poppy, cherries, horse chestnut

This poppy has flowered and shed its petals. I am glad I photographed it when I did.

Tunbridge Wells is in the heart of cherry country. This year has been a good season with abundant fruit, but the recent rain after a dry period has swelled many to  a point where they split. At the Farmers' Market I ask at  one of the stalls about the split fruit. "We've had five and a half tons," the young man says. "All wasted ?" I ask rather shocked. "No," he says, "we turn them into juice."  Cherry juice is good for you," I say, "it cures gout." "That's right," he says, " you are a knowledgeable man". I walk off glowing a little, I suppose, but refrain from admitting that I used once used  to suffer from gout.

In a flower bed this afternoon I find an infant horse chestnut tree, and the remains of the conker whence it came. We have seen squirrels in the garden and there is little doubt about the sapling's provenance.