Have you ever stuck your face into the middle of a Mountain Laurel, in Bloom? The fragrance is unreal, it smells like Grape Koolaid, the powdered stuff we used to drink as kids..........Remember? I guess it's about 9 years now, I built an Arbor in front of our house, a pretty subsantial Arbor. I planted Star Jasmine on the part of it that you pass under each time you leave the house. I dont consider myself an especially smart man, and putting the Jasmine where I did was a stroke of genius. During The Spring and for about 6 weeks or so my front porch is heaven on earth. Every time someone comes or goes, the area one exits the house is an incredibly fragrant, impossible to ignore envelope into which one is folded. Austin Texas, which is the city I live closest to has within it's city limits, the largest urban population of Bats in the world. During the summer, nightly, people from all over will come to watch them come out . The population lives under the Congress street bridge. The best way to see them is on the Colorado river, the first time I had this pleasure was when Pammy hired a boat to take us there for my birthday. The Colorado river, AKA Town Lake, at that time, now LadyBird Lake in honor of the former First lady of the United States. She was almost singularly responsible for making the Colorado river, Downtown the Gem it currently is. We met up with the boat near one of the downtown hotels, he took us on the river near the underside of the bridge. I didnt tell Pammy this at that time but I was spoiled, I had been to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and had seen the Bats fly from those caves, I was convinced there was no way any thing could equal Carlsbad. I was wrong, sitting on the water, not quite knowing what I was going to see and having seen what I thought was the ultimate spectacle of this kind, I was mightly surprised. The Bats would sart leaving the bridge just before dark, they would depart in thick ribbons of black, twisting and turning and of course directing themselves up ward into the sky. I am not sure any writing could do this event justice, I will tell you that ios sparked within me an deep emotional cord and I thought was fantastic. I Love Austin Texas, I love life and plan to be around many more years in order to enjoy it.

Always with love,
Tony.