April 6, 2016 in North Carolina.
More anomalies.
Flowers without foliage and foliage with figs, along with freezing temperatures.
Flowers, Figs and a Freeze
Author: Flower Roberts
My Lizard Kingdom
On any warm day, I can sneak to certain spots and spy lizards taking a sunbath.
Some of them notice me and roll their eyes my way.
The Skinks are skittish and run into the nearest crack, their faces blushed with embarrassment.
The Bluetails turn and flash their blue tails as they retreat.
I have seen them leave this squiggling blue appendage behind when caught.
The big Fence bubbas do push ups at me to show how strong they are.
This baby is still peeling. He has a piece of skin blowing up and down on his head.
Mr. Fence is true to his name here. Notice those blue scales on the chest.
I love my tiny lizard kingdom.
Follow the Reptiles.
Ranunculus Reigns in April
Bright colors, Tight petals, No thorns
Ranunculus reigns like an early rose
It actually comes from tubers, not bulbs
Likes cool weather
May have up to 30+ blooms per plant
Great source of cut flowers.
What’s not to love?
FOLLOW the FLOWER to Spring
The Annunciation Lily
I noticed that many of the annunciation paintings at the Uffizi Art Museum in Florence included a lily that looked like an Easter lily.
I was curious about a lily that churches display at Easter being included with Mary and the angel, Gabriel.
This is a white Madonna lily, Lilium candidum.
It is a symbol for purity, Christ, innocence and spring.
I also thought that Mary’s reaction to Gabriel’s news was portrayed in interesting ways.
If you search Annunciation paintings of the Uffizi Art Museum (or …of Italy), you will see many examples with much better photography. I was amazed by an angel bringing Mary flowers.
Happy Easter!
My Flock of Friends
My flock of friends flew in yesterday.
They filled the trees with excitement.
Groups took turns swooping down to visit my Foster Holly.
The party lasted from morning ’til evening.
Just at dusk, they lifted from the tree tops and flew away.
I do not know where the Cedar Waxwings come from or where they go when they leave.
But they know where my Foster Holly is
and stop by every spring to feast on its berries and rest as they journey.
Follow the Flock.
Wednesday Vignette – glory days
This is a beautifully written piece. Please give yourself 2 minutes of peace by reading it.
So, there’s been another attack – in Brussels of all places. Of course, it’s not just any town – it is the administrative center of the European Union. But still… it makes me ponder the relative randomness of it all. You never know where the next one is going to be, and how close you will be to it. The only thing we can pretty much know for sure is that there will be a next one. There always is.
In the air, halfway between Amsterdam and Gothenburg about two months ago, I looked out the window of the plane, and saw this:
This is what is called a “glory” – an optical phenomenon where light is refracted through drops of water. Notice how the rings continue through the spectrum twice – even a third time – as it fades outward. I bet it continues beyond that, even though we can’t…
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Don’t hide these Eggs
Glitter and glue
a friend or two
some napkins and eggs
Adding designs
One piece at a time
Magical and mystical
Messy Mosaics
Fancy fun
Colors and prints
Sparkle and shine
One egg at a time
Fern Fiddles
Baby fern fronds are called fiddleheads.
They unfurl from the earth, unrolling and lengthening as they spread out their leaflets.
A cross-section looks like that of a chambered nautilus.
This fiddle is from one of my favorite ferns, the Japanese holly fern/Cyrtomium falcatum.
One reason I love this fern is its random arrangement of sori on the underside of the fronds.
No nice little rows for this fern.
When the fiddles unfurl, spring has sprung.
Wait for it…
Follow the Flower
A Pie story for Pi Day
My daughter’s favorite dessert is Key Lime Pie.
This is what she wants instead of a cake on her birthday.
So being the over-achiever that I am, I thought it would be extra special to make a REAL Key Lime pie from scratch.
I bought a bag of Key Limes.
The recipe called for 3/4 cup of juice. I had to squeeze all the limes in the bag to get this much juice.
Then the recipe called for a tablespoon of zest.
Since I never read ahead on directions, I had to get zest from the smashed halves of tiny limes.
I am afraid there was some finger zest included.
The pie was beautiful. I asked her how she liked it.
Since she is my daughter, she gave an unwisely honest answer.
It was too sour and Edwards’ Key Lime pie was better.
Well this could be the end of the story,
but there were all those cute little seeds left over.
The Flower has issues.
floweralley 