Creative
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The Last Trip to Fakahatchee Strand
This week will be full of ‘last’ trips. Every time I go somewhere or drive somewhere I wonder if it will be the last time I’ll drive by it. When we left Fakahatchee yesterday I was reading a magazine and when I looked up and realized it’d be the last time for awhile I said goodbye while watching the evening sun glisten across the fields. I wanted to go for one last trip there but my idea was to go see some variegated Guzmania monostachia. Instead Chris and his hiking friend Rich wanted to go to a very distant population of Cranichis muscosa, the moss loving orchid. It was lost…
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The Last Ghost Orchid Trip
It was bittersweet taking our last ghost orchid trip to Little Slough. When Chris found our slough in 2007 (you’ll have to scroll down to May because I didn’t link titles back then) we’d been searching for ghost orchids for several years. We’d tromped all around Fakahatchee Strand looking for various plants and just exploring, not really knowing any different orchids. When we found this orchid, Campylocentrum pachyrrhizum after a geocaching camping event, we were super excited because we thought it was a ghost orchid. Only, it wasn’t. Close—but no cigar. Sadly, this orchid isn’t even there anymore, it was taken by someone right off the tree. Bummer. We looked…
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Nearly Wordless Wednesday—with music
Mostly because I’m obsessed with this song at the moment. M. Ward—To Go Home. Realized I loved it via my friend Sara and her wonderful playlist on her blog.
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Dinner Island Part II: Macro and Sunset
After going through the rest of my photos of Dinner Island I realized I didn’t have enough macro shots to warrant a separate post. Alas, you’ll get a mix of macro and sunset. I love looking at the little details… Lichen holding on… I think this is one of my favorite shots. It can be difficult to get light coming in like this, but I love it! Probably my favorite sunset shot out of the set. I didn’t think this one was going to turn out that great when I looked at it in the camera, but I think I like it! A few things: -Does anyone else have horrible…
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Monday Garden Musings
It is fairly quiet in the garden these days. After the cold snap, everything took a hit. I like this time of year because it isn’t so overwhelming. The grass doesn’t grow 10′ in a day and the vines aren’t trying to suffocate each other. It’s more relaxing. A little bit more reverse lens technique for some closeups: A fly buzzing the loquat flowers Plantain flowers Hibiscus grandideri about to bloom A less mature H. grandidieri blossom Chalice vine Variegated vanilla A little fern, a little recruit… I’ve been enjoying these garden blogs lately: Chiot’s Run The Inadvertent Farmer Fennel and Fern: they have a blog but it appears their…
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Blogging is my Scrapbook
Going through my old scrapbooks the other day I realized that blogging has become my scrapbook. I abandoned the hardcore scrapbooking phase I went through a few years ago and it seems that it has been reflected here on my blog instead. It has changed for me over time, blogging. I remember the days of blogger and live journal and it was quite a different era. There weren’t any pro-bloggers, people who made money writing. These days it seems there are people making money at writing on their site, giving their opinions, and while all of that sounds great, I’m glad to just be here writing for myself. I think…
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Washed Up
I’m a little lonely today. It’s cloudy outside, the sun hasn’t peaked out and said hello, the cats are curled up, and everyone is out somewhere, doing something and I’m not. Reviewing the rest of the Cayo Costa photos make me a little depressed. Call it two weekends of not getting outside, that’s probably my problem. So, I’m savoring the washed up fauna that found its way onto the shore… Oystercatchers…the first time I’ve seen these birds. A gannett…not sure if it was injured or feigning injury, but it was nice to see the bird up close. An ancient animal, horseshoe crab… Even the man-made objects get washed up…
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Wordless Wednesday
Play along here
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Ashleigh’s Blanket
I’ve been procrastinating making a blanket for my new niece who is due sometime in April. I was going to crochet something but sometimes my heart just isn’t into crochet, especially blankets these days. They’ve worn out their welcome after years of being on a blanket making frenzy. So, this time I went with a quilt first. Now, I am not a great sewer by any means so there are tiny blemishes on this that I wish I could fix but it will have to do. It turned out pretty good, but I am still in love with the one I made Zoe for her first Christmas last year, seen…
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Garden Bits—in Reverse
I had the day off for a doctors appointment and spent the morning mowing the back yard. It was seriously over grown, weeds had over taken half the yard. I also surveyed the frost damage from last week. It always takes two to three days for the damage to be known and sure enough the tell-tale signs of browning and curling were beginning. The ylang ylang took a hit as did the tropical almond and other tenders. I once had a starfruit seedling that bit the dust after a 45* night. Very tender tropicals. I think most everything will recover now that it has warmed up, but I will keep…