The picture today is of Sheba sniffing at a couple dead palm fronds in a ditch by the side of a rarely-used gravel road. The photo was taken May 1, and I have no explanation for it -- isolated palm fronds are unusual roadside debris in Iowa.
Palm Sunday was April 17, two weeks before this, and anyway I thought churches kept the palm fronds, or at least burned them and kept the ash, to use the next year on Ash Wednesday (Have I been misinformed?), so they shouldn't be escaping into the ditches. And anyway there's only one Catholic church in town, and it's about as far as a person could get from this site and still be within the city. If someone dumped an ailing plant into the ditch, there would have been more fronds, and they would have been attached. I can imagine scenarios where this would happen, but they all seem a little too unlikely to be the actual explanation, and yet, we have the fact of the palm debris, so something unlikely must actually have happened. I invite baseless and outlandish speculation, if anyone has some to share in the comments. Or even rational speculation, if that's all you've got.
This reminds me of Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory" and his wild speculation as to why his stomach is upset. (It turns out Thursday Night Cruciferous Vegetable night was a mistake...)
ReplyDelete"If it's not cholera, then based on a quick internet search the other explanation in decreasing order of likelihood are Hirschsprung's disease, botulism, a 30-foot tapeworm or accidental ingestion of Chrysanthemum blossoms."
"When would you have accidentally eaten Chrysanthemum blossoms?"
"It's part of an unlikely scenario that involves sleep-walking in a 24-hour flower market with a less-than-vigilant proprietor."
In my church the kids would have a parade into the sanctuary holding the palm fronds and then we got to take them home with us.
ReplyDeleteI imagine a scenario where a kid is riding home after Palm Sunday and waving the palm fronds out the window in the wind and then- foof!
Oh no - that Palm was kidnapped. You were at the scene of the crime, where a struggle ensued. Poor Palm, he's probably in Mexico by now.
ReplyDeleteTigerdawn's theory is highly possible.
ReplyDeleteChurchgoers get to take home the palm fronds -- at least here they do.
I think Tigerdawn is exactly right!
ReplyDeleteI too am inclined to align with Tigerdawn, but maybe somehow also include the involvement of drunken college students, assuming there are some in your area.
ReplyDeleteFronds are kept to make ash in Catholic and Episcopalian churches, but even in those traditions, somethimes people bring the palm fronds home as a sort of good luck charm... other churches - you just take them home. I'm gonna agree with Itgerdawn as a most likely scenario... that or something way similar.
ReplyDelete