Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing you all a wonderful day.

It's a Great Day in May!

Today I'm blessed with another beautiful day and the mosquitoes are not bad at all. Maybe all that spraying the city's been doing helped or maybe the breeze we've been having blows them away, but I'm thankful about having a little reprieve - for now! I visited my friend at Bank's Lake again, and, as usual, we sat outside on the bench, just talking and watching nature. I did see another alligator (with the binoculars) but it wasn't close enough for a good shot with my little camera. She told me that earlier this morning a big 8 footer was laying on the boardwalk and I could have got a really good picture. Maybe I'll try going there earlier in the mornings and see. Here are some pictures that I thought turned out really well, considering I don't have a fancy camera: This picture to the left, is me looking down from the landing of the boardwalk, onto a protruding patch of land with cypress roots growing up from under it and the reflection of the opposite trees in the water. I thought it looked kind of interesting. Afterwards, Gizzy and I stopped at Roquemore Memorial Park. We saw a few new memorials that were added recently. Gizzy had to run straight to his favorite "Rocky's Bridge" memorial. Then, we strolled around while I took some scenic pictures. This memorial is one of my favorites. It commemorates the departing of a beloved daughter. It's a lovely statute of a girl reading, surrounded by beautiful roses. The roses' first bloom is almost over, but they bloom continually all year through autumn. They have a lovely, fruity fragrance. Here's a close-up of one of the remaining big blossoms: Lastly, Gizzy tried out the swings to see if they're still Gizzy-proof and that's the resulting short movie clip of him swinging: (just click on the right-arrow to view - it's very short!) Here are some stills for those of you with a slow internet connection and no patience - you know who you are ;-) Maaaaam, I'm ready to go now..... And this, ladies and gents, is what happens when a woman has no grandkids. Have a nice May!

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

Well, my name's not Mary and I really don't have a garden per se, but I do have some potted plants and some that I was able to plant around and outside of my apartment building. I have this big Aloe Vera plant in a pot, that really needs to be placed in the ground, but I will need to hire some muscles because it's very heavy. Unfortunately, a lot of the outside leaves got frost bitten this winter and can be discarded. I use the Aloe Plant's leaves all the time to soothe my rash that I get on my forearms when I crochet or knit too long. It really works well for me. To my surprise, it blooms yellow, not red, like I'm used to seeing, but that was in Laguna Beach California. I learned everything so different here. Around the corner, at the side of the building, I have planted some rose bushes that are blooming now. I have one yellow rose bush two red heirloom rose bushes and two pink heirloom rose bushes. They are of the smaller variety and smell very, very sweet. Right now I'm enjoying the colors, but later in the summer, I will probably make some more potpourri. Finally, I want to show you a beautiful, large Amaryllis flower. My neighbor has this plant in a pot on the porch, but they grow in the ground, plentiful like daffodils and tulips in the spring. This one is quite large. I would guess about 10" to 12" in diameter: My neighbor holding the two big blossoms together so that I can fit them in one frame. Aren't they huge?