Jacaranda

Nothing reminds me more of home than the site of Jacaranda trees. Long Beach is lined with them, especially out in the 'burbs, which is the little pool upstream from which I hatched. In the spring, the lavender colored flowers cover the otherwise bare trees in a burst of purple. Soon, the fernlike leaves will appear, making for green and purple trimmed boulevards. The little flowers fall to the ground in sticky, messy carpets of fermenting brown muck. I remember sitting on the sidewalk in front of my house, putting sticks through the end of fallen flowers to make tiny brooms with which to sweep them up, one small bloom at a time. Everyone complains about the mess, but we all enjoy the lovely site of Jacarandas catching the evening light.