from the porches

my hunger

Today is one of the few times that Truett and I didn't go to Gainesville.  After all, it is Saturday, and we do have chores to do in Gainesville. 

But this morning the weather was gray and gloomy with a fine mist or a light rain lingering over Fort White.

So we took the easy way out and did our chores in High Springs; and by the time the mist and rains lifted, we were home.

 

I had a taste for pictures, so to satisfy my hunger, I walked around the yard. 

 First, I took photographs of the Turks Cap. . .

and then I moved on to the Mexican Petunias.

An annoying yard cat kept wrapping its body between my legs, which could have caused me to stumble, so I headed back to the house by way of the garage.

Continuing on around to the back door, I spotted a banana spider's web and got a good luck at the underside of her abdomen.

Finally, I looked up at the clear blue sky and smiled. 

My hunger was satisfied.

a green surprise

The other afternoon I decided to water my flowers.  This particular bed of impatients and lantana needed no water.  They're very tall and very lush.

As I strolled along the edge of the flower bed I paused and greeted a tiny grasshopper sitting on a hibiscus.

The little green thing just watched my every move, anticipating a flick of my finger, I'm sure.

"Get off of there!"  I said.

But he didn't get off.  He just turned his tiny body toward me, ready to pounce.  "You win,"  I said and walked away.

oleander horrors

      

When I was cutting back roses yesterday I took a good look at the rest of the flowers.  My eyes settled on the oleander and I remembered horror stories about this plant.

When the gardener from ACE Hardware was planting our flowers I asked her what the pretty pink one was beside her.  She told me it was oleander.  I remember blurting,  "But that's poisonous."  The gardener had not heard oleander horror stories; but maybe that's because she moved here from  out west somewhere.

      

Here's one story.

When Truett and I lived in Savannah we would head to Savannah Beach and see the median filled with beautiful oleander bushes.  I wanted us to pull off the road so I could pick a bouquet to take back home, but we never did.  Soon after we asked the locals about the pretty pink bushes and were told the first oleander horror story.

It seems a couple of college girls were headed to Savannah Beach, picked some oleander and put it in their motel room.  Both girls were found dead the next morning. 

Our next oleander horror story came when we moved to Fort White in 1973.  One day the original owners of our old house stopped by on the way to Lake City to visit their mama's grave. As we chatted with them and they with us, they told the story of their sister who died from oleander fumes the day she turned six years old.

It seems the mother had pruned her oleander bushes and thrown the limbs in a burn pile.  All the family stood around and watched the sticks burst into flame; but that night the little girl got sick and died.. . from poisonous oleander fumes.

      

This afternoon I checked on snopes.com and read another story about boyscouts roasting weenies and marshmallows on oleander sticks.  They all died in their sleep.  Other stories were mentioned if you're so inclined to read them.  Snopes can't say for certain these stories didn't happen, only that they were reported. 

Now back to my garden.  We allowed one (1) oleander plant to be planted and vowed never to let the children linger around this deadly plant.  Or us either for that matter.  And if the oleander plant dies from cold weather or frost, we will not burn it.  No we will don face masks, grind it into a fine pulp, and bag it up to be hauled to a landfill.

lazy day of summer

I've thought of today as being one of those lazy days of summer.  I did the morning house keeping: making beds, washing dishes, and bagging garbage.  I transferred a few photographs to new folders, worked in the studio for an hour or so, and had lunch with my mom.

During the middle of the afternoon I read my novel and around 3:00 Truett and I watched a video of Alaska, which brought back so many wonderful memories of our vacation there one year ago. 

Then I wandered out into the yard around 4:00 to check out the flowers.  Many roses need to be dead-headed and cut way back; and if the weather cools off later this afternoon, I may do that.  But that's iffy at this point due to the heat, mosquitos buzzing my ears, and forming storm clouds, which I'm praying for.

I did see a few flowers that caused me to pause and look twice.

      

     

      

Just look at the unopened buds on this rose bush.  In a couple of days this will be bursting with color. 

      

Ah, good old lazy days of summer.  I think I'll make a refreshing glass of iced cold lemonade now and think of some more relaxing things to do.

smell of rain

Hip hip hooray!  It finally rained today.  Actually it's raining right now at 7:45 p.m. and there's no better sound than that tapping and pattering on the tin roof.  Up until now all I've seen have been dusty automobiles and Ford trucks with finger swiped messages on the back windows that read Wash me!  or John loves Boo.

The rain makes me feel light-hearted and happy, so I'll show you some pretty flowers from my garden.

      

                             Here we have a pink flower.

      

                                  And some blue flowers

        

                          And a pinwheel of a jasmine blossom.

I love . . love . . love the smell of rain!