The world of flowers is magical. Flowers of every colour, shape, texture and size enchant the minds and hearts of all who behold their beauty with wonder.

You know when you are more fully alive when you behold Nature in all its diverse forms and expressions with a sense of wonder, reverence, curiosity and deep appreciation.

My daughter brought home some of her favourite flowers recently. Astrantia. The blossoms are usually small and dainty with subtle coloration, not the bright and bigger ‘show girls’ of the flower world. Although an unexpected preference when I learned that Astrantia are her favourites, I now recognize their resonance with her personality. It is indeed true that everything we choose is “a statement of who we are and who we choose to be”.

I took photos and then more photos of these unusually large Astrantia blossoms with my cell phone camera. Then I duplicated some of them to zoom in and show close ups. We folks with reading glasses do love our close ups! After that I played with my text on photo app to give these flowers the name we humans have chosen and agreed to call them so we can communicate what we have chosen. Isn’t naming a wonderful magic in itself!

So here are three photos of Astrantia named and communicated to you using those squiggly lines we call cursive writing. Yes, I still do this symbolic form of writing by hand as well. Do the young still learn to write by hand, I wonder.

Back to the Astrantia. Now I am wondering how a robot would perceive Astrantia. What would a robot do with Astrantia? Would a robot display anything beyond scientific data? Would a robot require a practical purpose for Astrantia for it to be valued in a scientific way? Will robots be programmed for aesthetics? I know some humans who aren’t. Lol!

So here are three photos I’ve been rambling on about.