Today’s expression: « faire la grasse matinée. »

Literal translation: to do / make the fat morning.

Figurative translation: to sleep late, to sleep later than usual, to stay in bed after waking up.

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Take a walk with me beneath the arches of the walking tree.

Banyans are native to India and only grow in tropical or subtropical climates. Nowadays, their footprints reach other countries, including the United States. Banyans are found in southern Florida and on islands off the gulf coast, which is where I first encountered them on Useppa Island. 

A banyan is a fig that begins its life as a plant that grows on another plant. Its seed germinates in a crack or crevice of a host tree or edifice. The banyan tree is the national tree of India. The seeds are small, and because most banyans grow in woodlands, a seedling that germinates on the ground is unlikely to survive. However, many seeds fall on the branches and stems of other trees or on human edifices, and when they germinate, they grow roots down toward the ground and consequently may envelop part of the host tree or edifice. For this reason, banyans bear the colloquial name “strangler fig.” In Hinduism, the leaf of the banyan tree is said to be the resting place for the god Krishna.

“The largest banyan tree can be found growing in a botanical garden near Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) [and] occupies the better part of five acres, and is more than 250 years old,” Erin Alvarez and Bart Schutzman, both lecturers in the environmental horticulture department at the University of Florida, explain via email.

It almost looks like it’s walking, doesn’t it?

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Brain teaser:

Below are anagrams of famous historical figures or celebrities, and you have to unjumble the letters to discover the person. The anagrams are indirect clues about that person.

Example: He bugs Gore  =  George Bush

1. Old West action
2. My pale hero
3. I’ll make a wise phrase
4. A bad man (no lies)
5. Odd silent month

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