Monday Macro - Plumeria

Our Red Plumeria has bloomed.

A Little of This and A little of That

Every afternoon lately we have looked out at this:

 Or, this:

And because of that and the sun that shines before and after those tropical rains, everything is  lush and green right now.  We have had true tropical weather all summer causing the flowers and foliage to take off.  I grabbed my camera when I went out to the lanai yesterday to get a shot of the pineapple plant.  It is HUGE.

A light sprinkle was falling when I took that picture.  You can barely see the original pineapple top.  I really don't think it is doing much of anything.  Butch and I are enjoying watching this gardening experiment. That's a good thing since it is going to be at least 18 months long.

Something else that grows really fast in the summertime?  Hair.  I schedule my own appointments every 4 weeks instead of 5.  And the Beau Monster?  Well, I think he will have a haircut on Tuesday.  His mobile groomer calls us on the Monday before he comes so I'll know for sure tomorrow morning.  He is not fond of the experience so we don't tell him beforehand.

Scruffy Beau

He is definitely in need of Lee's clippers.  I took five pictures and this was the only one that caught a glimpse of his face.  He is just like Butch. HATES a camera when it is pointed at him.  I can relate. I prefer to be behind the lens myself. But anyone as cute as this little guy should love having his picture taken!  Not going to happen.

Might as well make it a crafts update, too.  I stayed off the computer Friday nght and all day yesterday so I could complete my latest afghan.

 

And made a card:

  And bookmark.

Today I plan to work on a card order that needs to go out tomorrow.  I have also started a new painting. And I have a little Silhouette Cameo project to experiment with this week.  I really haven't used my new toy much and tomorrow and Tuesday will be perfect days for that.  This week will be a fun week.

Hope yours will be, too.

Monday Macro -- Bird of Paradise

Bird of Paradise

Despite visiting Florida many times over the years as a child and as an adult, I never noticed the blooms of the Bird of Paradise plant until the first trip we made to Hawaii in 1986.  I came back with an appreciation for them, the hibiscus and the plumeria.

We moved to Florida in 1992 and bought our home of the last 20 years on July 1, 1993.  The only flowering plants in our yard when we bought it were azaleas -- my favorite bloom (along with dogwood) when we lived in Virginia.  We have planted plumeria trees and hibiscus in the ensuing years and our daughter, Angie and her husband, Barry gave us a Bird of Paradise plant on their first trip to visit us after we moved down.  Barry even dug the hole and planted it for us.  

Our Bird of Paradise is blooming profusely right now.  Probably because of the tropical weather we have been experiencing.  Occasionally, I will cut a stalk with a bloom like that in the picture and bring it inside to place in a tall vase. It is such an unusual flower.  The plant itself is not much to look at -- in fact it is downright UGLY -- when there are no blooms.  But the colors of these blooms are all the more spectacular against that drab backdrop.  The bush is right outside our bedroom windows so it is the first thing I see when I open the blinds in the morning.

Makes me smile.  

Thursday Thoughts

For most of you, summer is coming to an end.  Living so much farther south, I never look at summer ending until at least September.  We usually see the effects of a northern cold front until the week before Halloween when it sweeps humidity away and lowers daytime temps to low 80s.  This year has flown by so it won't be long before we're able to open the house in the evenings, anyway.  I absolutely love our weather from late October through early May.  It's why we live here. And the Gulf...of course.

Southern end of the island at Howard Park. Tarpon Springs

We still haven't seen any temps above 95 here this summer, but the "feels like" temps have been more.  Nothing really bad here on the coast.  We've had breeze all day most days and a brief storm almost every day.  Everything is lush and green. Love it.  My husband has had cut back our Bougainvillea several times since the advent of this summer's tropical weather.

No new pictures, but just want to mention that our avocado trees are doing wonderfully well since he transplanted them from pot to front yard a couple weekends ago.  There has been no trauma to leaves or anything of that nature.  They are shiny and healthy looking.  I'll get new pictures this weekend and we'll measure their heights again.  It makes me happy to see them thriving in their new location.  They are in full sun and seem to enjoy it.  One day they will be 30-40 feet tall and the wide spread of their canopies will provide a lot of shade for the front of the house.  

Hope we are still healthy enough to be living here then.

Happy Thursday, everyone.