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.

parallel play

(thematic 210 - parallelism)

you never realize how many parallels there are 

(not including the universes of course!)

until you search.

here are just a few!

parallel plants growing along the side of our parallel wood home   

the parallel lines of the Six-lines Racerunner

parallel lines running down the driveway

the Yellow Rat snake's parallels

parallel lines of the shed's wall

parallel waves at sunrise. Neptune Beach, Florida (8 aug 2011)

even concentric circles are considered parallels

and

so 

i leave you with a misspelled sign!

even though this sign was previously in one of my posts...a long while back...

(e-mailed to me by Susan @ This n That.

she snapped this picture while looking for a place to PARALLEL park

in a little town called Nimmitabel, 

which is in New South Wales, Australia) 

it seemed very fitting to post it again now!

i'm linked up with carmi's thematic weekly photo sharing.

join in!  check it out here:  Thematic Photographic 210 - Parallelism

thanks for stopping by!

stay cool. be safe.

laura

catch you later. i'm home between appointments, and was anxious to get paralleled!!  =)

shower.dead hummer.skink.butterfly.and the moon.

our 'bird feeder'

if you're aware of our 'bathroom repair saga'...and even if you're not...

it all started back in february...with me losing an earring.

a pair of celtic knots that sam and i each wear (wore) one of.

sam crawled under the trailer to check the trap in the tub's drain pipe.

it wasn't there. but he discovered a leak.

SO, began the tearing down of the walls and pulling out the tub...

which exposed damp and moldy-ish floor and lower walls.

this past sunday...

we christened our new shower!

yay!  finally...we can wash indoors again!!

JUST KIDDING!  our place has two bedrooms, each with a shower and toilet.

but now we have our own shower again...

and ALL the tools, ladder, caulking, paint...have been moved back out to the shed.

here's a pic of sam doing the final touch ups sunday morning.

it was a pre-fab shower. walls in 3 pieces. we did everything ourselves.

well, sam did most of the work...i did the painting and some of the caulking.  

sam did the rest.  

yay! it's finished!  we did a good job.

oOo

OK

so i'm home between appointments

and wanted to get this out there.

tomorrow i have only ONE massage...so i'll have some time to catch up on my blog reading!

oOo

sam found a dead hummingbird outside the shop where he works.

even though the guys he works with gave him some weird & surprised looks...

he picked it up, bagged it...stuck it in the fridge...and brought it home to me!

(pretty soon...i'll have a hummer skeleton!)

poor little hummer.

anyway, i took a picture so you could see the BRIGHT iridescent red neck.

it was so cool. i'd never seen this up close before.

what a gift!!

better than flowers.

ha.

speaking of flowers...the jasmine is blooming. 

aaaaaah. right by the front porch. i love the scent.

SWEET!

i spotted a Five-lined Skink the other day...hiding under the palmetto palms.

Five-lined Skink

the Gulf Fritillaries are starting to come around.

last year they were all over the yellow lantana.

this one likes the Blue Mist.

(i don't know why this plant is called a Blue Mist...it's really more of a lilac color)

UPDATE on my sciatica.

my butt is sore...from rolling around on the floor...on a tennis ball.

BUT other than this soreness, the sciatica is no longer a pain in my ass...

just my legs.  a little.  especially towards the end of the day.

with stretching, heat & ice...and sam's leg massages...

it's better every day.  WAY better.

thanks for all your healing wishes.

now...YOU make a wish.

gotta run now.  i leave you with a parting moon shot.

no, no...you can open your eyes...not THAT kind of MOON shot.  

the magical morning moon. just before dawn on 15 may 2012.

“Go slowly, my lovely moon, go slowly.”

~Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

be cool. stay safe.

laura

let sleeping lizards lie...and more critters & blooms.

an Anole snoozing outside the screen room.

well, after the high winds & hard rains the other day...

most of the Azalea blooms have fallen to the ground.

BUT there are a few other plants starting to sprout out of the ground...

and some are beginning to bloom.

like the shrimp plant!

the earth laughs in flowers.  

~e.e. cummings

during the week i spotted a Red Admiral butterfly on the ground.

i waited...and waited...camera pointed...until my arms began to tremble.

finally, she started to open her wings...and then...

*poof* she flew away. 

BUT

then i spotted another Red Admiral.

man! they're quick!  they don't sit still for very long!

this flower is on a small 'yesterday, today and tomorrow' bush.

at first each flower is purple...then fades to lavender blue...and then white.

i THINK this next TINY guy is either a grasshopper or mantis nymph.

fancy little striped antennae and the cutest triangular head!

(added later...Cindy at Bug Safari thinks this might be a Scudder's bush katydid...thanks cindy!)

spider webs...and dew.

speaking of webs...

OUR

front porch

Orb Weaver.

getting bigger every night.

~her underside~

here's a picture of the FIRST Skink of the year!!

Five-lined  (blue-tailed)  Skink

no wonder the lizards are a little slow moving. they're stuffed.

caterpillars are everywhere right now!

i'll try to get some good pictures...for later.

squirrels...busily digging up their acorn cache.

here's another Anole...on the front porch...in the BRIGHT GREEN phase...

with his dewlap fanned out.

he was not being a very good model.  scooting along the handrail...

on the last of the Azaleas...

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

st. patty's day and halloween.

my two favorite holidays.

halloween is understandable...i like bones...skulls...the spooky & macabre...

but, st patty's day?!

i don't know...maybe i have some irish in me.

i have a corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, onions & carrots in the crock pot.

yum. smells good.

stay cool & be safe.

laura

15 march 2012

I walked barefoot - the only way to walk on a muddy road. 

~Laurie Gough, "Light on a Moonless Night"

finished just in time. thunderstorm...starting to rage.    :)

ps- bathroom is coming along. 

i've been a little blue...

i just might have to do a real journal type post this month...

a more personal one...i'm due.

lk