Page 8 - Boca ViewPointe - June '24

Page 8, Viewpointe June 2024
Sprong! Spring Had Sprung

By William A. Gralnick Joining the crocuses were the Azalea bushes, Tulips, and low humidity are luscious. I’ve always thought April and
Rosebuds. Some of the yards had Rhododendrons. They part of May were the wonder months. The weather is usually
As you, dear readers, had big buds and big flowers. The Spring vendors began great and for the tourists and the prices begin to go down.
are reading this spring is to show up. The Fuller Brush man, the knife sharpener in Then there is Fall. We have sweltered through the work
officially over. Spring, his little truck with the grinding wheel and my favorites, of carrying the air around on our backs with the humidity
unlike the other seasons, Sam the Good Humor man, and I-never-knew-his -name- matching or sometimes exceeding the temperature. Ugh.
is full of goodness and but-he-was-an-immigrant-with-a-heavy-accent (Whew!) Then one morning we’re greeted by a morning that has
memories. This past spring, any spring, is worth reflecting on. flower man. While Dave the Good Humor man was heard half the humidity of the day before and the temperature
I remember fondly the long Spring seasons in Brooklyn. coming from blocks away by the jingling of his truck’s bells, beginning to drop, though climate change is having an
First would come the blue and white crocuses. Sometimes the flower man was different. His “truck” was a horse and impact on all of this. Believe it or not, there’s already a
their littles would push up while there was still snow on the wagon which he sat atop looking like he was making his tropical storm spinning around already in the Atlantic. There
ground. Leaves would unfurl bringing green to the street. way through the hinterlands of the Wild West. But behind used to be a day in the winter that was like that magical
The unique noise that snow tires made on the cement; those him was a flatbed that had shelves built into them. Attached day in the Fall. You’d wake up and wow, it was chilly. I
sounds were disappeared when the tires were removed and to the back and sides were bags of fertilizer and tools the can remember days in the low forties and high thirties and
relegated back to their place in the garage. Out of one garage careless gardener discovered had vanished between winter even that historic day when it sort of snowed in Miami.
came a neighbor’s 1905 Willy’s Overland, crank starter, and and spring. Such days seem to be evaporating.
rubber horn. The air was crisp and nippy, but we all said If you looked up the definition of bored with it you’d As for the flora, come spring we get an explosion of
yes when the car stopped coughing and shaking and Mr. find a picture of the horse. He probably could do the route tropical colors. And the fauna changes too. Some birds stay
Marks yelled, “Who wants to go for a ride?” Suddenly the in his sleep. You could hear the clop-clop-clop of his hooves here year-round. And why not? No long-distance flying
Robins with their red breasts and blue eggs would appear from a block or more away as they echoed from house to needed. You can always find a Blue Jay that decided to hang
as if they all arrived last night, unpacked, and were ready house. But more distinctly you heard him. Ringing out from around and of course the Mockingbirds. But those Robins
come sun up to call out their morning greetings. Then came nowhere you could see came his voice: “WHOOOP! FLA- that show up in Brooklyn, they left from here. Many other
the Cardinals and their red coats and the bold blue of the WAHS, FLA-WAHS. WHOOP! FLA-WAHS, FLA-WAHS. species of birds stop off on their migration. We make it more
Blue Jay. Amongst them were the woodpeckers with their This was my cue. I’d get going on my own (imaginary) horse and more difficult for them. In the past decade, we’ve lost
distinctive rat-a-tat-tat beak pounding at the trees for bugs. and head for our house yelling, “Mom, it’s the flower man!” two billion (with a B) birds to loss of habitat, a profusion
You’d think they’d need some aspirin for the headache that He, the horse, and the wagon would turn the corner. Mom of glass skyscrapers and air power windmills, and the use
such pounding must produce. would be waiting. Geraniums and pansies were her usual of pesticides that get into their food chain.
And for us kids, gone were the galoshes and their metal buy. He’d snatch off the shelves the ones she wanted, give Yes, many of us from colder climes get crazy waiting for
closers that sounded like they needed an oil job. The layers the clay pot it was in a sharp smack, and catch the freed summer to finally end. Many pine for the days they can put
of clothing began to thin out, the spring rains and the plant in his hand. It went from hand to paper bag. Need a on real sweaters and real fall/winter jackets. But from my
temperatures added some heft to the air. Before you knew flower pot? That cost extra. perspective, this place is just fine thank you very much. Sure,
it the jackets were no longer necessary or taken off as the And here, in Boca Raton? None of that. There once was I could do without the anxiety of hurricane seasons, but it’s a
game began. In short order, we were playing in T-shirts. a writer for the Miami Herald Sunday Magazine, Tropic. Al truism of life that with the good comes some bad. So, enjoy
Something else that disappeared was the slush. The Burt was an award-winning journalist who spent the last two- every day we get before the good Lord plugs in the sauna.
rising temperatures melted the snow that now hugged the plus decades of his 47-year career as a roving reporter. That I
curbs having been pushed more than once against them remember his name is a triumph of genetics over science…He Columnist and author Bill Gralnick was born and
by the snow ploughs. It was wet, cold, and had chocolate- wrote an article that reminded everyone that there were seasons raised in Brooklyn, NY. He is writing a three-part
chip-like black dirt packed in it. We were glad to see it all in Florida but they were subtle. You had to look for them and humorous memoir. The first is “The War of the Itchy Balls
begin making rivers along the curbside and running into the with enough patience, you’d find them, they wouldn’t just pop and Other Tales from Brooklyn.” Just published is the
sewers. Glader more were the moms or household helpers out at you in stages like they did up north. sequel, “George Washington Didn’t Sleep Here.” Both are
who did the laundry that always had post-play sopping wet Take the last several weeks. True we could use some available on Amazon. You can find his writing at https://
socks and pants. wind but the mild temperatures, the breezy days, and the www.williamgralnickauthor.com. 
Let Go Of Yesterday

By Judith Levy Bite the bullet, get out of your unsmiling days and laugh that person sitting alone? Go over and say hello. Every friend
and the world will laugh with you. What is it they say, cry you’ll ever have was once a stranger.
Your yesterday had and you cry alone. Don’t do it, alone is lonely, there’s still a
joy, sadness, problems and world out there waiting for you to join in, so do it! You may Judith Levy speaks for organizations and is the New
dreams but sadly that’s all not be interested in meeting another man or woman, but it York Times best-selling author of GRANDMOTHER
gone and the people who would be nice to have a friend. Someone who smiles when REMEMBERS, which has sold over four million copies
inhabited your yesterday, they see you and listens when you need to share something and the mega best-seller GRANDFATHER REMEMBERS,
a great many of them have important to you, and basically is a friend. A new friend, published by HarperCollins. Both books, perfect gifts, are
moved on, so you should do someone who wants a happy tomorrow just as you do. See available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. 
that as well. Looking into
the rear-view mirror doesn’t
work if you want to go forward. There’s a time to grieve but
that time must at some point come to an end and it will serve
you well to turn the page and go forward. The people that
you miss and loved would only want good things for you, so
listen to their hearts and reach for today and tomorrow.
Force yourself, join with other people, make new friends.
Don’t sit alone and grieve, that helps no one, least of all you.
Even your children will be happier if they know that you are
busy, reaching out to join with other people, and not sitting
alone and remembering an unreachable past. It’s really a
good example for them to see that you can still smile and
have achieved a modicum of pleasurable times, seen a play,
heard a lecture, gone to dinner with new friends, otherwise
they worry and are concerned about you when they need to
follow your good example and go forward with their lives
as well.

On behalf of The Club at Boca Pointe
we would like to remind our residents that
NO walking, running, bicycle riding or dog
walking is permitted on
the golf course or golf
cart paths. For safety
reasons, the paths are
for golf carts only.

Thank you
for cooperating
with The Club's

policy. 