Speed Dial

When traveling with 30 somethingś life is on speed dial. We are up early and out near sunrise to beat the tourists or to catch and inter-island flight. This morning is the first in 10 days that we are sleeping in and I can blog with a leisure cup of coffee. I have walked miles and miles each day! I have seen tropical fish, tropical gods, and tropical plants all while enjoying tropical breezes. The avoidance of tropical drinks maybe will lead to loss of weight. I am sleeping like a log each night. Somewhat dreading re-entry to early winter this weekend. Aloha.

Surviving that Long Distance Storm

Hurricane Michael came all the way up to my mid-Atlantic home and dropped 3 inches in 8 hours last night. The winds were unusually strong but not a single tree gave in. Even the cosmos survived the night of being pelted.

Neighbors and Visitors

He/She has never been able to fly more than a few feet.

A desert tortoise from Africa

I have noticed this week: Our resident gray frog that lives in the BBQ and jumps to cling to the deck railing for the hours that we use it, has gotten larger this year. He communicates with two other frogs that live in the trees in the backyard. While grilling, the cook can hear their conversation, but not really understand what is going on. It does sound lovely. 

There was a PAIR of Brown Thrashers on the back lawn early yesterday. This is very unusual as we only see them a few times in the fall and never together. They have an elegant velvet brown body and spent less than an hour violently turning over leaves looking for food. 

We have numerous box turtles in our woods and today I saw a bright yellow one crossing the backyard in search of some leaf or bug. He is young and unmarked and hubby is mowing today, so we must be careful. 

The Flickers are back in abundance looking for worms and bugs in the open areas on the side of the driveway. They are noisy and wary and fly to the oaks and tulip tree branches when I am out and about. 

The two in the photos above are captive and were at the festival the other day. The turtle is kept by a local petting zoo and the Screech owl cannot fly and is being kept by a naturalist.

A Roomy Studio

I have retreated into my digital art studio for a little peace of mind and hope my sharing with you gives you some peace of mind.  (The nice thing about a digital studio is that you have lots of room for storage of the art.)

This Time of Year

The dogwoods are the first to show their color.

The last party guests to leave are hanging on through the cooler nights and warm days. The cosmos draw many pollinators in the fall.  The big "flutterbyes" are mostly gone with just the little ones and the skippers drinking at the zinnia blossoms. The zinnias are crazy in abundance this year.

The asters below are the most prolific as this is their season.

The Little White People

The rains diminish and leave behind the mushrooms. These are in my herb bed and the size of baseballs at this stage!  They are white.

The hole may be from some nibbler or just because there was a weakness in the cap. Most of them have some type of hole.  I posted on FB and one commenter said it looked like it was singing.

Is it just me or do you see a face above? Looks to me like this guy got into some fight.  At this stage, the mushroom is the size of a salad plate!

The view when you take shelter from the rain.