Return home tomorrow

Buz on our cold but dry walk

I smiled ruefully when I got ready to go out and walk this morning, finding that here in Texas it's colder than at home in Bellingham. Every day since I got to Arlington I've walked around this track at Stovall Park with my sister Norma Jean, but she went back to sunny and warm Florida yesterday, so I persuaded my brother Buz to go with me today. We walked four miles in windy 30-degree weather, which made it feel like 23 degrees F.

It's been a good visit with family, even though it wasn't what I expected when I made reservations in December to travel to Florida in February. PJ's death brought us all together this week with a determination to create the best tribute we could to our sister. I wrote about the Celebration of Life here, and tomorrow it's time to return to my own life. We are all stronger and more bonded from this week's events, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of such a family.

While walking this morning, I saw this batch of mistletoe in one of the bare trees in the park.

Mistletoe with berries

In reading that link above (about mistletoe), I learned that even though it is a parasite, it is a beneficial one to many different species of trees and bushes, since the berries attract birds. From that link:

Mistletoe was often considered a pest that kills trees and devalues natural habitats, but was recently recognized as an ecological keystone species, an organism that has a disproportionately pervasive influence over its community. A broad array of animals depend on mistletoe for food, consuming the leaves and young shoots, transferring pollen between plants, and dispersing the sticky seeds. 

I also learned that in pre-Christian Europe, mistletoe was seen as a representation of divine male essence, and thus romance, fertility and vitality. That means I can wish all you ladies romance for Valentine's Day in the spirit of mistletoe!
:-)