The Imperfect Lily and the Bee

As I live blocks from Pike Place Market, I often pick up a giant bouquet of flowers from one of the dozens of flower vendors.

This week, I bought a red, yellow and orange bouquet, with dahlias, lilies and sunflowers. The scent is usually too powerful for me, so I often leave the flowers outside on my patio table. I can still enjoy them and skip the allergy attack.

Yesterday, I looked at the flowers and thought they were past their prime. The dahlias were withering and one of the lily buds had been munched on by a bug. I was going to chop it the bud off and dump it in the compost. Fortunately, I was too busy and/or lazy yesterday to get rid of this deformity. Instead of dead-heading the flowers, I turned the vase so I didn't see the wilted one.

This morning after I walked Fox, I sat on my patio eating breakfast*, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. On the table was the vase of flowers. I was thinking about my scrappy flowers, and how I let them go past their peak. 

The deformed lily bud had opened. Some of the petals had chew marks, but what was ugly when the lily bud was closed was barely noticeable once it had bloomed. 

A bee came. He hovered over the wobbly anther** of the stamen, and collected pollen. 

To the bee, these flowers were perfect.

* A croiffle -- Croissant dough pressed in a waffle iron. This is best high carb breakfast to be had. Not to be compared to high fat (e.g., quiche) or high protein (e.g., omelets) breakfasts.

** Yes, I googled that. I am not a botanist.