My friend said.
Yes, enough of the sordidness and world sorrow
I need some beauty tomorrow.
So out to the fields I fled.
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Camera in hand, Chayanne in the ear, what better place to flee for beauty but our Carlsbad Flower Fields, 50 acres of giant ranunculus overlooking the ocean and historic Highway 101 in North County San Diego, flowers farther than the eye can see.
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Beautiful, delicate flowers with paper thin petals...
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Twelve million flowers, but any San Diego fifth grader will tell you there are no bees and no butterflies. The flower has no nectar, no pollen, no fragrance for attraction.
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Thousands come to the fields, especially on the weekend, most like myself with cameras hoping to "capture the moment".
It's not long, however, before reminders of the real world intrude.
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San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, about a half mile from the fields... radiation levels 16 times higher than allowed in drinking water in the groundwater, security breaches, news the plant can withstand a small plane but not commercial jet - what would happen with a tsunami?
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And, silently, seemingly invisible to the tourists, our Mexican brothers working the fields... life is more complicated than it appears.