On my way to the market the other day, I passed a drugstore that had a pair of small Christmas trees sitting forlornly in front of it, but at a substantial 50% off, hoping to entice a buyer that had overslept. Mid-January might be a tad late for such a purchase, but I think the unwanted trees would perhaps still make some good kindling for the fireplace, which would be better than throwing them out. At least these two specimens were still green and standing upright. Further down the street, I saw a dried out tree flat on its back, just thoughtlessly discarded at the curb. This is the reason why I prefer live Christmas trees you can re-use every year. My acting Christmas tree prior to my current redwood tree, was a sequoia soquel (talk about a lot of vowels in that first word!) that unfortunately dried out in the process of transferring it from a broken pot into the ground, while I was laid up after back surgery several years ago. My son Patrick who was far away in Senegal at the time, later transplanted it for me when he came home, but the roots of the tree had dried out as had the rest of the tree. I had hopes that it would come back during the next spring, but it was not to be. I was sad when the sequoia died, it was a beautiful tree I had tended to since it was a six inch sapling.

Headed over to San Francisco where I had to tend to some errands I passed a store with a sign that read: “Santas looking for good homes: 2 for the price of 1.” The subjects in question where made of chocolate and stood a good two feet tall. A bargain for the chocolate lover no doubt. After my errand, and the Santa encounter, I stopped in a restaurant for a café creme. I sat inside by the window looking out at their outdoor garden seating, the sun filtering lazily between the buildings. A lemon tree on the side of the outdoor patio caught my eye. Having grown up in a cold winter climate, it is still amazing to me to see  lemons growing outside in January. Still green, the lemons hope to become lemonade one day, I would suspect.

Last note: ice on my bird bath/community drinking fountain this morning! Alaska, you may keep that cold air to yourself, if you please.

Have a blessed week,

Matthias Leue