Thistles

The thistles have begun to bloom this summer.  I have always liked these interesting plant that are both dangerous looking and beautiful at the same time.  I had to run to Home Depot on Waverly Road the other night and I stopped at Woldumar Nature Center for a few minutes.  A thunderstorm was brewing on the horizon and it had started to get dark pretty quickly, even thought it was only 5:30pm.  I snapped the few photos that I could as the heavy drops of rain that precede a downpour started to fall.  I fortuitously captured the photo below with the profile of the thistles against the darkening stormy skies, though I typically would not have taken a photo like this.  I made it safely back to the car right before the clouds opened up and the deluge began.