REMEMBRANCE DAY POPPY IN MY GARDEN

[David Weller]

Poppies usually flower in my garden during May. This morning I discovered a lone bloom. A poignant reminder of the First World War which ended exactly 100 years ago today.

 

[Marc Joan]

Fabulous!

 

[Kitty]

How very poignant!!!

 

[Paul Whybrow]

When I was a child, my mother cautioned me against going to sleep in a field where poppies grew, as I might never wake up—as if I would—but it might have been a country superstition or even her warning to me about drugs.

My grandfather fought in the trenches, being bayoneted and gassed at the Battle of Passchendaele. Invalided out of the army, he had what was termed shell shock, now called PTSD. He self-medicated with booze, becoming an angry and brooding man, who scared me as a little boy. He told me some horrific tales of fighting in the mud of No Man's Land. He was once trapped overnight in a shell hole with a German soldier he'd stabbed, who took hours to die, pressing photographs of his family on my Granddad asking him to write to them to say how he died.

He grew poppies in his garden, so he'd never forget.

Such information was influential in forming my attitudes towards war. How tragedy and its after-effects passes through the generations features in several of my stories.

 

[Leonora]

When I was a child, my mother cautioned me against going to sleep in a field where poppies grew, as I might never wake up—as if I would—but it might have been a country superstition or even her warning to me about drugs.

That happens in the Wizard of Oz, at least in the book.

 

[Marc Joan]

he had what was termed shell shock, now called PTSD. He self-medicated with booze, becoming an angry and brooding man, who scared me as a little boy. He told me some horrific tales of fighting in the mud of No Man's Land. He was once trapped overnight in a shell hole with a German soldier he'd stabbed, who took hours to die, pressing photographs of his family on my Granddad asking him to write to them to say how he died.
s.

Terrible. Looking at photos of my relatives who fought in either/both of the wars, they all look as hard as nails. I wonder how many today could go through what they did. I doubt if I could.

 

[Leonora]

My Grandfather's best friend died in a trench fire celebrating the Armistice. Family legend was that he dreaded going home as his controlling mother refused to let him marry the girl he loved. I'd like more information on it, but of course they are all long gone. I've been thinking about him a lot today.

 

[Rachel Caldecott]

Such information was influential in forming my attitudes towards war. How tragedy and its after-effects passes through the generations features in several of my stories.[/QUOTE]

How terrible for him. My husband's father sounded very similar to your grandfather. I'm happy I never met him, but I can see the damage he caused. With my work with refugees, I see how traumatised they all are and how little is being done help them through these traumas... the repercussions will reverberate down the generations too.

This Remembrance Day is especially poignant. Brexit seems to be chucking out the delicate glue that is holding Europe together. Fascism is on the rise and that scares the bejesus out of me.

FYI My mum told me the same thing about poppies... I always liked to think it was because she thought The Wizard of Oz was a documentary

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Just confusing different species of poppy.

 

[Leonora]

Just confusing different species of poppy.

Or just fooled by the warm autumn. Our rose is in full bloom.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Yes. We had a late spring then a stonkingly hot summer and it's all moved to the right. The trees here NW coast have only just shed their bottom half in the last three days, 2-3 weeks later than usual.

But I was referring to this

my mother cautioned me against going to sleep in a field where poppies grew, as I might never wake up—as if I would—but it might have been a country superstition or even her warning to me about drugs.

https://www.kew.org/blogs/kew-science/a-tale-of-two-poppies

 

[Leonora]

Opium poppies have a pleasant pale green leaf and bud, and at least in our garden have a nice shaggy flower. I hasten to add ours are missing the active ingredient, but I think they look the same as the ones you see growing by the acre in Afghanistan on t.v.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

It's wise to remember The Opium Wars in which the British Empire denied China's sovereignty, forcing opium on the population as a means of controlling them. This sad saga is brilliantly handled by Amitav Gosh in a trilogy of novels Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire.

I included opium addiction in my last Cornish Detective novel. The villain, a homicidal art dealer, who prefers paintings to people is trading in stolen and counterfeit art supplied by a go-between in the Chinese underworld, who smears opium paste between the planks of shipping crates. The art dealer also tries to harvest opium latex from poppies growing in his courtyard. Opium fitted with how my baddy dressed in Victorian clothing, clinging to the racist and sexist attitudes of the days of Empire.

 

[Leonora]

Everyone in my WIP is on opium one way or another. Teething infants, insomniacs, and all. Poor mother's stopped hungry babies crying by dosing them up. It made them lose interest in food, but with often fatal results.

 

[Leonora]

Sorry. Damned autocorrect. I mean mothers.

 

[Rachel Caldecott]

It's wise to remember The Opium Wars in which the British Empire denied China's sovereignty, forcing opium on the population as a means of controlling them. This sad saga is brilliantly handled by Amitav Gosh in a trilogy of novels Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and Flood of Fire.

I included opium addiction in my last Cornish Detective novel. The villain, a homicidal art dealer, who prefers paintings to people is trading in stolen and counterfeit art supplied by a go-between in the Chinese underworld, who smears opium paste between the planks of shipping crates. The art dealer also tries to harvest opium latex from poppies growing in his courtyard. Opium fitted with how my baddy dressed in Victorian clothing, clinging to the racist and sexist attitudes of the days of Empire.

Ghosh's books are brilliant

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Everyone in my WIP is on opium one way or another. Teething infants, insomniacs, and all. Poor mother's stopped hungry babies crying by dosing them up. It made them lose interest in food, but with often fatal results.

Remember Gripe Water? Old formulations, back when I was in nappies, contained 3.6% alcohol, so this cure for colic actually got baby pissed.

Hic!

Gripe water - Wikipedia

 

[Leonora]

Remember Gripe Water? Old formulations, back when I was in nappies, contained 3.6% alcohol, so this cure for colic actually got baby pissed.

Hic!

Gripe water - Wikipedia

Oh, I loved gripe water! Now I know why.