Time for a new . . . OK, not NEW . . . but much better thing to write about. My daughter Lauren is living with Brent and me for the time being, and when I got to accompany her to where she trains dogs, I found a bunch of asters growing in a field out back of the main buildings. I remembered that my favorite professor, Dr. George Rogers (Department Chair of Horticulture, Palm Beach State College), mentioned that he was gathering materials to use in an article he needed to write on Asters. So . . . when I found the wild, yellow flowers I pulled them up and took them with me.
I felt a twinge of guilt, but there were other bunches along the fence--and they are not an endangered bit of flora . . . so I didn't try to work with the bright afternoon light.
I like the first photo best. Lauren let me use her little CoolPix camera and I snapped some shots when we were stopped at various lights--the car wiggled too much for a clear picture. These look much better after I fiddled with them--but the originals were pretty good to begin with.
At the end of the class on Monday (Native Florida Grasses, Sedges and Junaceae), we were coming around the last turn before the parking lot and Dr. Rogers pointed out something I'd never noticed before. In Florida, there is a distinctive shape made when a group of slash pines grow naturally. He called it the "dome". I took a photo--with just my iPad2 camera. It was a beautiful sight--and the landscape was charming.
It reminds me of mountain ranges that are made when volcanoes or immense ground upheavals grow old and are worn down by centuries of rain and wind. . . . and they say that Florida has no mountains. It is close enough for me.
Up north and out west, there is snow and cold and cold and snow. Right now it is about 75 degrees F outside and lovely weather for walks and bike rides. It rains and then the sun comes out--or I wake to thunder and the reassuring thrum of rain on the roof and ground. I remember that I do not have to worry about watering the new peach or mango trees and fall back to sleep feeling that I've already gotten something important taken care of for the coming day--kind of like when you are doing laundry: even if I'm eating lunch, as long as the washer and dryer are going, I'm getting things done.
