A Poinciana Post for Papa

Ironically, this is the picture that started it all. We were reading Richard Scarry's "What Do People Do All Day" and began the chapter entitled "Wood and How We Use It." We got to the end here where you see the little pig planting an apple seed that grows into a tree. And it was here that I decided to tell Leia Rose a story about how, when Papa was a little boy, he planted a special seed in the middle of a circle of grass outside of his house in Miami. And that little teeny tiny seed grew up to be a beautiful tree with flowers which is still there today. Well, Leia Rose wanted to learn more about THIS! So, she called Papa on the phone a few weeks ago and asked him about it. Turns out that Papa had planted a seedling of a Royal Poinciana tree when he was seven years old, and it has since grown up to be a great big tree. "Maybe Leia Rose could draw me a picture of the tree in front of my old house in the circle of grass," Papa said.

She did. And Leia decided to give it to Papa for Father's Day.

She did. And it meant a lot to Papa. And then we vowed that, before the end of the trip, we would go and SEE that tree in Miami to bring our story to complete fruition.
We did. But I'm sorry to say that the Royal Poinciana no longer exists in that circle. : ( It's a palm tree now. But in the background you can see the house that Papa grew up in. Papa said his favorite memories were playing ball with his friends in the front yard and playing catch with Pop-Pop (Papa's dad) on the front lawn. (He also remembers waking up in a pool of sweat at night because they didn't have any air conditioning then. Ha!) The most amazing thing is that Paul Compare / Pop-Pop / Papa's Dad BUILT most of the homes in the area of South Miami!

Anyway, here is a picture of a random Royal Poinciana that I found. They are gorgeous, aren't they? But you can see why it no longer stands in that circle. It probably got so big that it began raining flower debris all over their little road, . . .
And CONSIDERING THE PRICE OF HOMES IN THE AREA I can understand why. ; ) Ironically, Pop-Pop built this exact home! Oh, if he had only held onto them all. Papa would be a millionaire!!!
So, all of this was a special Father's Day gift for Papa. What about Leia's Daddy? : ) Well, we had something special for him, too. Long ago, Leia Rose had drawn him a special picture of herself at the ballet recital, . . . AND we also picked out a very special Daddy snack for him to have this evening: chicken fingers, eggs, twice-baked potatoes, junior mints, runts, Krispy Kreme chocolate doughnut holes, and nerds!!! Oh my! (He loved it!)