My mother used the saying "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear" quite a bit. While driving down the tree-lined streets of J-Vegas in the spring, sneezing and hacking due to all the pollen floating in the air and rubbing my blurry eyes, her favorite old mantra springs to my mind. I suppose some brilliant urban planner thirty years ago attempted to beautify Jacksonville by lining the streets with an assortment of dogwood, azalea, cherry and pear blossom trees, thus detracting folks from all the pawn shops and strip joints.
No, no... don't look at all this!
Look at the pretty blooming trees instead.
Now look back at me...
