Camellia

“Her delight in the smallest things was like that of a child. There were days when she ran in the garden, like a child of ten, after a butterfly or a dragon-fly. This courtesan who had cost more money in bouquets than would have kept a whole family in comfort, would sometimes sit on the grass for an hour, examining the simple flower whose name she bore.”

― Alexandre Dumas-fils, La Dame aux Camélias

This morning brings the first bloom on a potted camellia plant in my front yard. It's been in the pot for years, and I'm not one hundred percent sure of its identity, but I think it's Camellia japonica "Nuccio's Pearl."