Sometimes I have the strangest thoughts and search something on the Internet and find the strangest things. One day just wondering what would come up I searched my maiden name on eBay. Just wondered if there was a picture of someone related or what would come up. The weirdest thing. I was expecting something from Ohio where my father is from with the family name or business on it. But instead I found a picture of my youngest sister. She and two other kids at craft contest had one a prize and this picture was run in the news paper. As soon as I saw the picture I knew it was her but kept thinking how weird that is. What are the odds. Well with me it seems to happen often. I think about something and then out of no where I see whatever I just said I never see this anymore.
This same thing happened one night years ago Brian and I were walking on the beach and I had just told him how we used to find the sand collars when we were kids and I had not seen one of them in years. We did not walk another 20 feet and there was one right in front of us. Brian's answer was why don't you think about how long it has been since you found a diamond ring or a pile of cash. This is my luck and fate at play. Rarely is cash going to be involved. Of course we have had times when paying the bills I have wondered how I was going to pay them all and then a check would come for a refund I forgot or an over payment I did not know I had made but for the most part it is just strange things.
So I have been thinking about some ideas to write children's history books. Just short stories about people or places that we have been. I have thought about telling them from different perspectives and I have been working on this idea of instead of telling the story from a child's point of view or an adults to tell the story from a plant or tree's point of view. I have had idea's for a few different places and people but today I thought about a tree in Clearwater that has been there as long as I can remember and I knew there was a plaque in front of the tree so today I stopped next to Perkins on Gulf to Bay near US 19 and wanted to check out the tree and the plaque. So the tree I thought was an Oak is actually a Camphor tree. And even though the tree looks big as you drive by if you have ever noticed. It is even bigger when I was standing in front of it. I would say it was 20 or 30 ft around. The plaque just says that it is a Camphor tree and it is in appreciation for the people who saved it from the National Arbor Society and dated February 1975. Took a few pictures and came home.
Now today I was supposed to do just a few things clean the counter and the dining room table which are catch all. Basically throw out the trash on the table and put everything else away. Do some laundry and the dishes and make dinner. But no. First visited my dad. Then went to the store. Went by and checked out the tree and oh yeah. Came home and got online and decided to do some searching to see what else I could find out about this tree. So Googled Camphor tree in Clearwater and found a few articles about the tree I am speaking of. Very interesting. I now know the tree is about 125 years old and was planted about 1890 with 3 others on the property of William Frank Fields who I read cleared and built his family a home. The four trees were planted to shade the yard for his children to play. Not sure how big the trees were when he planted them but I am sure he would be quite surprised to see how big the lone survivor is. So the strange part. Checked out a few other links but then one caught my eye. Clicked on it and realized it was a link to an eBay page. See how we tie back to the eBay thing at the beginning. Love it when everything ties together. I pull up a picture and it is a newspaper photograph from 1971 of the very same tree. I don't know about you but this is weird. I mean isn't it. I just don't know. So does this mean that I am just strange? Or am I to take it as a sign that I am to write these stories and yes this should be the first one. Or does it mean nothing at all?
This is where sometimes over analysing the situation can leave me to do nothing at all because when my mind never turns off sometimes I will over think a situation until I do not want to think about it anymore and let the book idea go. Or is it that I continue to think about it that it is a good idea and I should continue to do more research. So including my Clearwater tree I have 4 stories in the works. I even have a title in my head but someone else uses it as a name of a business so I guess I would have to look into that as well.
So not sure if today I found a sand collar or a diamond ring but I was not looking for either when it appeared.
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