This flower on a Pitayo de Mayo (“Strawberry Pear” or “Dragon Fruit” of May) cactus at the botanic garden was one of the many cactus and succulent flowers we saw last Sunday. Click on image to enlarge.
August 2009
Ancestry
I have not taken the time to go to the ancestry site that my sister sent me a while ago. I got interested a while back about the origins of our family and found out some interesting things, but not in great depth. One of these days, perhaps after retirement, I plan to look into our family ancestry.
Several years ago, I borrowed this 19th century photo of a trio of my Mom’s mother’s siblings and scanned it into a file. As a child, I knew two out of three of the people in this picture, my great uncles Frank and Bert. Great Aunt Kathryn, for whom my mother is named (I presume) was my Grandmother Myra’s older sister who had passed before I was born.
I can remember that as senior citizens, Uncle Frank (left) still had that bushy haircut (white, of course) and Uncle Bert had the same serious expression. Both uncles seemed to enjoy Mom bringing us to visit.
Dahlias – As Promised
We went to the South Coast Botanic Gardens yesterday to see the Dahlia Society’s annual show. We try to attend every year, but missed it last year for some reason. Today, we were glad we didn’t miss this one. They outdid themselves from the last time we were here.
There were dahlias of nearly every size, color and variety. The colors were stunning. Hundreds on hundreds of beautiful flowers and arrangements. I took over 150 photos yesterday and I wish I could show them all. The slideshow below is but a small sampling of the wonderful flowers we saw.
Move your mouse cursor over the images to stop the slideshow; move out to resume.
Koi at the Botanic Gardens
We went to the dahlia show at the Botanic Gardens today (more about dahlias in a subsequent post). After we came out of the exhibit hall, we took our usual route through the gardens.
The first stop along the route is usually the Japanese Garden where a pond and waterfall set a tranquil mood. Several beautiful Garabaldi and Koi populate the serene waters of the pond.
This Koi was one of the most beautiful and exotic fish in the crystal clear pond today. Click on the image to enlarge.
Morgan’s Beauty
This interesting South African succulent, crassula falcata, a.k.a. ‘Morgan’s Beauty,’ has never failed to produce these tiny, fragrant flowers. This photo shows the initial stage of the buds, before they develop into bright red (peppered with yellow stamens) and delicately fragrant blossoms. At this stage, they’re neither fragrant nor brilliant, but they’re going to be. Click on the image to enlarge.
UPDATE: After visiting the Botanic Gardens yesterday and seeing the crassula blooms, we are reminded that this is also called “Scarlet Paintbrush.”
Baby Boomer
I went into the archives and dug up some pictures we took at the range a couple of years ago. This one is a still frame from a video I was taking while Verna was firing her little .45 caliber compact Para Warthog pistol; the picture nicely shows the fiery gas plume that is generated as the pistol discharges the projectile toward the target downrange.
This gun is so small that I have trouble getting a hold on the short grip. It helps if I use the extended magazine where my pinky can get a grip. For a petite gun, it sure exhibits a full-blown plume and report. “Baby Boomer” seemed to be an appropriate designation for this little gun.
