Florida

The truck.

I just returned from moving my mother, sister, and brother in law to Florida - outside Orlando, to its west. They moved down there for a variety of reasons, although the most prominent being economic. It gets harder to explain beyond this and so will leave it at that.

The road.

The real estate agent couldn't open the door to the rental, so I focused on the lawn while walking the property. It was really not much of a lawn, if grass is what you think of when you hear the word lawn. The agent was firm about the fact that the new tenants would be responsible for mowing the lawn. I corrected her, twice - "the weeds, you mean?"

If I was in a different state of mind or had the time for photography during the move I would have taken photos of all the flowering plants I had seen. Especially those in the lawn. If one were to mow, the flowering plants would be replaced by jagged-cut stems and some smaller-leaved, prostrate versions of the very same plants. I imagined sharp stabbings underfoot, wondering which was worse -that or the fire ants.

The sunshine state.

I couldn't even begin to name the plants I saw, although one flower looked quite like what we would call Lantana, emitting a spicy, minty scent when I had torn the leaves. Other plants familiar to me that are blooming now in Florida are Crape Myrtle and Oleander. These, of course, are everywhere along roads, train tracks, home and commercial landscapes.

Welcome center palms.

The Florida property is small, maybe 1/8 an acre, slopes downward toward a small lake or large pond. The front yard has a young Live Oak and another tree I could not identify. The back yard slopes strongly toward the water's edge where there is some surface algae and, that day, a stone-stiff heron. I heard strange birds in the pond-side trees. I imagined building a small dock for a canoe and definitely a vegetable garden.

The Florida climate is nothing like ours, in New York. I was excited about all the new plants I could grow if it were me moving there. I hope my sister takes up some sort of gardening. It helps make a home out of a rental.