Art - i - choke

When I was in high school, my freshman English teacher would give us these word puzzles.  There would be a sentence or two with some of the words left blank.  The idea was that some of the blank words would combine together to make the final blank word.  Usually these were compound words, but not always.  My friends and I just loved figuring these out.  The one that I remember best is the one that stumped us...

On some great ______  ___ ______, like the six foot __________ hanging at the local gallery.

Of course the clue was gallery.  And the answer?  On some great art I choke, like the six foot artichoke hanging at the local gallery.

Lucky that we have artichokes growing around here, and a few weeks ago we drove through Castroville, the self-proclaimed "Artichoke Capital of the World."  That's when I learned that this purple flower is actually an artichoke gone to seed!  So this morning when I drove past this patch of "thistle", I finally recognized it for what it is.  ARTICHOKE! The yellow flower is from last year.  I tried photographing it over the winter when I thought this was thistle.  The purple flowers in the background are this year's artichokes going to seed.  They are just growing wild here near the side of the road.