Camellia

These beautiful flowers bloom here in the middle of winter. There are a multitude of varieties, but this is my favorite. I read that the Visitation Nuns who arrived here in Mobile in the 1830s from somewhere up on the east coast excitedly wrote home about the roses that bloom down here in December (they bloom all winter, different varieties at slightly different times). I thought that was amusing and then I met another nun, a Carmelite from New Jersey, who did exactly the same thing about 30 years ago. It's all what you get used to.