Welcome! I hope I bring a spot of calm and happiness into these uncertain times. I blog about my photography adventures, flowers, gardening, the importance of chocolate in a well lived life, or anything else on my mind.
In my travels in the United States And Canada I’m always on the lookout for a beautiful garden, as I also blogged about last week in my "B" post for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.
Here’s a selection.
Golden Chalice Vine, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, Florida. Open wide and say "Gorgeous".
Inga Vera vine, Harry Leu Gardens, Orlando, Florida.
Morikami Garden, Delray Beach, Florida.
Display Garden, American Daylily Society, Cutler Botanic Gardens, Binghamton, New York.
A whimsical garden also at Cutler Botanic Gardens, Binghamton, New York. This is right of I-81 and admission is free.
What was once a 150 acre estate owned by Samuel Untermyer is now a public park, Untermyer Gardens in Yonkers, New York is a public park and offers free admission. I have blogged about Untermyer Gardens a number of times. This picture was taken in 2024.
Do you have any favorite gardens?
G Day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme: Beauty of our Land.
Today, I bring you some of the natural and human-made beauty one can find in our state of Florida. Some of the plantings may be native and some may not but all these pictures were taken in Florida.
I couldn't resist the one non flora/fauna picture as the building is so beautiful.
Morikami Japanese Gardens, Delray Beach Florida.
Not sure if this is an anhinga (that's what I think) or a cormorant (what my iPhone thinks). I know the birders in the audience will tell me. Taken on Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa.
Anhinga, similar location to above.
I believe this isn't a true Florida flower but a Brazil Raintree. But it was growing in Florida so I'm using t.
Statue "The Spirit of Punta Gorda", Punta Gorda, Florida, and nearby trees. I love this photo.
Great Blue Heron, Delray Beach, Florida.
Bird almost hidden, Ft. Myers, Florida.
What a beautiful state Florida is. Too many tourists come for the theme parks and miss the natural beauty.
F day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme: Beauty of Our Land
It's Monday, and it's time for music! It's also time for E day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.
First, the A to Z Challenge:
Mount Equinox lies between Arlington (where Norman Rockwell lived for years) and Manchester Center, Vermont. It is the tallest peak in the Taconic range, some 3,855 feet above sea level. It is the second highest point in southern Vermont. The name supposedly originates from 1823 and a visit around the autumnal equinox by one Captain Alden Partridge.
From its peak, on a clear day, you can see Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. It is said that, on an especially clear day, you can see all the way to Montreal, Quebec.
Currently there are only two ways to get to the peak . The first is to drive up a well maintained toll road and then take a short walk to the top. Or, you can hike up and back, which is about a six mile (9.6 km) round trip. Back in the 1800's, hiking up the mountain was a popular pastime.
The views are beautiful, as are exhibits in the (free) visitors center.
The mountain, some surrounding land, and the toll road is privately owned by the Carthusian order of Roman Catholic monks. Founded in 1084 C. E. by German born St. Bruno, who died in 1101, these monks live an austere life in silence. They eat one meatless meal a day (bread and water only on Fridays), wear hair shirts, and spend much of their lives in prayer. The monastery is not open to the public.
Let me show you some of the beauty of the mountain.
Taken on the drive up the toll road.
I think this was from the summit.
Love those clouds.
Religious art in the visitor's center.
Goldenrod along the road. These pictures were taken in early September.
Keeping with my theme of the Beauty of our Land, Everything is Beautiful, from Ray Stevens.
Finally, the opening scene from the movie The Sound of Music. This scene was filmed in the Untersberg Mountains of Austria. What a beautiful land, a land that I hope to visit one day.
"E Day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme: Beauty of Our Land.
Joining up with Marie, Cathy, and Stacy for #MusicMovesMe. We are a group of music loving bloggers whoblog about music eachSunday or Monday (or even later in the week). If you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join!(Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please! Otherwise, your post link may be labeled "No Music" or even removed.) We
have occasional theme weeks, but you are welcome to ignore the theme
and use music of your choice. Why not join us? You don't have to sing,
or play an instrument. All music lovers are welcome.
And that's an Easy wrap!
Join me again tomorrow for more of the Beauty of our Land.
For Easter and my day off from the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, some flower shadow pictures. These were taken yesterday - it is raining this morning. First, my purple crocus.
A bee is barely visible in the flower on the left.
Today is D day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and I bring you several locations from Florida, showing you some of the beauty of this southeast United States state.
Morikami Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida.
Another picture from Morikami Gardens, Delray Beach.
Delray Beach Wood storks.
Dunedin Dolphin.
Downtown Dunedin.
Disney (Springs) Dragon.
D Day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme: Beauty of Our Land.
Today, for "C" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, it's going to be a busy blog post for me. I participate in a skywatching meme each Friday, and I'm also doing the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.
First, watching the sky for Yogi's Skywatch Friday, I am featuring some Clouds I saw from my front porch on March 31, just before a severe thunderstorm hit.
We were on the fringes of the storm, but we still got pea sized hail. Fortunately, nothing seemed damaged and Clouds qualify for "C" day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.
Next, on the way to the Boston, Massachusetts cruise port in July, 2024, I saw this beautiful urban art:
Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, July 2024. , I'd love to know who created this.
The next few pictures were taken at the Flynn Cruise port. To my delight, there was artwork on this building.
These are hard to see so I turned one into a high contrast black and white photo.
The Boston skyline, as we embarked on the cruise
Sailboats in the harbor.
Finally, a Commemoration I do each year on my blog. On April
3rd of each year, I Commemorate a mass shooting at the American Civic
Association in Binghamton, New York.
On April 3, 2009, a troubled 41 year old immigrant walked into a
building housing the American Civic Association on the edge of downtown
Binghamton. He shot the receptionist (she survived) and entered an
adult classroom for immigrants. Seconds later, 14 people, including the
shooter (by suicide), were dead.
I will not forget, and neither will the
people of Binghamton. There has been so much mindless violence since that date, and it's hard, thinking of all the families who have suffered.
It seems like nothing has changed except the number of dead and injured over the years, hasn't it?
I wish I didn't have to blog about it during a Blogging from A to Z Challenge whose theme is Beauty in our Land.
I will leave you with one more spot of beauty - Madame Alexander's Dolls, a tribute to one of the dead. Sadly, the museum I blogged about no longer exists, but the memory lives on.
Something I love to do is to visit gardens, big and small.
In 2023 spouse and I visited Plymouth, Massachusetts during the Fourth of July weekend. There is so much history in this city of around 65,000 people.
In downtown there is a small garden park called Brewster Gardens. This park is located in the original garden plot that was granted to settler Elder William Brewster in 1620. Brewster was an English official and was a passenger on the Mayflower ship that brought the Pilgrims to the United States. He was also the only university trained passenger on the ship, and became a church leader for the Pilgrims.
