Kidneywood

Kidneywood (Eysenhardtia texana) is a slight tree whose flowers smell like tangerine fruit. I haven’t showed you this species since 2016, so you could say it’s overdue. The first two pictures, one looking more upward and the next more downward, show how densely kidneywood can flower. I made both of those views on Morado Circle in my neighborhood on October 23rd.

The portrait below, from October 14th along Bull Creek, gives you
a close look at a kidneywood inflorescence whose buds were opening.

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While living in Honduras a long time ago I learned the proverb “Más vale prender una vela que maldecir la oscuridad,” “It’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” Yesterday I came across a similar thought: “The pure righteous do not complain of the dark, but increase the light; they do not complain of evil, but increase justice; they do not complain of heresy, but increase faith; they do not complain of ignorance, but increase wisdom.” It was attributed to Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935), first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine under the British mandate.

© 2021 Steven Schwartzman