Saturday Photo: Bougainvillea, or a Plant from Away

It's not often that my bougainvillea blooms, but this year it has.  Not sure why.  Certainly it's not because it's received a great deal of sun.  The gray, rainy weather has apparently not dissuaded it, though.

The plant is a native of South America, and it's blooming is appropriate because I'm up to my neck in books about Brazil and Spanish South America for my next non-fiction project, a book to be called Unidentical Twins.   

But it also reminds me of my mother.  Bougainvillea was one of the few plants she could grow.  She always had a massive bush on the east side of the house in San Diego, which I remember with great pleasure.