This is the back wall of a church in the Bronx, near the Grand Concourse. Seems appropriate for Christmas Eve!
Life here in Florida, where I'm visiting the family home, could not be more different from my life in the city. I grew up in an area with lots of wilderness, grass and palmettos and even the occasional alligator and armadillo. Our house is on a lake surrounded by tall cypresses, there are cattle ranches and orange groves nearby. The darkness at night seems thick and dense.
But this is all changing, as more and more people move to Florida. Last night, as we were walking, we passed a grove where a builder will soon put 10 houses. The large ranch behind our neighborhood is slated to turn into a big subdivision. And the darkness, though still dark, is not like it was when I was a kid, and could look up and see the wide pale band of the Milky Way crossing the night sky.
Of course, change is inevitable everywhere, but it may be even more inevitable here, with hundreds of people moving to the Sunshine State every day. I try not to be too cynical about it, but I do worry - about the Great Horned Owl we saw last evening in the top of a tree, for example, hunting in that grove where those houses will soon go.
The good news is, my family is fine and we're all getting along. My baby niece, Jane, who is only four months old, is entertaining us all with her big smiles and wide open blue eyes.
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