"Let us suppose that it is summertime, that you are in the country, and that you have fixed upon a certain day for a holiday ramble. Some of you are going to gather wildflowers, some to collect pebbles, and some without any very definite aim beyond the love the holiday and of any sport or adventure which it may bring…"

Sir Archibald Geikie

You can keep time by the flowers here.  First come the snowdrops, then the daffodils, and after, the tulips.  About then the apples trees bloom.  As they begin to fall the lilacs burst out. The rapeseed fields have their day in May.  

Then come the poppies.  Along the fences, beside the grain fields, clustered on embankments lining every country road. Like the rest they won't last long but right now those orange-red fragile petals are quivering in the wind at every turn.