IF ONLY I COULD BOTTLE AND SELL IT

The Palm Garden, Florida
Botanical Garden,
Largo

I don't care how ugly you are, you just look better after a month in the Florida sunshine. There's a smile on your face, a new bounce to your walk, a new rosiness to your checks and color on your pale skin. I know its an old cliche but I wish I could" bottle and sell that sunshine. "Boy would I be rich . Then I could buy an estate down in Florida with huge gardens to keep me busy during what they call " winter. " Hah ! I know I'd have something blooming year round.

Right now in Chicago it's the 'tween season . On March 21, the calendar's first day of Spring we were graced with a foot of snow . Natives here will tell you that there's no Spring in Chicago until May , then suddenly it's Summer .

It looks like a lot of the locals have , as we say down South, " Fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. " Dark , dreary clothing and sullen faces . The 'tween season is not a pretty sight in Chicago.

I still feel the exuberance of a month of Florida sunshine and some folks have become suspicious, asking " What's wrong with you , did you win the lotto ?" Nope, just a month in Florida. Then comes the looks that could melt chocolate at twenty paces. " Well, no wonder then. "