After posting for Penguin Awareness Day, I was tempted to title this post “Palm Tree Awareness Day.” Oh, Isabel, don’t be silly. Today isn’t Palm Tree Awareness Day.
No, but Apr 17 *will* be Palm Tree Day, which I know only because I thought I’d better check before claiming there was no such thing and harrumphing WHY NOT? So consider yourself notified, well in advance. Watch for palm trees in your location. Plant ’em if you got ’em.
This post is about palm trees, sort of, in the sense that it’s about the loveliness on display even in a 30-minute walk in a random neighbourhood/neighborhood in metro Phoenix. It turns out a lot of that loveliness is in the palm trees, which catch my Canadian eye for sure.
The sky wasn’t really becoming ominously, albeit strikingly, bluer — that’s some function of the software and filters embedded in my phone camera and where I was standing relative to the sun. I think.
Audible but not visible were the chattering/squeaking rosy-faced lovebirds nesting in these trees. Visible but not photographable were the white-winged doves flitting in and out of other trees along my walk.
Photographable but not in detail, given the shade, were the hibiscus (I think) blooms. Here, the phone’s camera produced a result evoking the graphic arts.
Finally, there is always some sort of humour/humor to be found. Unintentional, I presume.
Yep – I miss warm weather! and palm trees!
Alison – Indeed. The warmth is relaxing (when it isn’t overpowering).
Palm trees have been in a few of my photos, but I haven’t thought of looking at them carefully enough to produce a fascinating series. Of course, I won’t be doing so in the near future, of course – wish I could. And I love the graphic hibiscus!
Judith – I’m going to have to check out that flower/tree ID. If it is a hibiscus (which is the only thing that comes to my mind) it’s a different habit-of-growth than any others I’ve seen, which are small bush, large bush, and hedge. This is an actual tree.
Beautiful pictures, Isabel.
Tom
Tom – Many thanks.
Nice take on the palms, and nice flower too
Jim – Many thanks.
We in Ottawa are in a cold war — with double-digit minus for days. I posted this on FB yesterday about another cold day one in 1988. (Enjoy the warmth down there for us!)
Wednesday, January 6th, 1988 — Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Severe Cold Weather Warning in effect, but I went to the bank anyway, only a 7-minute walk. The trip there had been unpleasant, but, nothing like the walk home, against the brick-like solidarity of the wind which made my nose feel brittle as glass, my cheeks dead hard. My eyes watered and tears froze. It was hard to blink.
My scarf — wound around my neck and lower face — meant my laboured breath frosted my glasses. My coat flapped and left my stiffening legs vulnerable to upward gusts. The wind was one vertical line of needles piercing through my parka’s (covered!) front zipper.
I took the coward’s way out and climbed the steps to the South Tower of the Highlands’ Condo complex which meant I could get into the building sooner and walk — inside — its long corridor, to the North Tower. By the time I reached the top of the outside stairs, my glasses were so frosted over, I had to take them off, extracting them carefully from inside my over-the-ears, double-thick toque and parka hood.
When I finally reached the inside of the building, I leaned up against a wall and panted, as if I’d escaped The Temple of Doom.
I have a lingering ice cream headache, but as I type this, I am very warm, and cannot remember the cold — the -41ºC — of an hour ago, and need to get out of this sweltering outfit — a sweatshirt!
Barbara – An Arctic blast from the past! Thanks.