This (bloody gorgeous) magnolia is blooming in our garden as I type. Do you know what? I planted it and not only is it alive but it’s positively thriving. These blooms are the size of dinner plates.

I was on my way out to the field to exercise the dogs and spotted it on the way. When their appetite to charge around was duly sated, I came back in, got the camera and here is what happened next.

What’s interesting to me is the thing that you almost miss. The big bite out of the otherwise perfect bloom. Some sneaky little insect has chomped a hole in the petal.Look though – does the fact that its fragile beauty has been sullied by the hole detract from the perfection of the image? Not a bit of it in my view. In fact, I’d say that things with flaws and imperfections are significantly better than those without. Here endeth my sermon for the day.