TheBanyanTree: differing perspectives

[Sachet]

I read Nancylee's perspective of Florida...she's a relatively short distance from me....and I am 
always appreciative that she offers her observations of life and her perspective on things. I had 
to grin when I considered how our outlooks differ....sometimes. 

I was walking outside with Banyan last night (I do love looking up at the incredibly vast blanket 
of stars overhead each night, always hopeful to see yet one more shooting star, or possibly a 
shuttle launch, since they have been a wondrous unexpected surprise upon occasion. Banyan makes 
me laugh because he does the Great Dane "lean" thing against me and mimics what I do.....his big 
brown eyes looking up at the stars, too.)

And as I was walking around in the dark, enjoying the soft breeze and the scent of the citrus trees 
in bloom, savoring the cool temps of the night (because even the high 70's or low 80's feels 
considerably cooler than the sweltering 90's [heat index in the 100's] of the summer days now....
and I continued to try, really, really try to find things I can enjoy about this sub-tropical 
climate, and I glanced up into the night sky and 'lo and behold there was a silhouette of a palm 
tree.
 
Next thing I know I am sighing and muttering about how I detest palm trees and how I can't wait 
to be surrounded by "real" trees. Trees that know how to turn color and shed leaves that 
crunch under foot. Trees that don't perpetually stay a boring green all year around and serve no 
useful purpose since their branches and leaves are too thin to provide much useful shade and 
trimming their stupid branches, (some of which are like deadly pointed swords that can fall and 
spear the unsuspecting tree trimming helper) is a hot messy hassle. I want trees that have 
the sense to tunnel their roots deep into the ground so that they don't blow over so easily in 
hurricane winds. I want trees that DO something besides drop rock hard seeds all over the place 
that become projectiles when the lawn mower accidently hits them. I want trees that don't provide 
safe harbor to rats, carpenter ants, huge palmetto bugs and swarms of bees when they are sending
out plums of pollen that make your allergies act up. I want trees, the trunks of which, don'tlook 
like ugly gray concrete poles.

There are those fortunate people (and I too, was happily, naively one years ago when we first 
moved to Florida) who gaze up at the silhouette of a palm tree and envision frolicking in the sun, 
sandy beaches and balmy summer nights. 

Ha! Welcome to my world of palm tree reality. <g>

Don't EVEN get me started on sand.....

 ;-) 


...Sachet