Pecan Creek is running full this winter, so we're hoping for a full recovery for the six bald cypress trees we planted in 1988. You can see one of them on the right in the photo. Her roots stretch out under the creek and when there's water, she thrives. We call this one Freya, for the Norwegian goddess of fertility. And yes, she has knees. They look like this:
Five years of drought and record-hot summers have been very hard on all our cypress and we feared we might lose some of them. Bald cypress live a very long time: there's one in South Carolina that's well over 1620 years old--perhaps as old as 3000 years. I often look at ours and wonder what our world will be like when they have lived out their lifespan. These days, it's not an altogether pleasant thought.
Book report. I finished Queen Anne's Lace, China's 26th adventure. This book is the last in a three-book contract with Berkley Prime Crime, so I've written a proposal for three more books. Here's a sneak peek at their titles: Devil's Trumpet, Passion Flower, and Dragon's Blood. A friend asked if I could look ahead and see the end of the series: the answer is no, not as long as there are interesting ideas to explore and interested readers. I'm glad I didn't choose a series with a definite end, like the alphabet. The mystery done, I'm back to work on the Gertrude project.
Garden report. One planting of potatoes is in, another ready to go.The spinach and onions are thriving, but the kale--for some unknown reason--didn't come up well and had to be replanted. I'll be planting snap peas next week, likely. It's another record-breaking high-temperature winter, pushing up the gardening calendar.
February events. I'll be in Granbury TX and in Dripping Springs TX in late February. If you're in the area, join me!
Reading note. Global warming, along with the cutting and burning of forests and other critical habitats, is causing the loss of living species at a level comparable to the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. That event was believed to have been caused by a giant asteroid. This time it is not an asteroid colliding with the Earth and wreaking havoc: it is us.--Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth