Project 365 day 164: Evening Peony

Another quick evening foray to take photos wherever the sun still falls; but I do like this evening light and the deep shadows behind the sunlit blooms. My neighbour's front border, above the road and opposite my gateway, is a mass of huge, vivid poppies, falling now but still glorious, lush peonies and beautifully coloured irises. I was tempted to post the deep, bruised creases of the fading poppies, but I've shared poppies before so it's time for the profuse, ruffled perfection that miraculously unfolds from those tight, round peony buds. 

It's been a nice day; the wonderful weather makes everything feel better. P made breakfast pancakes, I managed to be purposeful about a few little jobs, and spent a couple of hours sitting in the shade with J, making a fuss of the cats while talking through her ideas and helping her to find words for the next piece of work she needs to write for a course she is following remotely. She says she thinks in BSL (British Sign Language), which is her first receptive language although her hands can't sign, so words and sentence structure don't always come easily to her; her writing often involves a process I think of as akin to midwifery to help what is in her head to find coherent form in the world. The complexity of the peonies, however, seems to emerge fully formed.