Austin Tropicalesque

Sometimes my attempts at tropical flowers don’t work – my Brugmansia/Angel Trumpet still looks like a big weed, unwilling to bloom the way Hanna’s did on July 8th. Other exotic flowers are happy in my garden. Here are a pale yellow Plumeria flower , a rose-red Plumeria flower, a Hawaiian white ginger/Hedychium coronarium bloom and a Loquat tree/Eriobotrya japonica. The Plumeria flowers are also called frangipani and both colors smell wonderful. The white ginger smells wonderful. When they bloom in winter, the flowers of the Loquat smell wonderful. They all have big, tropical leaves, and make sitting on the patio seem like a vacation.
When the temperatures approach freezing, the Plumerias leave the patio, moving to their winter quarters in the garage, fasting and abstaining from fluids until spring. The ginger will usually die down to the ground, and sleep until April, protected by mulch, but the Loquat tree can take cold weather to 10º F. We’ve been lucky enough to get flowers every winter, but getting fruit is very chancy – just one dip into the mid-20’s can be the end of that year’s loquat crop. It would be cool to get the fruit, but we like the tree whether we get any loquats or not.

Where's Waldo?

Somewhere on the road between Grand Marais and Chicago. Who knew?

Fun with bodies, boats and blades

So that's why they're called performance boats!

Just for the record, in case anyone was wondering, high-level sea kayak coaches know how to have fun, on the water and off. If we were in Great Britain, we'd likely have spent many hours in the pubs, being reminded that smaller paddlers can't hold their liquor as well as large ones. Fortunately, we were on Orcas Island with a couple of coaches who enjoy playing on their boats. So we did, too.

Leon comes in for a landing.

Shawna takes standing on the boat to a new level of complexity.

Interspersed with the fun--and often during it--we talked about the hows and whys of various techniques. The experience was true to the BCU approach, which incorporates games as an integral part of learning.

We're still processing the experience (and trying to get used to urban life again), but we know this: Shawna and Leon's playful, inquisitive approach to sea kayaking is inspirational to us as paddlers and coaches, and we definitely plan to return when we can.

Painted by Moonlight

Taken during June's full moon, this is a 30 second exposure where the moon was behind the rock just below the tree.

Here is a similar shot to the one above, only this is what happens when you leave the shutter open for 5 minutes instead of 30 seconds. I love how the clouds turned out in this one! They reminded me of brush strokes from a paint brush, hence my name for the photo.

X-Stitch: Lale Zamanı (aka Tulip Time)

Ask anyone where tulips originated, and the answer will likely be: Holland. Actually, commercial cultivation of the tulip (or lale) began in the Ottoman Empire. As a matter of fact, there was an entire era in Ottoman history known as the Lale Devri (Tulip Period). Lasting from 1718 to 1730, this was a relatively peaceful period during which the Ottoman Empire began to orient itself towards Europe.

According to Wikipedia:

… the word tulip, which earlier appeared in English in forms such as tulipa or tulipant, entered the language by way of French tulipe and its obsolete form tulipan or by way of Modern Latin tulīpa, from Ottoman Turkish tülbend (“muslin” or “gauze”), and is ultimately derived from Persian dulband (“turban”).

Stylized tulip images were used in Ottoman art and could be found in everything ranging from fine fabrics to tile-work. My rendition is more realistic — here is Lale Zamanı …

Tulips are one of the most popular and anticipated of the spring flowers. I’m hoping that posting this blog entry on the last day of February will hasten the arrival of spring. I’m ready to put winter behind me.

Deep south deep freeze

Well, at least the wind's not blowing.
7.9°F (-13.4°C) is not the norm here, but I guess the temperature gods wanted to remind us that we're really still in zone 7, despite the updated hardiness map.
We are in a valley, so it's usually a bit colder here. The local tv station is saying that it's 16°F; (-9°C) in Birmingham.
This is the display for the fancy weather observation system we got for Christmas. I cropped out the bottom of the picture -- it also shows the atmospheric pressure.
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I could swear that it reached -12°F (-24°C) when I was a kid, but nobody else seems to remember this. We lived a little further north at the time, in Gadsden. According to this site, the lowest recorded temperature in Alabama was -27°, on January 30, 1966 in New Market. Now, that location is practically in Tennessee, but that could be the weather event I'm recalling.

Geddington, Newton, and back via Geddington Grange

Probably 3 miles or so. A short pre-lunch walk of about an hour and a half. We chickened out of the drive over to Daventry. The weather was warmer and drier than forecast, but there was a downpour after lunch - first real rain for ages.

Tiny Shetland ponies

Some local history - from tough times

Eyebrook Reservoir

With Harry, late afternoon. Some sun. No garmin link - but I know it's just under 5 miles.















We saw lots of swans, geese, the odd grebe and heron. A little later a noisy flock of geese clattered over our heads before coming down on the water. And a pair of bullfinches flew out of one of the hedges.

Wind-blown willows

A bullock-moot

Refreshment for the soul

Even traffic wardens need some refreshment for the soul before starting their day's work. I spotted this pair strolling through the Meadows, enjoying the low autumn sun. Then another pair appeared, then another. Perhaps it's their therapy before going out on the streets.

Thank You Addie, Lucie and Hailey!

Let's hear it for Tiny Twinkie Dog! GABE was an extraordinary project that grew and grew, helping make friendships between doggehs and kittehs and all things furry and feathered! I was furry lucky to be one of those who won Addie, Lucie and Hailey's GABE contest! And I just received the most coolest thing in the mail! Check it out!
Here I am sniffing out the scents of Addie, Lucie and Hailey. Wonder what's in here?
Tastes good...
Mmmmnnnn... smells really yummalicious!
I'm really trying to figgur out what this cool thing is!!!
WOW! Munga Stache fetch toy! Cowabunga!
Look at this pawsome toy/stache!!!! How cool is this????
And here's a piece of paper! Wonder what it says! I see pawprints!
Look! It's Addie, Lucie and Hailey and their pawtographs! Thank you a gazillion times for this pawsome pressie - I just love it, and am trying to figgur out how to wear it now!
Whooops!
This is bettah! What do you think of me as "Stache Sammie?" Thank you so much for my wonderful and incredibly generous, creative pressie!