This is a picture of a long in the tooth four-o-clock near the library. Frequently, and for reasons hard to explain, pictures of flowers turn out to be emotional experiences. This, however, was a learning experience. The picture itself is of little value. There are lots of four-o-clocks on my daily walk. I don’t pay much attention to them. They’re an interesting plant, but also something of a mess. In the patio there was a large one that edged out the dying sweet peas. My neighbor let it grow until he planted cherry tomatoes, which would fill the gap until it was time for sweet peas again. They have what I call blooming buds, where the flowers radiate in a circular pattern, but not all at once. I suspect this has something to do with the name. What I noticed for the first time when I took this picture was that the flowers actually open. You’ll notice that many of them are slender projections with a bulge on the end. That’s all I’ve ever seen. Where poppies open in the bright sun and close at night, four-o-clocks appear to do the opposite. I took this picture after sunset. Because it’s a digital camera, it simply adjusted for the lack of light, making everything look like the middle of the day. The learning experience was the opened flowers. It’s the first time I’ve seen one that wasn’t a slender tube. There isn’t much flower watching to do after the sun goes down. Perhaps I should pay closer attention.