Indian cigar trees.

I took Fain for a walk today at City Park. It's very different from City Park in New Orleans. Smaller, but cleaner. If you discounted every square inch of City Park in New Orleans that had a Popeye's cup or a plastic bag covering it, then the two would actually be about the same size.

I found some sweet olive, and the scent made me forget the plastic bags for a moment. Weeping willows and crepe myrtles and snowy Indian cigar trees shade the path around the lake, and pines and maples and young oaks cluster together in tight-knit groups along the outskirts of the park where the grass is green and sweet-smelling. There were dozens of Canadian geese, some with goslings in tow, and the mallards also had tiny duckings darting after them. The water was aflap with white ducks and white swans and those strange oriental swans with black heads and red beaks. Some turtles poked their heads through the surface and also some small fish. The water was clean and clear, and I could see right down to the bottom. The ducks and fish and turtles and geese in New Orleans would have been envious of their country cousins.

Tomorrow I'll take the camera and let you see for yourself.