On the way from the garage to my home, I pass a house that features the neighborhood’s only banana tree (which, by the way, just goes to show that there are plants even I can identify without help). Every winter, the leaves turn a cruddy brown and become shaggy looking; they just seem to shrivel up and die but they don’t actually fall off. By early May, the tree normally has a full set of beautiful and enormous green leaves. As can easily been seen in the photo I took tonight, the banana tree is a few weeks behind schedule this year, as indeed is most of the vegetation in these parts. Did you know there is an International Banana Society? Some people have WAY too much time on their hands. Then again, look who’s talking...