The first Peony that I photographed was gifted to me by my daughter. I was entranced by its fullness a sense of abundance in its ruffles and the Coral colour was captivating. I photographed them daily whilst recovering my health, each day a new surprise emerged from the folds of its petals. As it bloomed, it unfolded more to reveal its sensuous golden yellow stamens and later the carpel, the Peonies ovaries, a cluster of four individual capsules apparently bulging with seeds. Frilled, fuchsia-coloured tips emerging from the green carpels. Daily the flower continued to open and transform in its dance of time reminding me of Buddhist teachings. “There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally, of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.” ― Chogyam Trungpa