Dr. Seuss Trees

One of the first things I noticed when I moved to San Diego (as I nearly ran off the road noticing them) were the trees that looked like Dr. Seuss trees as illustrated in his books.

It was a few years later that I discovered just why trees here looked like those crazy trees in his books.

1.  He lived in La Jolla, a suburb of San Diego.
2.  San Diego is actually a desert/ chaparral area, not normally suited to trees.
3.  Therefore trees in San Diego need to be watered.
     3A - trees take up water with their roots and expire them through their leaves.
     3B - in order to use less water watering trees, the people in San Diego constantly trim their trees to create less branch and leaf area.
     3C - ERGO -- Dr. Seuss trees.


(for a description of how and why trees were imported into the water-parched San Diego area, I refer you to the book, The Tree Lady, The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever  by H. Joseph Hopkins.) 

What happened to your Book Today?

For all of us writers who are Not going to hear our name or book title announced on Monday morning when the American Library association announces their list of Award winning books, Kate Messner has offered this poem:
What happened to your Book today?

Read it on her blog - click on through the above link

Picture book author - Eric Pinder

"Wait a minute... It's a humbling career moment when you suddenly realize you're actually the stuffed animal's sidekick."

Read more from this interview with picture book author (and college professor), Eric Pinder.
Where he talks about writing picture books, doing school visits, and teaching writing.

Just follow the links.

Groundhog Day is Here

Will Spring be early or late?  

Punxsutawney Phil  saw his shadow, so 6 more weeks of winter.
Good!  That should mean that the rains might finally come to San Diego.

February is -

It's almost that time of year, again: