I remember that we would sweep up all the seed pods that gathered on the hot, slate deck and then throw them over the railing to watch them spin and flutter down to earth in the sunset like an armada of helicopters… You could peel back the ends and take out the seed and you’d be left with two sticky flaps that would stick to your nose and you’d look like Pinocchio, or Richard Nixon and at some point that made complete sense as they were both supposed to be liars. Whenever I see these things in spring and summer I think about the early seventies and Vietnam and Nixon.
