Word of the Day - COLOR

ZOWIE, POW, SPLASH...the eye-popping colors of tropical flowers I had forgotten came back to life. This trip to the Pacific Coast has sparked memories of our time living in Florida, where the blooms and foliage brought us much delight. Over the years, though, my mind had shelved those memories. Just a quick stroll past the blooms in a park seems to adjust the brainwaves enough to bring them back as vivid as ever.

There are the bright pinks of the Bougainvillea, like we had in our back yard. The burst of color they produce is unbeatable, but they do have the nasty tendency of generating long, razor sharp thorns do some quick damage if you are not paying attention. The Bird of Paradise displays its bright oranges and blues while their shape makes me smile. Many other plants flashed their colors just as vibrantly: the Ice Plant, African Daisy, Aloe, etc. However, there was one last blossom that caught my eye. It was the Flowering Maple, with its Chinese lantern look, and party-colored petals. While not technically a tropical, it was thriving here and reminded me of those we planted in our yard. The ones we put in the ground were not as detailed as this bloom, but have a striking deep red hue. I love how each flower we saw drew me in, taking me back in time as I looked at them closer.

It has been incredibly windy here today. At times it was blowing seeds off the trees above us sounding just like light hail. We were thinking of making tomorrow a travel day, but the winds sound just as bad then, so we might have to extend our stay one more day.

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