Florida Flora and Fauna #AtoZChallenge

 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 

Disney Dunedin Delray Beach #AtoZChallenge

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. 

Zen and Morikami Gardens #AtoZChallenge

 Take a deep breath, participants in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

Breathe in.  Breathe out.

We've reached the final letter, Z.

The word Zen has many meanings.  I understand that we in the United States don't always use the word "Zen" the way it is meant to be used but my understanding is that the word "Zen" comes from a " school of Mahayana Buddhism asserting that enlightenment can come through meditation and intuition rather than faith."

Perhaps, what better place to pause, sit, and meditate for a while is at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida, which I had the pleasure of visiting with my spouse in January of 2019.  

If you search on their site, you come up with several results of Zen, including a Zen Garden kit for your tabletop.  Maybe I'll buy one one day to help me escape from the world's troubles for a few minutes.

In the meantime, here are some photos from my visit.  Sit and relax a while.  Meditate if you are into that.

Let's go in.

Buddha.

Outdoor bonsai.  That's an art form in itself.  Morikami has a nice bonsai collection; some are hundreds of years old.  They are meticulously taken care of.

A little philosophy.

It was so relaxing watching water flow through this pipe.

I'm guessing this is a rhodedendron.

Lantern art.

Waterfall.

Finally, a stone formation.

I hope these photos brought you peace, which we need so much in these times.

My final post, for "Z" day in the 2024 Blogging from A to Z Challenge. My theme for 2024 was:  Gardens, History, Art and The Unexpected.

Delray (Beach) #AtoZChallenge #blogboost

Delray Beach is a city of about 70,000 people on the East Coast of Florida.   Last year, for Blogging from A to Z, I blogged an entire month on "Florida Outside the Theme Parks" and I encourage those who visit Florida to visit more than Disney or Universal Studios (as exciting as it is to spend time there).

Delray Beach offers the non-theme park tourist everything from wildlife preserves (Wakodahatchee Wetlands - 50 acres of previous wastewater utility property, amazingly free of charge) to the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens.  Morikami, especially is a one of a kind gem, which I plan to blog about more later this month.


Full disclosure: I am seriously thinking of snowbirding here after I retire. We'll just have to see what the future will bring.  Just blogging this makes a lot of good memories return.  I just hope I can make it happen.

Today, at the risk of turning this into a travelogue,  a small taste of Delray Beach for you for "D" Day.

An iguana at Wakodahatchee.

It really is OK to have too much fun.

To someone visiting in January from the frozen north, it was so beautiful just to see the water and sun.

And speaking of the outdoors, how about an arts festival?

Day four of the Ultimate Blog Challenge #blogboost


"D" Day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.