Perspective...

This summer we have had rain.  That should not be an unsual comment in Houston, but after last year's horrible drought, most of us feel especially blessed to be able to say that we have had rain.  At this moment, a large part of Lousiana is suffering from the results of a cat 1 hurricane stalling over the state and dumping too much rain on an area still reeling from Hurricane Katrina.  Of course, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, but so far this season, we have not had to deal with that end of the spectrum. We are still coping with last year's events.  Now, in our vast Memorial Park, logging crews are working to fell all of the dead pine trees. Huge stacks of multi-story tree trunks are appearing on the perimeter of the cleared public spaces, and the understory of the forest is becoming the canopy. So strange... But, at Bayou Bend, the greenery survives and thrives in the protected gullies where the stone-wear steps of terracing wait to carry precious runoff  down the hills to the bayou.  Who would know that it all was suffering a year ago.  Plants want to survive, as our gardens curator says.  I guess we all do.  And if we have a getaway spot in nature, such as in a garden or in a forest, there is great peace for us when the forces of the natural world allow it to encourage us to survive. It's all about perspective in the end.