New Life

I decided to ride through The Strand of Galveston yesterday after work and I have to say that it was the most depressing thing I've done in a while. It made me tear up as I drove down the street that is usually so full of life. It was like a ghost town. The only people I spied on the entire road were a group of four workers in Tyvek suits and a guy taking photographs.

That area is usually teeming with life. On a regular day you would see families crossing the streets heading to another store, or a group of friends drinking beer in front of the reggae bar, or the couple walking their dog. There was NONE of that yesterday and it really hit home for me.

Another disheartening aspect is how dirty the area looks. I know there are many people who's roofs have still not been repaired, but I can only hope that they have put up the infamous blue tarp to protect their home from the rain. Galveston is in dire need of a few heavy rains. There is still dried mud clinging to the sidewalks and lining the streets.

I also worry about the plant life on the island. The soil was saturated with salt water when the surge came in, sucking the life out of any plant it reached. Most of the UTMB campus landscaping appears to be dead, as do the beautiful oaks that line the main drag through Galveston. I hope that some heavy rain will help wash away the salt that lingers in the soil, strangling our plant life.

I did see some hope, however. Yesterday, I noticed some of the plants at UTMB springing back to life. The first photo, on the right, is of a Sago palm. ALL of the fronds fell from these palms, leaving the appearance of urban cacti throughout the campus. The second photo, on the left, is of the beautiful flowering bushes that fill many of the flower beds. You can see all the dead, brown plants surrounding the new life.

Come on rain!