A tropical interlude

It's single digit temperatures outside (and in F degrees that's really cold), and snowy, and with a huge wind chill factor making it seem even colder, and TPP still has a flu-like substance. What's needed is a nicr tropical interlude. Nothing gets your head straight faster, improves your out look, and cures what ails you faster than a trip to the tropics. Now why the heck is TPP still up north here?  He's retired! Why not move to the tropics? Well, there's a lot of reasons that isn't happening and won't happen, but a guy can still dream can't he?  Here's a view in one to TPP's favorite places, one of the beach communities north of Cairns (Qld).  What you see here is a coconut palm characteristically leaning out over the beach so that it's sea water dispersed fruits drop where a high tide will pick them up and float them away. Successful dispersal requires that the fruit gets deposited above the high tide mark, usually by a storm surge, but then if the palm didn't lean out the fruits would fall too far above the high tide mark. A nice beach morning glory is growing out onto the upper beach from under the shade of casuarina trees (maybe Casuarina equisetifolia). Notice the crowds. A couple months of this would just about fix me up. 

Relief from the Winter Doldrums - Mission Beach

Although the Phactor is a native of the snow belt and has personally witnessed a 104 inch (264 cm) snowfall in 48 hours, my maternal heritage hails from the deep south, and perhaps for this reason, while winter has it fascination, in recent years that has worn off quickly, in about a week. For therapy, a daily visit to our university greenhouse teeming with vegetation helps greatly, the humid warmth, the "earthy" green,organic smell. For those of you who through no fault of your own find yourself mired in winter, and so far December here in Lincolnland is deeply mired with winter running much colder and snowier, about 10 degrees colder and 40% more snow than average, which of course in terms of weather in the great midwest of North America is just that, an average of extremes where the weather can be averaged, but the weather is never average, enjoy this bit of tropical relief, one of those places (Mission Beach, QLD) you long to visit along with a few cans of Castlemaine XXXX Bitter Ale. Notice the crowds. Notice the lack of surf and surfer dudes. Notice the occasional saltwater croc! Ah, the relief.