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Your view: it's worth protecting
When Jim, my husband, retired and we moved to Florida 12 years ago, I was reluctant to leave the Northeast, where our four children and their families lived. We were leaving a large home with lovely views from every window upstairs and down, for a small home with no views at all. I remember thinking of a statement my mother had once made: “Be sure to protect your view!” I had always assumed she meant the view from our home, and I thought to myself, “Now I’ve done it. I wasn’t paying attention and lost my view!”
We did eventually create a charming view within our house, and then with landscaping and lighting created a lovely lush view on our patio. The pool, which we did not want when we were looking for a home, became the focal point of this space and also afforded lots of fun for our children and grandchildren when they came to visit.
But I didn’t care for tropical plants. I loved the big trees up north, majestic and strong, and the smaller ones with flowering branches. In my garden I’d had flowers that were gentle, sweet, fragrant, colorful, and varied. When people in Florida would ask me the names of the tropical flowers, though I was a member of a garden club, I wasn’t able to tell them.
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