Pandanus ...

                                                                                                                 dornbrau was right!

   I want to thank all of you so much for your delightful and candid response to my "Is it just me" question in my last entry. You guys are great and yes ... it does help to know that you are not alone.

     Everyone knows that I am going through some growing pains right now. My kids are grown, the baby has moved out, the divorce is finally over and for the first time in my life, my time is demanded and directed by no one but me. I'm not ashamed to say that this has been a little bit scary and that I have felt quite overwhelmed by it all, but the good news is, I'm starting to get use to it.

     I have recently come to the conclusion that it's way past time to make a new game plan for this fresh new chapter in my life. I figure that I am obligated to spend about 43 hours at work each week, 6 hours driving to work, 6 hours getting ready for work and about 45 hours sleeping. If I do the math, I find that this is about 100 out of the 168 hours available in a week.

     The other 68 hours are mine, all mine and what I choose to do with them will determine who I am and where I am going. I've made a commitment to go to classes two nights a week, that adds a grand total of 5 more hours to the allotment. The project at hand will be figuring out how to balance the 63 hours that I have left over.

     I do appreciate your help with my question and thanks also for baring with me while I try to get things figured out. I'll do my best not to bore you to much with the details but I do tend to write about things I am dealing with and I do plan on remaining part of this community.  I love this place.

     Now, about that last photo ...   dornbrau was right this is a  Pandanus tree. I have heard that the Indians did use the fibrous fruit as a food source at one time. It seems they may have mixed it with coconut to make it more palatable. I guess this might be a good thing to know if ever your were on a survival mission out in the Everglades or something.

     I remember collecting Palmetto Palm hearts to feast on when I was in Civil Air Patrol as a kid and being tested on survival skills. We also would drain the water that collected inside the center of wild airplants, strain the water through our T-shirts, boil it a little and then use it to fill our canteens. Ahhh ... to be 15 again, on second thought maybe 42 is not so bad.

    I do want to thank Stephen at Sometimes Photo Blog for highlighting that photo in his nightly photo spotlights. Stephen's journal is one of my long time daily reads, his entries are always full of photography and journaling advice and his consistency with managing a nightly post (like clock work) and his attention to detail, is always inspiring. I'll admit that I tend to get as excited about having one of my photos spotlighted in the Sometimes Photo Blog as I do about being Editor's #1 weekly pick.

     SloMo (miss you girl) taught me when I first started Rain, that it's much more rewarding to be recognized from within. So ... I want to thank Steven and the rest of you that make time to recognize other writers in your own journals. This is part of what makes J-Land such a great community.