Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Sunday, August 21, 2022

Mosaic Monday #187: Garden Gala

Well, you know it's been a hectic summer when you realize I have not penned a single post about my flower garden! So hold on tight - I am blitzing you with 2 months of photos, and I might throw in a critter or two along the way. The good news? Not a lot of words to read!!!

This is my only collage from May and all of these are naturally occurring plants; the lupine was a transplant from nearby.

I am not a fan of this bunny, but I sure like this Lamium that I plopped here out of one of my deck pots at the end of last summer.

We had a wet spring, and the apple trees responded accordingly. (Fast forward to present day - the Goodland has no apples - it produced its first year. But the Honeycrisp has at least 4, and this is the first year it has fruited since it was planted in 2018!!!)

Does anyone know the insect in the collage below?

And we had rainbows to accompany the rain!

Just tramping around the property, you can see amazing things if you keep your eyes open ... this collage has the Spotted Coralroot Orchid, which previously I had only seen on hikes. To think we have this orchid on our place!! Since this photo, I have seen one or two other specimens on our property. And no less beautiful is the dainty Blue-Eyed Grass.

One day I was weeding and heard the characteristic calls of a sapsucker or woodpecker. I looked up and saw this bird working over one of the skulls Spousal Unit has placed around the firepit. Can one of you birders make the identification? I suspect the bird was eating ants.

We are always concerned about forest fires in the summer, so we are methodically thinning our pines, and adding more deciduous trees. This spring, I planted 4 paper birches. To the right is just one of them.

Columbines are one of the first plants to bloom, and I have red, pink and purple. I love this plant, which is so easy to propagate with its miniscule black seeds!

We have seen Western Swallowtails periodically throughout the summer. Here is a video of one working over the Lantana in one of my pots.

And the bunnies are still around, too. If you doubt that there is more than one, check out the photo below with two in the same shot!

Roses grow naturally here, and I love the one in the shot below, with it's heart-shaped petals. It is joined by the first Blanketflower of the season, and a Paintbrush bloom.

I don't often wear my glasses when I am in the garden, so occasionally my pictures are not in focus. But sometimes, this means an "artistic" photo. This shot of Pussytoes is one of these, and I am delighted with the result.

The spikes of Yellow Penstemon are distinctive in their own right, but also when multiples grace a plant. A close-up shows the beauty of each individual, delicate flower. Flax is a plant that arrived as part of the native grass/flower blend that we planted our first fall here. Its blue blooms are radiant, and it is a shame they last less than a day - they are morning blooms that fade quickly. A good reason to get up in the morning! (and why it shows up in this blog post twice!!!)

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.

The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Tuesday (U.S. Mountain time).

Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.

Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.

As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.

Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.

Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.

Sunday, August 14, 2022

Mosaic Monday #186: Back to the Islands

As I continue my denial that this is the month of August, we might as well go way back to May and our trip to Grand Cayman. (see previous posts June 5, 2022, June 12, 2022 and June 19, 2022) One day we journeyed around the island, beginning with Smith's Barcadere, one of the most photographed beaches in the Caribbean. Also known as Smith Cove, this historic stretch of coastline is a favorite with locals and visitors alike. Calm, clear waters and easy beach access make it ideal for snorkeling. Dappled shade and picnic tables round out the facilities for those who don't want to go in the water. I filled my time taking pictures, and bird-watching. The two videos below are a bananaquit - a member of the tanager family. They feed on small insects and spiders, as well as fruits and nectar. The local subspecies, Coereba flaveola sharpei, is endemic - found only in the Cayman Islands.

The other most common bird at this beach? Chickens.

The flowers and fruit on the trees at the beach fascinated me. I did some rudimentary investigating on the web, but the identification eluded me. Anyone know the name of the tree(s)? (One had pink flowers and the other yellow. Both flowers were shaped like a hibiscus, and the leaves of the trees were identical, if that helps!)

Our next stop was Spotts Beach, known for turtle sightings. And sure enough, we saw three different turtles. This is the smallest.

Check out the video of the small one. It was completely oblivious to the snorkelers awkwardly hanging above it while it snipped at the sea grass, gently rolling in the current near the shore.

Here's the medium-sized green turtle going up for air. Isn't it marvelous how the sunlight shines through the ocean onto objects under the surface? The water here was only about 15 feet deep.

I love the following shot with the reflection. By the way, all these pictures were taken by Spousal Unit with his hand-held GoPro.

The largest of the three was by far the most skittish, and that's why we have only video. Notice the two remora clinging to it or swimming nearby. The larger animal provides protection while getting cleaned. I can't put into words how fulfilling it was to witness three of these majestic creatures in the space of 30 minutes.

Our next stop was Kaibo Beach Bar and Grill, on the far North Side of the island. If you look at the red numbering in the picture below, we began at 1 - our condo. Smith's Barcadere is 2, Spott's Beach is 3 and Kaibo is 4. (You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.)

You can take a ferry from Camana Bay to Kaibo, but you would miss all the fun of driving around the island!

After we enjoyed drinks and appetizers at the Grill, we strolled over to Starfish Point, only a quarter mile from the restaurant. As the name would indicate, you can always find starfish in this area. The red cushion sea stars that frequent the shallows looking for food provide the perfect photo opportunity, while the soft sands are a great place for beachcombing and exploring.

This day, we also came across a few hermit crabs at the Point, the first we have ever seen on the island. Caribbean hermit crab adults burrow and hide under the roots of large trees, and can be found a considerable distance inland. I suppose these creatures, like us, were also on their beach vacation!