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“Rosebud”
A deathbed whisper of Orson Wells as Citizen Kane that
we moviegoers eventually understood to be an encapsulated
word symbol representing a childhood trauma which sublimated into a compelling edee force that directed the strange driven life of Orson Wells or Citizen Kane.

Thank you, Branshea, but for you my whispered word on my
death bed might have been “buttercup”.
Let me tell you why…

Maybe I was five years old, maybe six, but not seven, when I was
abruptly introduced to buttercups.

“Hey, new boy” a boy on the playground shouted.
“Would you like to smell some pretty flowers? They smell good; they
are buttercups.”

I looked at the flowers bunched up in his hand.
They were the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen.

“Come on – smell - they won’t hurt you” he said, coming over and positioning
the buttercups just below my face. As I bent to smell he slammed the bouquet
with his fist into my face.

“Ha, ha,” he laughed, pointing at me, “ Hey, everybody look at the new boy,
He’s got yellow stuff all over his face”
None of the other kids laughed.

I was humiliated. My nose was bleeding but what I learned hurt even more.
I learned that there are two kinds of people on this Earth –
the good, and the bad. Sure, I had even as a child seen hot anger and even violence, but never had I ever seen a human with a visceral need to intentionally hurt another of his own kind. Maybe because of this I’ve become a better man (I promised that day I would never, ever, hurt another person) but even so I didn’t think much of them damn buttercups.

Until Branshea’s postings.
Today I sit at the computer looking at four buttercups I just picked. These are the Alabama buttercups of my yesteryear. Not at all like the flowers that are called buttercups in the Netherlands or among the Google’s Images. These are more like the crepe paper looking yellow petals of the buttercup that belmarduk posted, but not creped and not yellow, instead smoothly curved with white petals that have a tinge of pink at the top that grades infinitely into a perfect ivory white at the bottom where spreads upwards five golden anthers heavily coated with bright pollen.
These are simply the most beautiful flowers in the World.


Last edited by themilum; 03/29/07 09:03 PM.
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old hand
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Thank you for sharing that story with us themilum.

As a youngster we would hold a buttercup under our chins. If the reflection was yellow, you were healthy. If it were bright yellow, you were very healthy. It was only later in life that I associated the tone of skin with the brightness of reflection, darker seemed brighter.

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What an interesting and poignant custom, olly, and I'll bet that the Maori think that darker is brighter too.

Last edited by themilum; 03/30/07 07:33 PM.
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old hand
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Not quite a custom, more of a childhood frivolity. Children I think find flowers fascinating.

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in the U.S., there is a more pedestrian childhood custom..

Like the buttercup a dandelion in bloom held under the chin tells whether you like butter if there is a yellow reflection.

-joe (and a bouquet of dandelions, for mom) friday

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And on the floral note our cherry blossoms are out. Hopefully our colder than usual weather will let them last longer before the pink snowstorms begin.

Zed #167357 04/05/07 08:05 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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we just got a foot of snow. :¬ (


formerly known as etaoin...
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Which, I'm sure, etaoin, you so richly deserve.

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Carpal Tunnel
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Did wonders for the skiing industry.

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Carpal Tunnel
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We got a dusting o' snow & ice, probly enough to scare away the budding flowers. :¬ (

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