So what is this, poppy appreciation week? I see the poppy art over at Morris about 10 days ago, and then I go to Colorado and stay in a nifty bed-and-breakfast in Denver built by an architect who's also been working, for the last 20 years, on his invention: a faucet you can talk to and boss around. I know you think I'm making this up but it's so wacky, there's no way. Anyway, the concierge at this B&B - called the Gregory Inn, check it out - tells us the story with real enthusiasm, I guess thinking that everyone believes, as her boss obviously does, that this invention will take the home furnishings and plumbing supply businesses by storm. Maybe it will. I've been wrong before.
We observe that the suite we're given is full of gizmos - TV screens that unroll from the ceiling, piped-in music we control and fancy fixtures in the bathroom. The curtain on one side of the huge tub, which has the fixings for a Longwood fountain display, opens to a fireplace. How romantic! And then there's the toilet, which flushes in about 1/10th of a second. Not so romantic, but - having been a couple for a very long time - we find it fascinating.
Anyway, once this faucet is on the market, you'll be able to tell it to make the water warmer or cooler, to take a letter or tell you you're beautiful. Who knows. If it came free, I might be interested!
After playing around with all our gizmos, we venture outside and discover a lovely garden that included - the point of this ramble - the most amazing Oriental poppies I've ever seen. Very tall, saucer-sized blossoms of rich orange-y red with deep black-purple centers and markings. Stunning.
Though our garden at home is about as "done" as I'm prepared to confess at this moment, we resolve to buy poppies when we return to Philadelphia.
Which, of course, we do. One bloomed this morning, a raspberry-pink one, though it didn't stand up tall on a regal stem as I'd hoped. It was nestled in the foliage, on the ground. The plant tag says 30 inches tall and I want every inch. Stay tuned.
