Night shots of the 24 hour flower.

This was the opening process of the Echinopsis bloom.

And then I also took some early morning shots the next day.

I have previously shared the first flower, and then two flowers that I called the twins over the past three weeks. This then was another new one that made its appearance over the last two days. First, the stem grew up over about four days, and then the flower opened up at night as you will see below. Here you can also see why we cart the Echinopsis plants with us every time that we move, simply because we know the beauty that they contain.

Although we see these flowers every season and I have shared them every season, I have never concentrated on the real opening of the flowers. We know that they bloom for only 24 hours, and I have always just concentrated on the beauty of the fully opened flowers, simply because it's the beauty that they display. I think you will agree that the pre-opening ring of the opening process also looks very nice, a first for me to take the ring shots of when they start to open.
So, come and see.

This shot below was how it started the opening process during the day, and we knew that it would bloom at night.

Oh yeah, it was a long wait, but so worth it.

Another two shots below

And then it was nighttime, several hours later.

This is what I call supreme beauty.

Then it was early the next morning.

Still bright but you can see that its clock pendulum has moved from the left to the right.

And finally, the beauty ended later in the afternoon.

That was it, the brief blooming spell was ended, just like that. Almost as if it never was.

Beauty never lasts, isn't it, and they say that beauty is skin deep, but the beauty inside all of us, as human beings, will last forever. A small dose of that beauty is given at birth and if we will allow it then it will start to grow. It is a matter of choices, and we see that many have rather chosen the ugly road to walk in life, thereby quenching the beauty inside. This is the lesson that Mother Nature teaches us here.

We are once again plagued here with wildfires, and the brave firefighting crews have their hands full trying to contain the fires. But for the past three days, the wind is so strong that it can carry the fire sparks for miles, and where the sparks land, they start new fires. The difficult parts to contain during a fire are the dense foliage sections and also in the inaccessible mountain areas. Fortunately, we have helicopters that can drop water out of the bags that they carry, but in the strong winds the helicopters cannot partake in the battle. We just hope that not too many damages are again being caused.
Such is life.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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