Goat's Foot Morning Glory

 

 

                 Railroad Vine, Ipomoea pes-caprae  

from an internet soirce:

“The Railroad Vine blooms during the summer and fall months. Its habitat is widespread and abundant throughout beach sands and dune ridges.  The large mats produced by this morning glory make it an important species in dune stabilization.”

In 1946 Galveston my parents and I were all enthusiastic about learning what we could about all the strange (to us) things we encountered on the beach.  We all made frequent visits to the Rosenberg Library to research our finds.

One of the unique finds on the beach was the seed of Entada gigas. 

Mom's research indicated that it was the seed of the “Goat's Foot Morning Glory.”

And so she told me that is what it was.  Is.

Recent internet inquiries provide a contradictory identification.(See top picture, above)

All we had to study was the seed  No vines grew on the Galveston beachfront that we frequented.

We moved from Galveston to Corpus Christi in 1951.  

New town  

New house. 

New schools.  

Also new to our family/household was the 1947 Ford station wagon that Pop bought.  (Prior to that we did not have an automobile)

Our house was just a short distance from Padre Island Drive.  Weekends the six of us piled into the station wagon and cruised along the two lanes of PID. 

(Remember, this was 1951 — before expressways)

 A stop at the toll gate, paid our dollar, and onward to the beach. Our chosen access took us to the beach at the location of Bob Hall Pier.  Turning right we traveled  along the water's edge in a southwesterly direction until we arrived at an area not crowded by other beach-goers.

We eagerly began our day of exploration — first along the water's edge, seeking the occasional shell. Then into the dunes.

Then, in the early 1950's the sand dunes were twenty feet or more in height.

In the lower areas between the mountain-like dunes we observed luxurious growths of vegetation.

Because of the similarities of leaf shape to morning glories that we grew around our house in Alabama we reasonably assigned the name “Goat's Foot Morning Glory” to the vines we encountered.

And just as reasonably assumed that these vines bore the brown seed pod that we first encountered on the beach in Galveston.

I searched valiantly among the sprawling growths of the vines in the dunes, and never found any of the seed pods.  It seems that the seed pods grow on distant shores, and are carried by Gulf currents to the Texas coast.

The beaches, both at Galveston and Padre Island are the source of many delightful memories.  I'd return to Galveston, but I have learned that “You can't go home again!”

Who is your Favorite

 “Who is your favorite composer?”

To which I respond with the question “Have you ever eaten in a restaurant?”

The puzzled response to that may be “What the f ...What's that got to do with your choice of composer?”

I try to gently lead to an understanding . . .

“At the restaurant you were given a menu.  You studied the items offered and made a selection.  If you returned to the same restaurant at a later date you again made a selection — probably not the same one chosen on your previous visit.  So it is with music — when I choose to listen to classical music, I can choose Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Puccini — or one of many others I enjoy.

In the popular music genre I think of Crosby, Sinatra, Doris Day, Dinah Shore — and many others.  Too many to list.”

The point is, choosing one favorite is not reasonable.  A better question would be “What kind of music do you enjoy?”

What to Believe

 One knows not what to believe.

Authoritative and highly placed sources in our government instructed us to rush to get the Covid vaccine, which was described as “safe and effective.” 

And to wear masks against the Covid.  Further, to isolate — to the extent of staying away from our place of employment  Or school.  And church.

Now, after a couple of years of re-examination we are confronted by a different group of authoritative and reliable sources informing us that the whole Covid thing was a hoax.  Estimates are presented that millions of people died as a result of taking the vaccine. Which is now described as “unsafe and ineffective.”

More subtly, an alleged effect of the Covid vaccine is to alter the very structure and function of our brains.

That last assertion hits me right between the eyes.

For I see it as a possible explanation of the chronic dizziness and brain fog that has become a constant for me.

Doctors that I've consulted are not able to diagnose, and certainly are unable to successfully treat, the problems.

What to believe?

Hell, “what to do” is more pressing!

If my dizziness is the result/effect of taking the vaccine —  and experiencing an alteration in my very brain — I'm screwed.

As a doctor once told me, “Just learn to live with it — that's your new you.”