This is the first time I’ve been back in Florida during the winter since 2002. While it’s not as cold as I remember February to be (feels similar to a cool Kisoro Christmas), it is browner. The trees are brown; the grass is brown (think Uganda in the dry season, sans the layer of red dust); nothing’s in bloom. It’s a beautiful time of year, just not the type of beauty that usually comes to mind when one thinks of Florida.
One of the beautiful features, the simple pleasures of the South that I enjoy seeing when I’m home is the Spanish moss hanging from the branches of the trees. It’s neither Spanish (indigenous to the southeastern US), nor is it a moss (it’s an epiphyte—remember that word—and absorbs nutrients and moisture from the air and it is from the Bromeliaceae family—the same family as the pineapple!). Take sometime to ponder/discuss that one. The Spanish moss dangling from the leafless pecan and oak trees is both winsome and haunting.
Winsome and haunting is a combination of words I could use to describe many aspects and/or situations related to home. I never find beauty to be more evocative than when I am back in Northwest Florida.
For the next 12 days, I will be in the Panhandle area. My goal is to chronicle this visit in both photo and word. My challenge is to only use one photo per post to summarise and capture the essence of the day.
There are pieces to be picked up. Maybe some will be put back together. It’s also likely that a bit will fall apart as well.
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