Some Christmas Colors

Looks like Christmas will be cloudy and rainy or snowy here. I can't help but wonder what it would feel like to be in the southern hemisphere at this time of year. Or, even in Florida or Louisiana. All the songs refer to snow - definitely a New England bias. I grew up in New England and took this for granted. Even when I was attending college in Louisiana and Florida, I'd fly home for Christmas. Now that I'm in Quincy, land of fickle weather, when I look at the remnants of the last snow storm, I imagine the seeds of the spring and summer flowers beneath. These three photos are, from the top, a fallen leaf from my favorite oak tree in front of Papa's Donuts, a rear view of a Leopard Lily, and a Crimson Columbine. Christmas colors all.
I remember one Christmas with my son Greg whose birthday happens to be on Christmas day. We were living in South Carolina and an extreme cold spell was forecast. On a whim, I decided to go camping in Florida and show Greg the University of Florida campus where I had gone to graduate school. We camped out in the countryside in Alachua County. The cold spell followed us. We had a portable radio in our tent. Woke up to frost and temperature in the teens. We had a great laugh when the morning news announced that on that day it was colder in northern Florida than in Anchorage! Should've packed our swimsuits and gone to Alaska. I titled this "Some Christmas Colors" and it just dawned on me that the three of my framed photos on the wall above the computer all fit this theme. Maybe that's what stimulated the idea. They are a ripe gooseberry, surrounded by green foliage, a red milkweed beetle, and a ladybug. Each photo has a bright red subject surrounded by green. I can see why they are called complementary colors.