friday's fringe 24 ~ winged zebras

were you really expecting zebras with wings?

well, you got it!  sort of...

this is florida's 'state butterfly', the Zebra Longwing/Heliconius charithonia

in our front yard.

"Happiness flutters in the air whilst we rest among the breaths of nature."  

~Kelly Scheaffer

lk

~rebounded & grounded~

(trying to get back in the swing of things, i thought i'd start with...)

this week's Thematic Photographic 214 

suggested by carmi's written, inc...is...

grounded.

on the ground.

in the ground.

me, grounded.

'grounded' forever...unless it gets caught up in a breeze. 

another 'grounded' forever...snake bones

an 'earth star' fungi...popping up & out of the ground

on the ground...a humongous mushroom patch...
seen at one of my client's apartment building.
that's my foot for comparison! 

found sticking out of the ground...out back, among the pine trees.
an old turpentine clay pot from the early 1900's.

(this link is a local Turpentine Industry Landmark, right up the road from where i live)

this is a Worm Lizard burrowing back into the dirt. they live underground.

AND lastly...

besides the moon & stars, the sunrise & sunset, candles & incense...

my forever growing collection of stones, gems & feathers...

grounds me.

just a sampling...

((i have lots of catching up to do...with a lot of stuff...not just blog reading.

if you happen to be one of those kind souls who took the time to leave me your

encouraging words of support following my previous MILO post...

i thank you. 

your thoughts, your own personal stories, your words of comfort...

means more to me than you know.  thank you.  i'll be seeing you over the next few days.))

stay cool.  be safe.

laura

celebrating milo...

milo

passed away yesterday, at home, at 11:15 am.

she LOVED 

to climb trees,

climb up to the roof and oversee everything,

eat potatoes (fried, baked, mashed...) and pizza crust,

curl up every evening in sam's lap (i had to sometimes bribe her for a piece of sam's lap myself),

go camping,

wander in the woods,

sit on the bathroom counter-top & stare out the window,

chase lizards, squirrels, burrowing moles...pretty much anything that moved!

she will still be doing all these things!

now, she's free...to go where ever & when ever she pleases!

“What greater gift than the love of a cat.”

~Charles Dickens

milo was like a dog.

she would come when you called her name.

she would follow us around the trails.

she was our furry baby.

an 80 something year old baby...in cat years!

milo had a long & happy life!!

she will be missed.

we wrapped her up in towels,

with two turkey feathers she used to like to play with...

and her favorite little catnip toy.

we buried her out back...just before sunset.

milo's sunset

i made a marker, using my woodburning tool.

we lit a candle.

this one's for you milo.

RIP milo.

thanks for stopping by...

thanks for all your kind words & thoughts.

laura  (and sam too!)

Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire, 

he is still only a whisker away from the wilds.  

~Jean Burden

friday's fringe 23 - psychedelic moo love

“Love is a green sky on a blue pasture, and I am the flying cow eating it all up.” 

~ Jarod Kintz, Love quotes for the ages. Specifically ages 18-81.

the original, snapped on the way to a client's house

lk

a word about milo...

milo 

is not doing too well.

you know milo...
the camping cat.

milo the yard manager.

she's been on this blog many times.

she's even covered for me on a post or two.

milo is 16...or maybe even 17.

what's that in cat years?

over 80!!?

she's had a long & happy life.

climbing trees.

climbing up the side of the house to sit on the roof.

chasing squirrels, lizards, birds, moles, snakes...

and lazing around.

she has cancer.

she hasn't eaten in days.  barely drinking.

she's getting weaker...but hanging in there.

not ready to let go.

she's not in pain...or complaining.

all she asks is that when we're home,

we don't do anything else except hold her.

and so we oblige.

taking turns

carrying her around like the little baby she is to us.

look at that little sad face.

she's a bit dazed & confused.

she doesn't like it when you sit.

she wants to be walked around...or rocked.

so i'll be getting pretty far behind in my blog reading...

just wanted you to know...i'm not ignoring you.

milo needs our time...and love...right now.

~meow~

take care.

stay cool.  be safe.

laura

(i do have a friday's fringe already scheduled for friday)

friday's fringe 22 - pretty in pink!

one Orange-barred Sulphur feeding on a Hibiscus...

 enter a second...

“Follow the spiders.  Why spiders?   Why couldn't it be 'follow the butterflies!’”   

~J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

lk

~me and my angles~

'at an angle...or leaning'

is this week's Thematic Photographic - 212

the first thing i thought of when i read this week's theme,

are all the leaning trees around our home...out back...out front...

so i grabbed my camera & ran outside...here are just a few.

yeah, we've had many a leaner go BOOM. 

 topple over in a storm, or just too much of a soaking rain.

a few more a little farther from home.

out in the Suwannee Wildlife Management area...

is a perfect get away spot called 'Shired Island'.  loaded with weathered wood...

a better name might be Bone Beach.

weathered roots...at all sorts of angles.

 another weirdly angled tree...

(Hillsborough Sate Pk, FL)

how about a boulder...at an angle...

(taken at Cheaha State Park, Alabama)

and lastly...

this tree may not be at an angle...

BUT I WAS,

when i snapped this picture!

join in with carmi's thematic photographic weekly.

check out more 'at an angle' here.

“There are two things that are more difficult than making an after-dinner speech: 

climbing a wall which is leaning toward you and kissing a girl who is leaning away from you.”    

~ Winston Churchill

stay cool.  be safe.

laura

o'leno's flora & fauna

nope. this picture isn't upside down.

no, you don't have to stand on your head to see it.

it's a reflection,  along the shore of the Santa Fe River,

a tributary of the Suwannee River, in O'Leno State Park...

(we love this park. not far from home, we go there a lot...for quick getaways.)

so we loaded up 'milo' (our she-cat) and got outa town over the weekend.

of course, i took an endless number of pictures...but i waded through them

and tried to pick some good ones!

enjoy your stay!

Five-lined Skink

the suspension bridge...over the Santa Fe

yep...a 'GATOR!

...waiting in line...for the rest room??!

fungi scales on a downed & rotting tree

a pile of caterpillars on the ground,,,probably got blown out of the tree the night before.
we had a ferocious thunderstorm pass through during the night.

a damselfly resting on a cypress knee in the river

weeeeeeeeeeeee.  ready for take-off...

stay cool.  be safe.

laura

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. 

Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. 

Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

~Martin Luther King Jr.