A lovely thing about the South. . .

A lovely thing about the South is magnolia trees. I've got one in my back yard and it makes me happy. Each summer the tree grows these beautiful blooms. At first they start out like this. . .

Then they open up to this. The picture does not do this bloom justice. It is easily the size of a dinner plate. In fact, I bet if I were to pluck this it would be bigger than a dinner plate.

Here is a close up. Notice the petels have actually caught the pollen. Very, very cool. When I graduated from High School, a friend of the family gave me gold magnolia earrings. She wanted me to always have something that reminded me of the South. I guess she thought for sure I'd be the first to leave. Well, I'm still here. . . and still enjoying my magnolias.