Anna Monica / L’Observateur / February 16, 2000

My decision has been made. I will plant no flowers this spring. I will be merelycontented that my yard has a rich variety of evergreen plants, trees which leaves drive me crazy each fall and some nice blooms on the various foliage at almost any time of the year. Therefore, I will stick to my decision to notplant any flowering thing next season. Well, perhaps just a begonia orimpatiens or two under a tree or two, or in my cement flower basket – but that is absolutely all.

My reasoning? I am positively sick and tired of fighting heat and drought each summer. I recall that we did well up until June last year. If there is anythingthat distresses me, it’s watching greenery and flowers wither and die from lack of water. We have been experiencing drought-like weather for some timenow, and I just don’t want to fight the heat and dryness anymore. Let mecontinue to brighten your day. So far, the forecast is for a hotter, driersummer. Just thought you would like to know!Do any of you remember icicles? I remember the garage next to the house I grew up in. It had a galvanize roof and every winter, without fail, a freezingrain would create icicles of all sizes. Do you remember walking across frozenice puddles to crack the ice? When I was in high school at the old Leon Godchaux, during football season we band members (I played the tenor sax, B flat) had to wear long johns under our band uniforms to keep warm. I willnever forget because I didn’t have any long johns and had to wear flannel pajamas instead. We also had to wear wool gloves, and at halftime, afterperforming, we were allowed to go to the band hall to warm up. When was thelast time you had to really and truly bundle up to stay warm at a game? Maybe we had a little cold blast or two on a windy night in the past year or so, but really, when were you extremely cold? My last freezing event was in 1978 when Lutcher won the state championship. My brother, Frankie, was the coach. We were in Haughton andit was so cold the football players had to warm their hands over a fire made in a trash barrel. We were losing and I was so cold and miserable I wonderedhow I was going to thaw enough to get down from the stadium. Then wescored. I wasn’t so cold anymore. Nonetheless, when was the last time youhad that kind of cold? Do you remember the thunder showers of almost every summer afternoon that almost ensured your afternoon tennis game had to be called off? Or, perhaps it was your golf game, or your picnic. Outside of places like BelleTerre Boulevard which floods with just a drizzle and that have so much cement there is no place for the water to run off to, when do you really see flooding? How often these days do we see a down to earth afternoon or morning shower? Of course, some people come unglued after just one shower, but I am not one of them.

I have plenty other things to worry about, but I still worry about seasons which are so different than they were for most of my life. Is it globalwarming? I can understand change in technology, styles, preference, aging, etc., but when Mother Nature does an about-face, I find that cause forconcern.

So, now I have invaded your complacency, disturbed your peace and created doubt in your minds, plus perhaps made you a bit uncomfortable just because I don’t plan to plant flowers this spring.

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