the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy

i did not intend this association when i took this photo, but now that i see the unfurling spiral of these musk thistle flower heads, i can’t help but think of douglas adams, author of the hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy and celebrant of the awe-inspiring beauty and diversity of the natural world. i think he would approve of my quoting him here: “far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.”

musk thistle flowers