Happy Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. There are so many thing for which we can be grateful. sometimes it used to upset me that it took a special day for us to truly look and see how blessed we really are. Not I think its a good idea.. particularly for those going through things that seemingly overshadow their blessings. I'm thankful for each person who openly shares their gardens and bits of their life and affections through these blogs. I'm grateful for the flowers that dot my yard - for the always present hope that next year there will be more. They have a saying in Florida.. I've heard it several times on GardenWeb "First year they sleep, second year they creep and 3rd year they leap. It seems to be a tried and true saying because all the plants I've put in seem destined to peter out the first year, the second year they have a few false starts and the 3rd year they tend to outdo themselves.

Mikey loves to be outside with us. Although when he's disappeared to the other side of the house and comes back with that pseudo innocent look, we know he's thinking.. "what makes you think I've been eating dirt"There were very few squirrels last year compared to our first here. This year there have been two families of little ones racing through the oak over the side porch. This one was particularly cheeky this morning while we were out there.. snatching bits of spanish moss and branch tips, showering us with acorns as she prepared a new nest for the "winter".

Our lawn is alive with white peacock butterflies. They must have found some sort of weed to their liking in the grass, and they love the lavender lantana. Its outdone itself this year. Making a huge display for the neighbors. Since the fence faces south, the flowers do also.

I read several places about which plants would attract hummingbirds. Red flowers seemed to be the most recommended and salvia was one of them. I ahve yet to see a hummingbird and the butterflies pretty much ignore it. I'm hoping this is another of those 3 year charmers.

The cuban tree frogs have destroyed the majority of the little green Florida Tree Frogs. They are said to feed on the smaller frogs and little native lizards. Some say the only remedy is to kill them, but I don't have the heart for that. Ours seem to stay fairly small and no doubt eat a lot of insects.

Our daughter is cooking dinner tomorrow and she likes to do it ALL by herself. I've learned to love that! We share expenses and she gets to do the full dinner. Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who reads here and celebrates this day.