Mimosa

Snap-happy today, I supposa
I've too many choices - I chose a
Flowery and leafy mimosa
Quite pleased with this shot as it goesa ...!

After a very wet start to the day, it turned sunny (with light showers), so we took the cable car to Monte, above Funchal. Looked around the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte (where the last emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is buried), and almost blipped a view from on high of the church's bells silhouetted against the sea and the steep hillside of Madeira dropping down to the Atlantic. Might also have blipped the quintessentially touristy view of straw-boater-and-white-trouser-clad men pushing people in baskets on rides down the steep hill from Monte. In the end I chose this flowering tree. It reminded me of my childhood when I didn't even know that mimosa was a flower. To me it was a sweet, edible decoration that my mother used to put on cakes: crystallised mimosa in my favourite colour. I was gob-smacked years later when I learned that I'd eaten flowers! So now it's so exciting to see it growing wild on this beautiful, floral island.