Dec 30 2009
Suspended Animation
The growth of the oak trees in and around our Florida yard drastically slows during the winter months. For all I know, it may stop. The bulk of the leaves don’t drop until spring, when new growth pushes them off. It seems.
Here in Vermont, where I now sit and type, a blanket wrapped around my slippered feet to keep them warm, the deciduous trees have lost there leaves. Directly in front of me, through a window, is a species of tree related to the birch. (I can tell by the bark, but lack its name.) There is nothing on this tree’s branches but an inch-frosting of snow running along the topsides — where gravity can’t pull it off.
I wonder if people in cold climates age ever-so-slightly slower.
