Apparently I’ve started taking cool quotes I see and posting them here.

Many years ago I received a tree identification book for Christmas. I was at my parents’ home, and after all the gifts had been opened I decided to go out and identify the trees in the neighborhood. Before I went out, I read through part of the book. The first tree in the book was the Joshua tree because it only took two clues to identify it. Now the Joshua tree is a really weird-looking tree and I looked at that picture and said to myself, “Oh, we don’t have that kind of tree in Northern California. That is a weird-looking tree, and I’ve never seen one before.”

So I took my book and went outside. My parents lived in a cul-de-sac of six homes. Four of those homes had Joshua trees in the front yard. I had lived in that house for thirteen years, and I had never seen a Joshua tree. I took a walk around the block, and there must have been a sale at the nursery when everyone was landscaping their new homes– at least 80 percent of the homes had Joshua trees in the front yards. And I had never seen one before! Once I was conscious of the tree– once I could name it– I saw it everywhere.

Often when I learn a new word, I start noticing it all the time, often within the same day, although I could swear I’d never come across the word before in all my life.

Which makes you wonder how many other things you don’t notice even though they are staring you in the face.