The acacia is in bloom along the drive, intense yellow where there has been just gray for weeks. It reminds me of the Bonnard painting, Studio with Mimosa. Are acacia and mimosa related, I wonder? Apparently not, though the name of the Mimosa derives from the Greek for mimic . . .
There is acacia honey. Acacia is used in perfume and incense; it can be medicinal. In Freemasonry it symbolizes purity and endurance of the soul. It’s also called Silver Wattle, one of its varieties (though surely one less gold?).
And other yellows—
In Januaries twenty years ago I used to run away from home in San Jose to oldtown Los Gatos, escaping being shut in, stifled in spirit. The yellow of the mustardweed I’d never known before was redemptive, revelatory, on the January hillsides under rain-soaked leafless trees—a glory of color that made me feel myself again.
image: Pierre Bonnard, Studio with Mimosa, artarchive.com
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