Out and About

Still struggling with this camera. I look at others cameras and the wonderful sharp images and wonder why I can't achieve that. Others with the same camera are. Only a few on mine have so far. I'm still hoping its that thing about old dogs learning new tricks.... and I can. I'm finding that not only are gardeners really wonderful, friendly helpful people, but also photographers. Most are so willing to answer any questions you might ask. I think first you have to know enough to know which questions to ask. I've waited 3 years to choose which camera and now that I have it, apparently expect instant success. LOL

These are some of the most beautiful red roses I've ever seen. Most roses in Florida have to be grafted onto a floribunda type rootstock.. These are dark red with an incredible fragrance and will last 7 to 10 days inside in water. I love these roses and wish I knew the name of the variety.

Hibiscus, Turk's Cap. Someone said that most of the original homesteads in Florida had a bush of this variety. I love them especially when the sun shines up through the blossom. My daughter doesn't care for them and chops them down at every opportunity. They've rewarded her with covering themselves in blooms this year.
And another hibiscus. I think someone said this was called Fancy Lady.

This was such an odd site - hundreds of wood ibis lines up as though waiting for handouts at the back of a field.

Beautiful bird - a Sparrow Hawk. I think he was browsing for brunch as I watched him.

This is "Charmie" One of my daughter's horses. She has a mind of her own and is a bit stubborn, but beautiful.

Camping out for next day shopping
Originally uploaded by Linda2520

I can't believe people going shopping at the crack of dawn, let alone camping out as these people did the day before at Best Buy in town!

Trimming the Oaks

I love my birds!

Isn't he beautiful !!! Most of the birds in our tree are tiny, twittering little things such as the titmice and assorted migrating warblers. This one that was so striking is a Yellow Throated Warbler.

We have MANY mourning doves in the area. In spring we see flocks in the back part of the property, no doubt harvesting some of the unwanted insects in our lawn! I love how the sun picks up all the different colors in her feathers as she warmed up.

There is an assortment of woodpecks - a pileated woodpecker who somehow finds something interesting in the telephone pole at the end of the driveway every few days. This one is a little downy woodpecker - so similar to the hairy woodpecker. The Downy has a shorted bill, slightly smaller body and seems to have a lot more spots for markings on its side.

This male hairy woodpecker spends a lot of time in this particular tree. The picture isn't great, but I loved how he was balancing himself on the trunk with one wing.

This last little bird is a BlueGray Gnatcatcher. Sweet song and hardly ever still. It seems to be in the company of the black and white warblers - no pictures yet - nuthatches, wrens and some un-named warblers.

November 25, 2007
On August 3rd we hired some tree trimmers to thin out our 3 big oak trees. His wife was sick and so they left early promising to return and finish the next day. While they were there, Kim and I had a wonderful time sharing and seeing how many things we had in common, mainly our passion for the things of God.

When they did return, friends said they were long gone because we paid them at the time. In my heart I would look to God and trust that He would get those trees finished.

Yesterday they came back. I was overjoyed to see them again, not only because we had to have the trees finished before we put on a new roof, but also to know that I hadn't believed in them in vain. It felt like a gift from God to have them come back on their own. Trees are now well trimmed and now to start the roof. All I could think of was my grandmother telling us "good things come to those who wait" I think she forgot to add "expectantly". Several crisis had arisen in thier family and they were needed in Georgia until the time of his father's death 3 weeks ago. They had left instructions for someone else to finish the work, but apparently instructions weren't clear, because he never came.

If I had my choices, I would not thin out trees, "limb them up": - We have too many high wind storms and my husband was concerned about a hurricane rocking a tree onto the house. I love the shelter under the low hanging limbs of the old oaks. I don't care for those crazy little spiders that hang down waiting to scare you as you walk by. I told my husband as I looked at the loss of shade gardens... perhaps I'd just been waiting for more spaces for bright sun loving flowers.

This is the Spiny Orb Weaving Spider. - only as large as your small fingernails. It is said to incorporate tiny bits of silk into its webbing so that birds don't fly into it. I'm thankful, also. HATE running into spider webs hanging down!

I think I've used the tree trimming as an excuse not to garden more. I didn't want to put in plants that might be harmed by limbs coming down, or men dragging tree parts... and now there is no excuse. I find myself totally exposed now. No more low hanging branches for hiding. LOL. Probably a great thing for me as I tend to be one of those birds who stays out of sight. LOL.

I'll be able to see more of the migrating little flocks of birds that are a source of endless song during the fall, winter and spring here. These are just a few of the ones in the oak over our side porch. No doubt as I learn to use my camera I'll find lots more.

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.

Red Letter Day !

This is an absolutely red letter, bannered day for me. Most of these pictures are because I finally have a new camera.

A few years ago my husband told me to pick out a camera to replace my Mavica l meg. I've loved the Mavica.. So easy to use and took great pictures as long as you didn't care about enlarging them. In seeing so many amazing pictures taken by others, it was obvious I needed a more capable camera. Somewhere between moving here, a few hurricanes and evacuation, I seem to have lost the ability to make decisions. Over time I narrowed the choice down to two cameras.. each having at least one attribute that I considered vital.. but not common to both.

One night after reading others blogs I could hear my grandson's words.. JUST PICK ONE. You don't like it, get another in a couple of years. lol. At my age I didn't feel justified in getting a camera I would choose. When do we become so silly?

When we sold one of our houses, I said "All I want is another Troy Bilt Tiller"... but it never happened. When first my parents and then my husband's parents passed on, I said. .. "All I want is another Troy Bilt"... A few years ago my husbands Godmother passed on and left us some money. Again, all I wanted was another tiller - however this time it was far more tentative since the years kept passing. I'm now at the place where I don't think I could man a tiller anymore. LOL!!! I don't want to be saying for years.. all I want is a better camera.... and so I looked online and picked one out that night. I've only had it for two days and already am so excited about its possibilities. Its a Panasonic FZ18 - and also has additional wide angle and telephoto lenses to add to the already wonderful zoom. Now I'm hoping that my older brain can focus enough to understand at least one function at a time. Fortunately there are two 'modes' which are strictly automatic and the camera takes care of all focus, lighting, etc. Just right for my first day.

I think having the camera answers my question as to which came first.. the photography or the gardens. My grandmother always had so many flower beds and I know she passed on that love to me - I always had flowers here and there - but now I find that being able to capture those blooms and see the intricate parts of blooms that I'd missed in the past is a wonderful reason to cultivate a garden. My grandfather, father, daughter and one grandson all loved photography, so perhaps its still a toss up.

Here's my baby - stuck on the side porch while I took pictures out front. We took out some rails in the back and put in a ramp so he can run up and down into the back yard - but not the front.

I only planted a few zinnias, but they are such a bright spot... and the butterflies do love them.

This Gulf Fritilary looks a lot worse for wear. I think they have been overtime feeding and laying eggs these last few weeks. There were a few months when there were so many of those huge bright yellow sulphur butterflies... then hundreds of the white peacock and now many of the "Gulf Frits" I found so many chrysalis belonging to the sulphur butterflies in the fence and rails of our side porch.

Aloe Bloom - not a particularly good photo here, but it was taken from so far away, cropped and uploaded. I think when it uploads it brings it back to a manageable size. I'm going to have to learn how to make my own choices as to size, etc.

Flying Flowers

This first picture is of a sulphur butterfly that just came from its chrysalis. It sat on my lap for quite a while as its wings unwrinkled.
I don't know this one's name, but it sat for a long time on this bright pink zinnia.

The lawn is covered with the little white peacock butterflies, but they also love the zinnias and the lantana.

I've noticed the gulf fritilarias now love the red pentas.- Before they spent most of their time on the lavender lantanas.

November 11, 2007
Its been so long since I've written anything about my 'garden' that my fingers and thoughts are 'stuff'. I have several years back issues of a favorite gardening magazine.. Country Living and Gardening. A favorite because the flowers in each picture are identified and include zone hardiness...a boon for a northern transplant.

As I looked through a well worn issue, the gardens in my favorite blogs came to mind.. I've mentioned to 'Alice' (http://heathhill.blogspot.com/) how I love her style of gardens.. Cottagy, but not unruly - my favorites. Looking at old archives with many pictures of her gardens inspire me more than those magazines.. and that's saying a lot!.. Thank you..

Also on my list would be Carrie's (http://colorsofthegarden.blogspot.com/) gardens. The colors of the garden, the familiar flowers.. and those flame colored fall hills bring me back to many years past.

I've been awestruck seeing the scope of Sigrun's gardens (http://hillsidegarden.blogspot.com/) In the beginning I'd only seen vignette's with close ups of various flowers - beautiful, but I had no idea how large an area she had filled with beauty.

We're about to go into our winter period - a wonderful time for colder hardy varieties - Nights have dropped to the 50's and days seldom get to 80. Much easier on so many plants. I have only tomatoes in pots ready to grace the winter table. Many packages of seed wait hopefully for someone to put them together with soil to see what they can accomplish!

I contemplated a while back whether I want gardens so I can take photos... or love photography because I love flowers.. Its still pretty much an unanswered question but I think I have a clue. My camera is very low resolution and I'm always disappointed in the quality of the pictures - so haven't taken nearly as many recently. I also gave away my car - we're both retired and foolishly I thought I didn't need my own anymore.. Foolish foolish woman!!! Making a special effort to 'take the truck' to go take pictures hasn't been worth it to me, so I haven't written anything in here. No pictures, no inspiration.. Silly. This past week I ordered a new camera. Its taken two years or more to pick out the one I wanted. I had narrowed it down to a choice between a Canon IS and a panasonic F7. My husband gave me the camera for Christmas 2-3 years ago and said till I got that camera, he wasn't picking out any more presents. LOL. When I looked I found a panasonic FZ18... It has nearly everything I was looking for - and also an extra telephoto and wide angle lenses. I can't wait to learn how to use it. Its fully automatic, or fully manual..any way that you choose.

I've looked at the pictures taken by so many who write in garden 'blogs' and they are beautiful and inspiring. I love watching others gardens grow through their writing and their pictures. This summer my yard has been full of assorted butterflies.. Its been a toss up whether I could give up so many flowers to allow the catepillars to grow and eat my bushes or eliminate the cats and have the flowers. The sulphur butterflies are very large bright lemon yellow and apricot flying flowers, so they got to stay. As a result my cassia bush has only had a few blossoms this year. I think I've shared enough and plan to spray it with a bit of soap, vinegar and lots of water tomorrow. I've told people, including one daughter, that we have SO many butterflies. She happened to be here late one afternoon and looked into the back yard. Her comment "Holy Butterflies, Mother!!!" said it all. more laughing. I have some pictures of assorted butterflies and hope they are still around posing when my new camera arrives.