That sort of day/mood

I'm in a funny sort of mood today. 

Driving to Mumbles an appeal came on the radio for guide dogs but it began with, " We all remember the dogs we've had," and I had to blink away tears in my eyes.

Then after shopping I drove up to the cemetery and stood before my mother's grave. Nothing. I felt nothing. Admittedly that's not unusual.

Ah well, back to today.

If you do the NYT connections puzzle look away now.

I couldn't do it today, only managing the first - easiest - connections. Usually when I fail and look at the results I can see where they've come from; one of today's I wouldn't have guessed in a million years. (Well, perhaps I would have done but it would have been for the wrong reason.)

The words that were linked were: canal, plan, man, Panama. Do they ring any bells with you? I'll put a couple of photos here so you can have a little think before seeing the answer.

My tulips are starting to flower!

This wallflower has been flowering all through the winter.

The correct answer, the thing that links those four words, is that they are all nouns in a famous palindrome. Even after I'd read the answer I didn't understand it. I even questioned my understanding of the word palindrome. So I had to google it. You have to include the indefinite article. A man, a plan, a canal, Panama. 

For goodness sake.