The thistle

So someone may have wondered why I choose a thistle flower as my photo. Few reasons:

a) my boyfriend is Scottish, and gotta love them for having a thistle as their national flower.

b) I can be prickly.

c) The thistle that grew in "my" (meaning my brother's) backyard last year was a thing of legends. It stood about 6 1/2 feet tall and 3 + feet wide. It was so huge that I had to do a video to bring into work so people would believe me. And considering what a thorn in my side my brother can be a times (e.g. for not ever mowing the yard despite owning two lawnmowers), I thought it apropos.

In case you are still wondering really how large this could be, I imagined it was only moments away from growing a personality, and taking over the backyard. I could picture it towering over the pool and throwing thistles and anyone who dare try and enter. Yes, it was that big.

I came across a picture of the thistle, this was not as large as it got, but it does give an idea. That fence is 6 feet tall.