Photos: John and Suzanne’s Mom.
I wish my bird-of-paradise house plant looked like this, but I know there’s no chance!
It’s not that I haven’t been to California before — quite a few times, in fact. For weddings, work conferences, friends. But now, visiting the brother who’s been dealing with some health challenges, I’m astonished all over again by how exotic and foreign it feels to this East Coast person. How amazing that both Massachusetts and California are part of the same country!
I’m not here for sightseeing and haven’t been taking walks in any of California’s beautiful parks, but I’m astonished by the loved and cared-for plants in all the parking lots around here. My plant-identification app is getting a workout.
Seriously. Imagine an otherwise ordinary parking lot that smells as sweet as the star jasmine below, perfuming the Trader Joe’s shopping center where we ate too much at a Mexican restaurant last night!
One thing I’m still hoping to photograph is something my sister-in-law mentioned — the flurry of little green parrots she often sees at dusk. Parrots! Really? Where I live, you could maybe see one lonely parrot if it had escaped from a cage.
Climbing beside the entrance to my hotel, is a charming fuzzy thing that my app tells me is a brush cherry. Who knew?
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Have a great visit! Nice plant and flower photos.
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Gorgeous flora
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It is amazing how many differences there are coast to coast. Would be amazing to see a bird of paradise flourishing in a New England garden. And how wonderful to find blooming bushes and flowers in gardens in parking lots. Would be fun to see a flock of little green parrots. Hope you see some before you go. Also, best to your brother.
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Thank you, Laurie. I am so grateful for this time with my brother. There was a point a couple months ago when we all wondered if he would make it. I decided I better go now.
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