Best Poppies on a Tuesday

If you want poppies, it's best to throw poppy seeds all over your garden in the fall.  Then in the summer:

Variations on a Poppy

The poppies are blooming.

And the dragonflies are visiting.

Tulips and other spring confections

Well, it is certainly spring. Truly amazing to look out at the garden and think back to when it was buried under snow, most of it not even a sprig of green above the ground at all.  Just bare earth.  And now a bounty of life and gorgeous color.  

The garden suffered some hail damage last week.  Tulips who couldn't close up before the storm were smacked to the ground, but others who were just biding their time emerged unharmed after the rain and hail had passed.  The weather apologized for the destruction.  I found morels when I was cleaning up storm damage.  A new first.  

Enough from me.  Here's the garden.

The king of hail.  The first indignity for the gargoyle this year.

A note of apology, weather style.

Wha' Happened????

Seems like winter was a bit harsh on faery creativity this year.  The sun is making a strong comeback though and with that spirits rise and ideas start to flow again.  Kind of like sap, but not exactly.  It's a bit cold and uncomfortable outside, so my latest photos are either from the warm temporary escape to Florida or just from the conservatory only a few miles, but so many warmer degrees, away.  Hopefully this is a kick-start to another year of enjoying the beauty and quirkiness of nature.

If you didn't get a chance to get away, depending on your personality type, you might vicariously enjoy seeing the palm trees and sand, or you may want to pull your hair out.  I only post the photos.  I can't control your reactions.

Nature beats banner any day.

The sandcastle attracted visitors.  Usually seagulls who wanted to steal our plastic fish!

It didn't take them long to realize they were fake.  So we got the fish back, and also got a few dirty birdy looks.

Making the most of our vacation time, as soon as it started to sprinkle, we headed inland.  The Everglades are really teeming with life.  And friendly life, at that.

 Or just sleeping life. 

 

A fishing bird.  He swims completely under the water looking for prey.  Pops up to breathe and for the occasional photo op.

And this one just waits until a fish swims by. I guess everyone has their own approach to life.  I call this the Type B bird.

Only saw one shark all week.

But saw quite a few chickens.

And many feral cats.

  

Skinny, striped fish in clear, clear water.

 

And continuing with  my non-technical theme, here's a bit of this stuff.  A plant from the ocean that has little bulby things on it. 

 

And then there's this guy.  Letting us know that while we were enjoying the heat and the sun, he was stuck at home with only his Mountain Hard Wear hat for warmth.

 Once we got back from our trip, the weather here only got colder.  And stayed cold.  So we finally packed up and traveled across town to the warmth and crazy humidity of the conservatory.  Our glasses took forever to de-fog, but when they did, what a treat.

Did you know that sloths only go to the bathroom once a week?  You might ask why I would find the need to impart such information to you.  Well, to let you know that it is a rare event and that we were there to witness the whole thing.  Since sloths are very slow, the descent from the tree and the climb back up, or the ascent, took forever.  And many, many people took full advantage of the chance to get a good look at this lovely creature.  

I lost track of which photos were of the climb down and which ones were of the climb back up.  I decided to spare you, and the dignity of the model, the photos of the actual purpose of all this slothy activity. 

This looks like some sort of photo collage, but it's really just a photo of a fish with the reflection on the water of the trees and the roof above.  

This one too.  How many fish can you find?

During these long and sometimes lonely winter months, we make our friends where we find them.  And when warmer weather prevails and I return to the out-of-doors, I vow to remember the creatures who entertained me on a very cold winter's day.  

Desperate times and all that.  

Just think spring.