Things growing in a six inch gap between an old fence and the sidewalk. Some of them are very healthy California poppies. I’ve avoided taking the hundred or so photos I might have taken of beautiful poppies because I’ve taken so many already. But the seeds of last year’s poppies were knocked out on the sidewalk and swept back toward the fence. The plants were pulled up and nothing was left. They grew back as if they’ve been living there for years, which I suppose they have. The thing is, they are also the largest poppies I’ve seen so far.

So what the hell, I snapped another picture of poppies, and then one really enormous one a few feet down, and in the neighbor’s yard, a tiny one that is crinkled by comparison.

If you allowed yourself, you could see nothing but poppies all day long. Until that strange moment — it hasn’t happened yet — when there isn’t a single poppy to be found. I’m not counting the days exactly, but I am fearful that the poppies’ time is coming.