The Resurrection of the Five Things
(It's been a while.)
1) Resurrection Ferns
Resurrection ferns (Pleopeltis polypodioides, syn Polypodium polypodioides) are a kind of epiphyte, or air plant, common the the Southeastern United States along with hot and humid parts of the Caribbean and South America as well as Africa. Their name comes from their habit of reviving themselves when it rains. While most plants will die if they lose just 8-12% of their water, these ferns can lose up to 97% of their water (typically “only” about 76% in dry seasons and droughts) and still remain alive. Like other epiphytes, they don’t harm the large cypress and live oak trees they prefer colonizing. They get what they need from the rainwater, filtered sunlight, and nutrients captured in debris by the bark of their hosts. In dry spells, they appear as furry tufts of hair along branches or sometimes even rocks, dead logs, and fences. Grayish brown, desiccated, and looking as dead as a forgotten houseplant, they wait for the rain or a heavy mist to bring them back to their brilliant green glory.
I’ve been waiting for my writing brain to revive itself like a resurrection fern, waiting for whatever conditions would bring my muse back to life. For a while, I’d feared she was gone for good, that she’d maybe passed that threshold of no return. I hope this means the rains are coming again. Ironically, you’d think the rain last year would have stirred something, seeing as we got more than 102 inches of rain in 2023, but perhaps that was too much. I guess my muse isn’t a mermaid.
2) Books
I’ve read some good ones lately, but I’ll keep this to one recommendation in case the next few in my stack aren’t as good. I just finished The Sentence by Louise Erdrich. It’s quite a good read though perhaps don’t tackle it unless you’re ready to revisit 2020 and all that entailed. In the latter quarter, I got entertained with the story in an unexpected way when the main character’s husband finds himself in the hospital during the same time period my own did but for different reasons. It’s a story about words, sentences, books, ghosts, and people.
3) Music
My musical tastes are hopelessly banal so I’ve been digging the new Twenty-one Pilots song, “Overcompensate.” The latest from Imagine Dragons is very well produced. Spotify keeps insisting I need to hear Lilith Czar’s “King” at least three times a week.
4) TV
I usually watch Jeopardy like the Old that I am, but otherwise I’m not very good at keeping track of shows, especially those on the 800 random streaming services. The last one the Husband and I managed to finish a season of was Reacher. The show isn’t bad, but if you really spend too much time thinking about the main character—like, say, a season’s worth of shows—you notice the dude has all he character development of a paper sack. Don’t get me wrong, I know the character is very well loved and the show is quite entertaining. Just makes me wonder if it gets boring writing a guy who doesn’t really grow and change.
5) The State of the 5 Things
It’s not always easy to think of five things. Sometimes, it’s hard to contain myself to five things. I’d like to be able to do some longer “info dump” kind of essays, “deep dives” on the sorts of things that periodically cause me to fall into a research rabbit hole. Kinds of things that scratch a particular itch in my brain.
We’ll see which rabbit holes make their way to a coherent essay.
Take care, lovely people.
Put your carts away if you can.
Don’t be creepy.
Be kind to animals.
Don’t litter.
Maybe give yourself a little hug.