Scots Thistle

Thistles. Good Scots thistles. From Wikipedia, the origin of the thistle as a symbol of Scotland was thus:

According to a legend, an invading Norse army was attempting to sneak up at night upon a Scottish army's encampment. During this operation one barefoot Norseman had the misfortune to step upon a thistle, causing him to cry out in pain, thus alerting Scots to the presence of the Norse invaders.

Anyway. I thought this was rather good; quite sharp. (Ha. Ha.)

Bigger.

Biggr and bettr and sharpr on Flickr.

Truth be known, I wasn't quite satisfied with the composition of this (too much bright sky, and I wondered if I'd mis-placed the flower), but by that time, having taken I think three shots, starting to walk off each time before noticing something wrong with the shot, I was thoroughly bored with it, so stalked off for good. ;)

Soligor 1:2.8/35 on Pentax K-30. f/2.8