooter and Mr Padge rubbed themselves against the prickles. Noone could resist fondling the pods, so soft and rough, very masculine, reminiscent of what Dame Edna would call 'a lovely pair of kiwi fruit' (you know, possums, when you hold a lovely pair of kiwi fruit, one is always slightly bigger than the other...). And then when they split, they seem to change gender and become amazingly female. Such sexy beasts...

I put the bunch on the centre of the table for a breakfast party. And made the guests stop dropping public-service acronyms as the first poppy broke apart dramatically in the middle of our egg-eating. They did stop. They were awestruck. Priceless.

Bumblebee and I open the front door everyday and rush to the vase to see what has changed. Usually a lot! And after 6 days, the bunch is still going strong.


The best $3.50 I've ever spent...