Sweet Home Alabama

Lake Martin, Alabama

Alabama? Yes, we made it home - to NY - arriving in blizzard conditions. Ugh.  But on the way home we stopped for a couple of nights in Red Hill, Alabama. Red Hill is a community of lake-side homes on Martin Lake just northeast of Montgomery. Martin Lake is the result of damming the Tallapoosa River. The lake is large, irregular, and lined with pine and oak forests. Our sister and brother-in-law are spending the winter months here, and a very lovely place it is. The day we spent touring lakeside was sunny and bright - just about the most perfect weather ever. Although February doesn't always reach 60's and 70's at Martin Lake, it did the days we were there. Plum trees were in bloom; I saw both my first daffodils, and my first robin. My spirits were rejuvenated as I soaked in these first signs of spring.

A perfect day on the lake!

First Daffodils of 2011

Green mistletoe growing as a parasite in this deciduous tree.

I learned a bit about mistletoe on my tour of Martin Lake. Mistletoe is a partial parasite (a "hemiparasite"). As a parasitic plant, it grows on the branches or trunk of a tree and actually sends out roots that penetrate into the tree and take up nutrients. My sister-in-law pointed it out to me. It's easy to spot this time of year. It looks like a bundle of green high up in otherwise leafless deciduous trees. My brother-in-law told how the locals shoot it out of the trees at Christmas time for decoration.  This variety of mistletoe is native to North America and grows as a parasite on trees in the west, and in the east from New Jersey to Florida.

But mistletoe is also capable for growing on its own. Like other plants, it can produce its own food by photosynthesis. This other type of mistletoe, Viscum album, is of European origin. The European mistletoe is a green shrub with small, yellow flowers, and white, sticky berries which are considered poisonous. 

And so ends our winter travels. Yes, we drove through snow and ice from Cincinnati to home. Our driveway was clogged with heavy, wet snow - couldn't even get in until we got to work with the snowblower. But we arrived safely, and my Alabama pictures are reminding me that spring will get to NY someday soon.