28.07.07
33. After the landing
They get like this and they frighten me. They start to resemble aliens. Can’t you see it? War of the Worlds? Those big pod things on stalks that look like — like street lamps or — or dead sunflowers? Can we leave now? Just take your picture so we can go.
July 28th, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Yes, they do look like aliens, just looking around, trying to decide (through telepathic communication, of course) what to do next. One of our neighbors plants sunflowers on his corner every year. They’re about 4′ tall now, but will grow to 6′ by the time their flowers open. He leaves the seed heads standing into the winter; I love watching the seeds gradually disappear, and seeing the pile of shells at the base of the stalk.
Now you’re almost 3/4 of the way there!
July 29th, 2007 at 2:06 am
When I’ve grown them, I usually leave the seed heads standing. I try to get to the seeds at just the right time, but the crows almost always beat me to it.
I have a friend who is unnerved enough by sunflowers that she refuses to grow them in her garden. There are times where I kinda see where she’s coming from.
August 4th, 2007 at 10:46 am
We had a sunflower growing in our backyard this year. My middle son had planted it at school, and we transplanted it into the backyard. One day a few weeks ago it was mysteriously dead - the flower head gone, the stalk broken in half. Nobody claims to know anything about how it happened. It’s sad. Maybe “they” came to get it, those people afraid of alien invasions…
August 4th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Tricia, you know that would make a great beginning for a short story! Hmmm…