If A Tree Falls In The Plaza

We had some rain last night. And quite a bit of wind. I didn't open the shutters to see what was going on, but the windows rattled for a while. This morning, San Geraldo, opened the living room shutters and thought something looked different on the plaza. He noticed the palm tree on the corner had a tremendous curve to its trunk. Odd for an old palm tree that had stood vertically for such a long time. Palm tree trunks tend to bend in the wind and return to their original pose

THE PALM STILL STANDING LOOKS A BIT LIKE A TRUFFULA TREE (FROM DR. SEUSS'S "THE LORAX").

Still, there was something else odd about the plaza. And then San Geraldo got it. Another palm tree was no longer where it was supposed to be. The trunk had been snapped and the rest of the tree lay on the plaza, having smashed a bench on its way down.

A STRANGE SIGHT.

I've never seen a palm tree snap. Even during an earthquake in Santa Barbara, California, I watched huge palms sway until their crowns touched the ground only to bounce back up to their original positions. No harm done.

SOMEONE HAS ALREADY SCAVENGED THE BENCH SLATS.

I don't believe in signs or omens, really. My feeling is one can read whatever one wants into just about anything. But, if I did believe, I would say maybe someone is telling us it's time to move on — before someone drops a tree on us.

I wonder — since I was asleep and wasn't "there" to hear it — if the tree still made a noise when it fell.