I have a long-time blogging friend who spent part of the winter in India, her hubby’s birthplace. Well, she came back and posted all these VERY cool photos, including this fascinating picture of a VERY unusual plant.
Pingo-ballo agave bush
Isn’t it amazing? I actually thought some children had a lovely time sticking colorful rubber balls on the ends of pointed leaves, but it really grows like this and has that fun name: Pingo-ballo agave bush. I LOVE IT. I think it deserves a page in a book by Dr. Suess, don’t you?
Not to be out-done by Ms. Alice, I took a trip around my house where I spent ALL of the winter and stumbled upon a very interesting plant as well. Unfortunately, the picture I took of it has yet to arrive in my email box. Sorry, but you will have to return in the morning to see what I found. Nighty Night.
I’ve traveled a little bit in my near-63 years upon this beautiful earth, and I’ve seen some great sites, ranging from the Eiffel Tower in Paris AND Vegas to Washington’s AND Lincoln’s monuments. BUT I have NOT seen many famous NATURAL wonders. I have ventured into Yellowstone Park and watched Old Faithful do her thing, and I have marveled at the Tetons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. EVERY day I ooh and ahh over the Rockies right here in my backyard, but I had NEVER ventured south to visit what SHOULD be one of the TOP 10 natural wonders of the world.
Southern Utah is home to NUMEROUS red, salmon-pink, golden, and gray rock canyons. While I have seen pictures and postcards, calendars and magnets depicting these canyons, I had not visited any until this past spring break. It was time!
I chose Bryce Canyon as our destination because of a certain accommodation: Ruby’s Inn. For years, I had heard of the historical lodging place, and I wanted to stay there, regardless of the canyon it called home. So off we went on a cold, rainy April day.
I love the learning that takes place on such ventures, and I will share more “fun facts” over the next few weeks, but I have to say that seeing these MORE than AMAZING formations up close and personal surpassed my expectations of breath-taking WOWness!
Yes, I shot this photo with my little red camera!
I became instantly curious. How were these “columns” created? Why are the rocks’ colors so intense? And my FAVORITE question of the hour: They are called WHAT? HOO DOOS? Who came up with THAT sophisticated, scientific-sounding name?
Although the Bryce National Park literature failed to explain the origin, and my personal research has not “conjured” up the answer, I have my own theory.
You see the native tribes of that area – the Paiutes – believed that the consummate trickster, Coyote, turned these “legend people” to stone. The rows upon rows of hoodoos look like lines of warriors, and I was, in fact, reminded of the terracotta army of the first Qin Dynasty.
HooDoos of China
Back to my theory. According to the always reliable Wikipedia, “the word hoodoo was first documented in American English in 1875.” Its definition is based upon trans-culture folk magic that involves potions, spells, and conjuration. Therefore it isn’t a far stretch to imagine that the Wily Coyote legend inspired the Official Geological Naming Committee to cleverly assign these majestic rock formations a “fun” label like HooDoo – “not to be confused with New Orleans voodoo or Haitian vodou.”
Mommy and Daddy were enjoying themselves on a vacation that took them to Busch Gardens in Florida and scuba diving in the Caribbean. Grandma agreed to watch their four adorable kidlets on the weekends that bookended their 10-day get-away. The very first Saturday, April 8, 2011, didn’t start so well because …
we woke up to this:
A balmy 33 degrees
And Mommy and Daddy basked in this:
80 degrees, but who's counting?
Later that day, Mommy and Daddy sent photos of the wild things in Florida:
Florida Gator
While we experienced the wild things at McDonald’s:
McGator spotted in A.F.
While Mommy and Daddy oohed and awed over the Garden’s creatures …
… Well, you get the point. But today is MayDay. And hopes are high that more than May flowers will appear.
In some yesteryear, May Day meant the Soviets paraded their warheads, tanks, and soldiers to communicate strength to their countrymen and to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies.
Interesting way to welcome in spring????
In Merry Olde England, girls danced AROUND the May Pole – a LOVERLY way to greet the fifth month.
To ensure you have the right image in mind, here is a Flickr photo from Great Britain of just such a dance.
Our May Day celebration is a BIRTHDAY celebration for this cutie, who turned 3 today.
In Georgia, March is the month of blooming dogwoods and azaleas, but here in Utah and other not-s0-warm states, it is the month of brown and gray. Brown lawns, hills, mountains, dirt. Gray clouds, skies, and moods.
March Dreariness
Gone is the white snow that creates a pristine landscape – except for those days where Old Man Winter blows in for a minute to remind us that spring’s arrival is delayed again. A few hearty crocus and daffodils dare show their colors to challenge snow-mixed-with-rain and bipolar temperatures, but most tulips are just sticking out their toes before taking the leap.
And then there are the pansies – those darlings that shiver and shake through November, December, January, and February to show the world that winter can be survived and spring will come again.
While I planted 90 tulip bulbs last fall, I didn’t put any pansies into the ground, and I missed their little promising faces peeking up through snow and dirt throughout those winter months.
Tulips - wherefore art thou?
Tulips are great and all, but their dormancy tests a gardener’s faith – will they truly show up, and how many will decide to keep sleeping? (Right now 62 of the 90 have broken through. What happened to the other 38??? Did I plant them too deep? Did I plant them upside-down? Is that possible?)
Today, G.E. brought me flowers for anniversary number 42!!! But he also bought AND planted pansies to fill up that vacant spot of garden dreariness. Which brings me to the brightest spot in March – the day I married the man I love!
There are times I refer to Gar as “GrumPa” – usually when he assumes his Felix Unger identity, and the little ones combine to play his rascally counterpart, Oscar (as in The Odd Couple’s Oscar Madison, NOT Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch.)
Walter Mattau and Jack Lemon - the original Oscar and Felix
Oscar Madison, slob; Felix Unger, neat-freak
Both a slob AND a grouch!
He may not LOVE their MESSES, but he’s working on that patience thing because he absolutely adores his grandkidlets. Gar loved his Father’s Day with his little ones, and here’s proof!
Can you get it, GramPa?
We made it, Buddy!
Learnin' to walk with GramPa!
Congratulatory Kisses!
Thanks to Unca Tim for these great pictures, and more will be on their way! We can’t pass up Kodak moments like these, now can we? (Especially when GramPa is wearing the preppy plaid Burmudas Gramma gave him for Father’s Day – the pale, white legs came free with the shorts! : ) )
Writing My Life 