"Time is Running Out..."

...actually it is about to expire

as far as the Illustration Friday deadline

for last week's drawing prompt:

"Expire."

It was proving to be a rather tricky topic for me...

until I took a good long look

at our beautiful and bountiful lemon tree.

Mmm...

it's fragrance this season has been heaven like.

But, what a curious thing I found!

The lemon tree was bursting with fruit,

and

covered with new white buds

and

decorated with graceful white blossoms

heavily draped in pollen,

and

deeply skirted below by petals and stamens and all kinds of

expired flower parts which have

fallen to the ground!

ALL at the same time!!!

Whew!!

The branch I drew above was attached

to a branch with ripe fruit!

And...

on this one branch I drew there were

multiple stages of life...

from a brand new bud...to a fully blooming flower...

to an expired bloom...to flower bits...

which disintegrated upon the slightest touch...

(Ah CHOO!)

to the start of a tiny new lemon

not much more than a quarter of an inch in size...

deep green in color...

waiting to grow and bloom

next season!

Wow!

This little tree just doesn't want to give up!

Maybe we can all learn an important lesson from that...:)

Illustration Friday: "EXPIRE"

“Wisdom is perishable.

Unlike information or knowledge,

it cannot be stored in a computer or recorded in a book.

It expires

with each passing generation.”

~Author Unknown