An Easter Bunny

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Frequent readers are familiar with my cousin Bunny. She recently turned 95 years old and things are not what we would hope for her. Physically strong she has a form of dementia that blocks her memory of the present time. She will repeatedly ask the same question or make the same observation, like an old phonograph player that gets stuck on the same part of a record. But the Bunny we love is still there, it just takes some creativity to jostle the brain into “forward.”

One modern invention that helps with that process is the iPad. Frequently I will take it with me when I visit and we look at old family photos.  This series of pictures shows Bunny and her daughter-in-law, Joanne, “visiting” with Bunny’s great-grandchildren, Winston and Ellery. Bunny seemed to grasp the concept of video-visits with no problem, only the appropriate wonder such technology deserves.

So, on this Easter Sunday, I give you Bunny. Still alive, still loved, and still loving. ❧

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Bunny, in Sarasota, Florida, “connects” with Winston, her year-old great-grandson in Kentucky.
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Here Bunny points at her own image in the upper-left corner of the iPad.
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A wave from Grammy.
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Bunny, her son Milo, and Ellery, her great-granddaughter, have a visit.

 

 

 

 

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Image #287 – Summer?

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It has been a crazy time for weather. Friends in the Northeast continue to be hammered by snow and ice. In Australia they had not just one but TWO(!) major hurricanes (or cyclones) hitting the country at the same time. One, Cyclone Marcia, was a Category 5!

Here in Central Florida we had freezing temperatures for one night but today, just two days later, it was in the low 80s and this picture, snapped at Myakka Park this afternoon, looks very much like summer time.

Ah, weather! ❧

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Image #286 – Family Portrait

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This mother cow and two calves were willing posers this morning as Tango and I took our morning walk around Wilderness Lane.  It was a bright, clear morning and the sun was warming as we took time to consider each other.  When I was growing up in Sarasota there were many, many cows but now it has become a city and there are fewer of these bucolic scenes.  More’s the pity. ❧

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Image #285 -Lichen the tree

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This lovely tree trunk caught my eye in Myakka River State Park.  So many different lichen, colliding is a wonderful expression of color. ❧

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Images #284 – Cinnabar Cort


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It is, I think, a Cinnabar Cort (Cortinarius cinnabarinus) mushroom.  About 2″ in height, it was one of many in the woods at Myakka River State Park this week.   About two years ago it was almost impossible to find mushrooms at Myakka. The feral pig population was decimating the population of mushrooms and other edibles. Their destructive pattern of routing through the soil for anything edible was causing great damage to the Park and at last the Park Service authorized a culling of  pigs and the hunters did their work. The Park is infinitely healthier for their efforts.

The Cinnabar Cort is relatively common throughout Florida and I have seen numerous stands in many different places.  From above it would be easy to overlook except for its rich deep color.

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I had never done any macro work with this type of mushroom and was very pleased with the images. I will re-visit the Cinnabar again and promise to share.  ❧

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#283 – Fragrant Chanterelle

Fragrant chanterelle (Craterellus odoratus) in cow pasture. Sarasota, Florida
Fragrant chanterelle (Craterellus odoratus) in cow pasture. Sarasota, Florida

Faithful readers know of my love affair with fungi.  In the summer of 2013, in the hills of North Carolina, there was a bounty of mushrooms, brought on by abundant rains and a rain forest environment. The colors and shapes captured my imagination and my camera captured their images.

Here in Florida we have mushrooms too, of course.  Fungi exists everywhere, even in Antarctica where more than 20 varieties have been found. This particular variety is, I believe, a Fragrant Chanterelle (Craterellus odoratus).  About 2″ in height, it was emerging in a cow pasture where there is LOTS of fertilizer for these artful creations of nature. ❧

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Feeling Sluggish?

Slug in the road

Happy New Year everyone!

Feeling a bit sluggish after the holiday fun? Well, you have nothing on this fellow. I found him in the middle of Wilderness Lane, an infrequently traveled road which gives this slug a better chance to reach the other side. It made me think of the many people emerging from the “holidaze,” just trying to reach the other side. Sending them, and everyone, best wishes for the new year. In the immortal words of John Lennon, “Let’s hope its a good one/Without any tears.” ❧

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#280 – Crystal Ornaments

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Crystal ornaments reflecting the year past?  If that is what you want them to be…  It is the season of magical thinking, the darkest time of the northern hemisphere’s year.  Holidays, like most things in life, are what you make them.  May yours be bright and filled with love. ❧

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#279 – Florida’s Autumn

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How many times have I heard someone say, “There just isn’t any seasonal change in Florida. I miss the changing colors of the trees.”?  Perhaps this picture will convince the Florida “newbies” that there is an autumn in Florida but it comes later and is more subtle. It would be more dramatic if we hadn’t altered the landscape so severely, trying to make everything look like a New England cottage or a Midwest farm.  These cypress trees are a good example. They are relatively young and were probably planted by the owners of the property. Cypress trees were once plentiful in the marshes and glades but man has chopped them down along with the ancient oaks that once populated the pastures.  Florida isn’t for everyone but sometimes it seems as though everyone is here. ❧

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