bloom

"Since dolphins are considered environmental sentinels for toxic exposures in marine environments," Dr. David Davis at the Miller School of Medicine explains, "there are concerns about human health issues associated with cyanobacterial blooms."

When I'm at my most vulnerable, scouring social media for support, I'm slapped in the face by targeted ads of babies giggling, pregnancy bumps blooming, happy families, reminding me of everything I've lost.

This magnificent bloom is made up of more than 200 different species of wildflowers, some of which do not grow anywhere else in the world.

Yet that glimpse of life, Ms. Orlean writes, was to expand, as did many of her ideas, “like those Japanese paper balls you drop in water and after a moment they bloom into flowers.”

Then up, up, and up, past the markets, clothing boutiques, fix-it shops, the swirling schools of motor scooters and all those purple jacaranda trees, starting their seasonal bloom.