hibiscus vs hollyhock

The hibiscus is such a pretty flower which comes in such a variety of colors.

Almost seems like an orchid flower, the kind that people put on top of their ear in Hawaii. But most of all they remind of a northern flower called a hollyhock (is that spelling correct?). When I was very young there was a field across the street from the house. The field was planted with some type of grass or hay. It would grow to a 3 or 4 foot height. I am not sure how accurate I am in the height estimate because when you are young and small, everything looks bigger to you. A farmer would come in during the summer with a tractor with a cutter bar attached and harvest it away and then all that would be left would be stubble. But before it was cut, it was an adventurous place to play hide and seek. But alongside this field was a group of these hollyhock plants with their large pink hibiscus type flowers. They were a delight to see because of their size and shape. Most flowers were like zinnias and daisy shaped. The hollyhock plant had a really fuzzy stem and a milk sticky sap. They must have been perennials because they returned every year. It was one of the things that I looked forward to seeing when I returned to my hometown for a visit for a trip down memory lane a couple years ago. But alas, the field has a house built on it and there were very large hedges along the edge of the field where the hollyhock plants had been. But now I have the hibiscus in Florida which reminds me of the hollyhock flowers. A good trade-off because it is better living in Florida where it doesn’t snow. This morning I looked out the back window and through the gray light of the early dawn I saw a beautiful intensely red cardinal hopping around in the backyard. He was hopping like a sparrow does instead of walking like the crows do. I am sure with all the rain that we have had that there is probably lots of insects crawling for him to dine on. Today Mary and I go to Arby’s for our free treat from Arby’s. This Wednesday it is a chocolate swirl vanilla milk shake. That should be good. I have never had one. Yesterday, Mary and I went to see that movie Angels and Demons starring Tom Hanks. It takes place in Vatican City and is an action packed adventure very similar to the National Treasure movies starring Nicholas Cage. The movie was directed by Ron Howard. It is hard to imagine that he is Opie from the Andy Griffith Show all grown up. The movie was so packed with action that there wasn’t a dull moment in it. I like action-adventure movies. They seem to hold my attention better than the dull slow-moving dramas or mysteries. We had a coupon and so the back of popcorn was free but the outrageously priced diet-coke wasn’t free. It was senior Tuesday discount day and yes, there were a lot of seniors in there. I enjoyed talking with them. No, I didn’t know them but we talked anyway. I find that most of the seniors like to talk just as much as I do. My word count is high. Take care. Lew