ROYAL PALM FRONDS

November 2001 Table of Contents

ROYAL PALM FRONDS
by Betsy Bracey

Royal Palm Fronds news generally includes a record of the happenings of Owners in residence, however since the only others here are Salli and Bill Schiffmacher the news is that they are having a fine time on their boat, gardening and entertaining. Perfect weather and water temperature and a completely deserted beach await your arrival.

My apologies for intermittent reporting recently. Woody and I left in June for a summer in England where Woody served as ENT surgeon in Dorchester. We spent lovely, lazy weekends touring throughout the southern part of that lush and blooming island. Upon our return we immediately flew to Wyoming to attend the wedding of our eldest grandson. This was the beginning of a month of sightseeing and birding throughout the magnificent National Parks of Yellowstone, Glacier, Waterton Lakes, Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. Vancouver Island provided the birds of the Tofino rain forest and a trip through the Pacific Rim National Park. We drove south to Victoria, a most attractive small city, where we met Cynthia Vernall and found her beautifully settled in a charming old part of the city. After being wined and dined amid much laughter she sent us off with instructions to urge her Treasure Cay friends to visit. You'll be sorry if you don't!

In Washington State we enjoyed the National Parks of Mt Rainier, Mt St Helens and Olympic. A short family visit in Portland, Oregon, enabled us to see Mt Hood Monument and the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. A flight home from Seattle concluded a trip that we enthusiastically recommend although the horrific events of September 11th tempered the joy as you might well imagine. Our son Eric was in the World Trade Center tower the day before the attack which gave us several breathtaking hours on Tuesday morning until we found him safe.

Since then I have been constantly surprised to discover how many people were touched in a close and personal way by this senseless tragedy. Yet the grief that extends across the country and across the world is truly a personal grief for all. Lives are altered, our inner peace shattered and our fear for loved ones who live each day in harm's way is an ever present anxiety.

Even though daily routine for most is not visibly changed we are all a bit on edge, a bit more aware of our mortality, a bit more inclined to pay attention to our spiritual nature, even to reflect more on the beauty which unfolds each day on our incredibly beautiful planet. Anger, too, is a part of the fabric of our thoughts, not that it accomplishes much, yet perhaps it allows us to better understand what has to be done to stop the scourge of evil fanatics whose intent is to destroy our way of life, eliminate free society and who have distorted the very essence of the meaning of God's word, everyone's God.

It is my sincere wish that none of our neighbours lost a loved one but if so, deepest sympathy is extended from all of your Royal Palm neighbours. To Owners, friends and all who read our column we join you in praying for a safer and saner world for our children, grandchildren and all generations to follow so that they may share our freedoms as well as the beauty and natural wealth of Earth, for we have no place else to go.

November 2001 Table of Contents