Single Flowers

Where I parked my car late last night, though it was too dark to notice, was under a plum tree, one of many in bloom here nowadays. When I came out to drive it today, the car was covered with pink blossoms.

As I drove out of my neighborhood, they flew off and spread on the winds. Only as I cleared the Bay Bridge into the East Bay, did I notice that one tiny petal was clinging on for dear life to my windshield, unwilling to leave its perch just yet.

In this way, one tiny piece of a San Francisco tree traveled 15 miles east and north today, to what purpose I can only guess, but apparently part of nature's plan.

***

The rest of my day was devoted to taking a break from work affairs to care for my three-year-old grandson and his little sister, who's ten months old. She's walking and proud of it.

He's as imaginative as ever.

During one game he invented, that went on for over two hours, we explored some mysteries.

First, he noticed a long, thin cloud in the sky that might be interpreted as looking like a line, or a snake.

Was that a hint of the mystery?

He pulled out a block and said it was his phone.

"Is it an iPhone," I asked.

"No, it's a mePhone."

"What is a mePhone?" I asked.

"It's a phone to help solve mysteries."

I built him an advanced radar system out of Tinkertoys (yes, they still build those) and we calibrated them in such a way that we might pick up signals from afar.

"I hear strange sounds from far, far away," he reported.

These sounds at first might have been from dinosaurs or other creatures, but ultimately, it turned out, they were coming from France, because the radar slowly was picking up words spoken in French.

Meanwhile, new snake clouds appeared in the Western sky, some of which were part of the overall mystery, others the clear results of jets flying far overhead.

Now, while we never did resolve this particular mystery, we both agreed it had been a pretty good day, a day we decided to rename Mystery Wednesday."