Our long-deceased neighbor, Mrs. Mary Douglas was so proud of "her cypress trees." The two swamp (or bald) cypress stood in her yard when she was a child. Her family home was sold for the expansion of the hospital and stood on the edge of a parking lot. Now, after a hundred years of standing tall, they were chopped down in a single afternoon to make room for Rapides Regional Hospital's new expansion. Once again, progress trumps nature. The week before the trees were destroyed, I took a picture in the afternoon sunshine to immortalize Mrs. Douglas's prize trees. Here' to you, Mary.