the poppies blow...

I was at Blarbuie Woods in Lochgilphead  this morning with Brendan O'Hara to see the great work being done to restore and develop this amazing resource, which stands between the old  Argyll & Bute Hospital (which I have blipped before and which still houses some mental health patients)   and the community, and which can be a meeting place for both.  

I was struck by the enthusiasm of Grace MacLeod and all those who are working with her, and by the thoughtfulness of what is taking place.   At the back of this picture you can see the new wooden pavilion taking shape which will host all sorts of events.  

In the front is the small  WWI memorial garden , with the poppies serving as a reminder  of Canadian John McCrae's famous poem:

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.