herringbone delft meat

"If I can see an ending, I can work backwards."  Arthur Miller 

Another day without a trip to the studio., celebrating Mother's Day by restocking the refrigerator and cleaning up dog poop-  now Molly has 'it' too, and I am getting tired of cleaning off the blades of grass out front everytime they go out.  Yuck.  I can tell I'll be using my one can of pumpkin up quickly, and this isn't exactly the season to find more easily.  I'll go looking tomorrow to replenish.  

So far today I have fixed our broken internet, very annoying.  I've done a huge food shopping, and I've thrown in three loads of laundry from unpacking. That is the part I dislike most about travel-  returning to days of catch-up.  But as I'm toiling around, I have some good memories of the trip.  Specifically, our visit to the Tulip fields that just happened to be in peak form the day we got there, three weeks off their normal schedule-  a small taste:

 The whole park, 2500 acres is replanted every year!  I've tried to show some different varieties-  some were 8" tall, others I think up to 4 FEET tall, very impressive seeing so many varieties.

The fields around the park where the bulbs winter over.  Some of the varieties have been do-headed and will be harvested for overseas sales next year.

The most impressive sight was an indoor pavilion full of orchids-  they dripped from the ceiling, they were arrayed on tables, the varieties were endless and the blooms all completely perfect.  Walls of orchids!  Imagine!  There were also some very interesting display ideas too.  So, I am going to grow more orchids-  finally there is something that seems to thrive on neglect and I am SOOOO good at that.

The thing I am most surprised at is how I am suddenly actually interested in this.  I would be so bored when my mom would get excited about a flower or a bird...  now here I am doing the same thing.  I lost a dear friend to breast cancer almost a decade ago now, and her last request was for a trip to see the tulips. I didn't understand why but now I do.  her boss was from the Netherlands so he probably talked it up, she always had a green thumb and the most beautiful potted flowers wherever she sat, and her son was old enough to make the trip with her.  I am so happy she was able to make it work-  I now SEE what she saw!  I only wish she were around to call up and talk about it.  I thought of her the whole time in the park. 

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Today's project is to find the names to the various lizards that live here in our courtyard.  My favorite is this Northern Curly-tail, easily identified by his fast exit whenever he sees me watching!  These are the largest natural lizards around here and I see them all the time but only momentarily.  One was living under our car for awhile and I would sit a minute after I turned the engine on waiting for him to escape.

 The Northern Curly-tailed Lizard is a lizard species from the family of Curly-tailed lizards (Leiocephalidae). It is native to the Bahama Islands, the Cayman Islands and Cuba but was released intentionally in Palm Beach, Florida in the 1940s. An active, robust lizard, it is mostly terrestrial and will retreat into a burrow or cavity when frightened. It prefers sunny areas with loose rubble and rock.

This is the little Skink we see everywhere sunning themselves on the cobblestones.  You may be familiar with that name from Carl Haaisen's books that take place in southern Florida-  that is what they called the ex-governor.

Another favorite, also small, is this colorful guy- the Brown Anole.   They sit and pulse their red throats in and out so they are hard to miss!  I've seen a few this spring, wish they were more abundant.

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And finally, since it's Mother's Day, I will show you a present I got.  Don't be jealous-  the thing is I love these little guys so much that I can't stand to use them for the usual things, I have to figure out a way to wear 'em!

 Squirrel Paper Clips!
Do you have a better idea?
ANY idea???