“To lovers of adventure and novelty, Africa displays a most ample field.”
The day is bleak and rainy. The house was cold when I woke up so I turned on the heat and then finished the rest of my morning rituals. I made the coffee, got the papers, filled the dog’s dry food bowl, changed the water in the dog dish and then sat down to read the papers. The animals got their morning greetings then they went back to sleep. They are, of course, in their usual spots. Mornings never change around here.
Last night my palm tree was lit for the first time since the big snowstorm. It was unexpected. The tree had stopped lighting in February, and I hadn’t been able to check the connections as they were under feet of snow. All the melting this week uncovered the cord, and I saw the plug had disconnected from the timer. Reconnecting it didn’t work. The plug looked as if it had taken too much of a beating under all that snow. I put it back into the timer as best I could. Whatever I did to the plug seemed to work. When I was checking for the dog last night, I was happily surprised to see the lit palm tree. It is a tradition. Even the neighbors made comments when it wasn’t lit. They’ll be happy to see it again.
The first palm trees I ever saw were in Ghana. My geography book had come to life. I was thrilled. We were headed to Winneba and the road to that first training site was along the ocean. It was lined with palm trees. I could see coconuts hanging from below the fronds. Some trees looked bent in odd ways. I was finally somewhere exotic and not a scrub pine was in view. Little did I know what else awaited me.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
March 14, 2015 at 12:59 pm
A Palm tree couldn’t survive in New England. I had a neighbor who had a palm trees growing in his yard and I never figured out how he kept them alive in North Texas. Maybe they were fake trees. 🙂
Today the sun might actually shine and I can get my car washed. There is more rain in the forecast for next week but I want to get all the crud from the chemicals that they put on the roads to melt the ice and snow off of the car. I don’t think they use salt because it’s not environmentally friendly. Actually, Texas is not very high on saving the environment but they know that salt is not good for the roads and they are big on saving taxpayer’s money.
March 14, 2015 at 1:11 pm
Bob,
I know one wouldn’t survive here, but on the Cape even fewer kinds survive the salty air which is why we have so many scrub oak and pine.
The Cape uses almost no salt because of the water table. My road was only sanded. Many people still use wells so they have to be protected. That explains why the roads are never completely cleared.
March 14, 2015 at 2:30 pm
The wind, as always, destroyed much of an otherwise just wonderful day. Sunshine and almost 50F. It calmed down some now in the afternoon so I went outside and played with the dogs and cleaned up junk the storms had spread during winter.
I found several flowering plants to my big surprise so I’ll show them tomorrow. Everything seems to have survived and look good, only the apricot tree took some beating but it is still alive and kicking.
I saw my first palm tree in the big greenhouses in Gothenburg but I don’t count those. The first wild ones I saw was when I went to the Canary Islands, it was date palms filled with dates. I never tried to eat any though, something I regret today since I’ve heard they are delicious as fresh.
Have a great day!
Christer.
March 14, 2015 at 4:32 pm
Christer,
It is still raining fairly heavily. Gracie poked her head out the door and decided to stay in the house. More and more of the snow is disappearing.
You have had such a mild winter I am not surprised to know you have flowering plants. I’m just happy we have the shoots.
Fresh dates are delicious. If you get the opportunity, try one. It is the same with figs.
Have a wonderful evening!