Poppies

To find the missing number for the previous blip's riddle, write the numbers 16,  06,  68,  88,  ??  , 98  on a piece of paper. Then turn the paper upside down. The missing number will be obvious  :-)

So, still winging it for flower Friday. Did you know Anni is creeping up to a decade as host of this challenge?  Thanks, Anni!

The story of the needlepoint poppies:
When my mom was pregnant with me, she and my dad moved to southern California, specifically, San Dimas. When I was three months old, she became pregnant with my future Irish twin. Stuck at home with an infant, getting larger and larger and having no friends, she took on this needlepoint project. Poppies were her favorite flowers, and that love for poppies lasted a lifetime. She was so proud of it, that she had it framed and it hangs on my living room wall. That was the first - and only needlepoint (or any craft project) she ever did. Begun in 1954 and completed in 1955.

Good advice
If one door closes and another one opens, your house is haunted and you need to run.