Tuesday, June 30, 2009

St Maarten (bird)

St. Maarten has 164 recorded bird species and water birds make up a large part of the group. While 39 species are resident and breed locally, the majority of species are migrants that stop-over during the winter. The birds breed, nest and forage among the mangroves wetlands and on rocky islets in the marine park. I believe, but do not know, that this is some kind of warbler. People were feeding them sugar crystals and they were flocking 'round. This photo was taken on Anguilla, an island off the coast of St. Maarten.
photo by me © 2008

Monday, June 29, 2009

St Maarten (Baie Longue/Long Beach)

entrance to Baie Longue, a long, secluded 2 mile stretch of lovely white sand.
photo by me © 2007

Sunday, June 28, 2009

St. Maarten (sunset)

sunset on Cupecoy Beach (for more on Cupecoy, see July 1, 2009)
photo by me © 2009

Saturday, June 27, 2009

St Maarten (the maps)

I'm off on a much needed vacation! So I will be personally awol for a week. When I get back, I'll have much catching up to do, but in the meantime, here I am!

Sint Maarten/Saint Martin is a beautiful island in the Caribbean, half Dutch, half French. It has many gorgeous beaches, some very secluded, some rockin'. I will be staying on the Dutch side in the south on Pelican Key. I was here last year in February (and several times prior as well), so I will be posting photos from those visits.

There is a beach bar here called Sunset Bar. You can see it here on the left. This is a great place to wait for your plane to leave after you've checked in.




St Maarten is famous for planes flying right over Maho beach into
the airport. They seem to come dangerously close.











photos by me © 2007 and  2008

Friday, June 26, 2009

a flower

Where flowers bloom so does hope.

~ Lady Bird Johnson

Public Roads: Where Flowers Bloom

gaillardia from my friend Mimi's garden!

photo by me © 2009

Thursday, June 25, 2009

cactus (number 2)

prickly pear cactus about to bloom in the Arizona desert in April
Prickly pear cacti represent about a dozen species of the Opuntia genus (Family Cactaceae) in the North American deserts. All have flat, fleshy pads that look like large leaves. The pads are actually modified branches or stems that serve several functions -- water storage, photosynthesis and flower production. All parts are edible.
interesting article about the edible prickly pear
how to eat a prickly pear
RoseWorksJewelry mentioned a prickly pear margarita. sounds good to me! Here is a recipe!
photo by me © 2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

joy

If it were not for you
It seems that every day would be
A life unfulfilled.
Winter then forever and no smile of spring.
An icy lake without a melted heart within.
~Susan Casey from My Secret Joy

St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum)

photo by me © 2009

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Lazy T Crochet

Meet Tricia, the artist behind the etsy shop LazyTCrochet, who is the featured esty bloggers team member for June. You can find out more about her through her blog. You may learn that she has a very talented daughter who sings. Learn how to make lemon balm cookies here.
Do check out her shop to see beautiful hand~crocheted and hand~knitted wearables and accessories. She has many one of a kind designs. I love the shawl on the left. It looks like a sunset in the Arizona desert.


This hat is soft and lovely and calls to mind a sunlit forest glade

And look at this pretty bangle!

photos © LazyTCrochet

Friday, June 19, 2009

Summertime....back in the day....

When I was a small child summertimes were glorious. Sun-drenched warm days were spent idly playing with toys, exploring the backyard with my brother, playing with neighborhood kids, riding in the car over the"bumpy way" to eat ice cream with my cousins. Long days melted into cool summer nights alight with fireflies and soft breezes.
My mother and father would pack up the car for a 2 week vacation, first at a farm on the bay, then the beach. There I spent many happy hours rolling in the sand and floating in the water wearing a "ring." I loved the salt water, riding the waves, playing in the sand, just being outdoors.


2 water babies: I am 3 ½ and my brother is 1 ½ in the photos below. In the other 2 photos, I'm 6 ½.














This is for the etsy bloggers street team carnival.

photos © 2009

Sunday, June 14, 2009

cactus

Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it's the answer to everything. To "Why am I here?" to uselessness. It's the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it's a cactus."
~Enid Bagnold
1889-1981

Enid Bagnold was a British author and playwright, best known for the 1935 story National Velvet which was filmed in 1944 with Elizabeth Taylor. She began her writing career with poetry, then novels, and then at age 53, published her first play.

She was born in Rochester, Kent and brought up mostly in Jamaica. She went to art school in London. During World War I she was a nurse, then a driver. In Diary Without Dates, she wrote of her hospital experiences and in The Happy Foreigner, her driving experiences.

In 1920 she married Sir Roderick Jones, but continued to use her maiden name for writing. They lived at North End House in Sussex, the garden of which inspired her play The Chalk Garden.

photo by me ©2009 (taken in Arizona at the Desert Botanical Garden)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

oooo....an award!

Kreativ Blogger Award
I have been presented with this award by Squirrel Queen. Her blog is beautiful with lovely photography and inspiring quotes. I found her wonderful blog through AlpHa Buttonpusher. And that's one of the joys of blogging--meeting new bloggy friends. Thank you Squirrel Queen (who loves flowers, photography, cats, and green)! (Check out this particular post and then just peruse her blog. SQ has 2 other blogs, so be sure to look to the right under the kitty.)

Here are the FUN STEPS of this Award:
(1) Thank the person who nominated you for this award.

(2) Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

(3) Link to the person who nominated you for this award.

(4) Name 8 things about yourself that people might find interesting.

(5) Nominate 8 Kreativ Bloggers.

(6) Post links to the 8 blogs you nominate.

(7) Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.


8 things about me people might find interesting:

1. I love photographing. Right now I am enthralled with the inside centers of flowers.

2. I would love to hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (and back up, of course!)

3. I enjoy riding my road bike and am working on getting stronger.

4. I love old photographs of people.

5. I teach tie dye classes.

6. I have been in love with cats since I was very small. My first cat was named Chocolate. I have 2 cats now-Oliver and Earnest
.
7. I love seeing how sunlight filters through leaves.
8. With a friend, we had a camp for kids where we taught art, nature, movement, and music. (for 3 summers at a park)

Be sure to visit these Eight Kreativ Bloggers:
crafts, kids, home, and life (TiLT)
Makin-Art
Mishkat
the weblog of artist athena workman
The Jeweled Postcard
Dorset Hill Beads
A Jedi's Musings
Chunky Chooky

Friday, June 12, 2009

June 12th is...

Diary Day a fun journal from AdyaInternational
Diary Day is in honor of Ann Frank, a young girl who kept a diary while in hiding in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. June 12th was Anne's birthday.

Red Rose Day
photography by midnighteskye
. A red rose signifies love, beauty, courage, and respect.









Peanut Butter Cookie Day (a recipe) These cookies are from busybaker and look exactly like peanut butter cookies should look! YUM! Some fun imaginations on the origin of this day.

Rock Around the Clock Day
a brooch from TimeAndMaterials


Magic Day a greeting card from EvesOriginals
No one seems to know the origins of most of these days, but who cares, any excuse to celebrate will do!
photos are © by individual shop owners. all rights reserved.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

butterflies (number two)

Buttterflies taste with their feet and drink nectar with their proboscis, a straw-like tongue.
This is a Julia (Dryas iulia). It is native from Brazil to southern Texas and Florida. In summer, it can be found straying north into the central US. This butterfly feeds on the nectar of flowers such as lantana. Its caterpillars feed on the leaves of passion vines. It belongs to the family brush-footed butterflies (Nymphalidae). This photo was taken in April at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona, USA.

Here is my post butterflies ( number one).
photo by me ©2009

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

kindness

Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.

~ Henry James

photo by me ©2009

Monday, June 8, 2009

a picture and a poem

For each thorn, there's a rosebud...
for each twilight---a dawn...

for each trial---the strength to carry on,
for each storm cloud---a rainbow...

for each shadow---the sun...

for each parting---sweet memories

when sorrow is done.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

(picture [bouganvilla] and poem on a card given to me)
photo © 2009 M. Mazza

Friday, June 5, 2009

Cherry Pie

Here is my mom about 6 years old. She is so cute, a bit devilish. I just love those round glasses. She is the third of five children. She was given the same name as her mother and called by her middle name, Cherry (a family last name). This was such a perfect name for a redhead and unusual as well.
Cherry Pie is what her mother called her, and we do , too, sometimes. And let me say she did make the best home~made cherry pies!
photos © 2009

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Cherry Pie


early photos of a beloved mother
photos © 2009

sad

I spent many hours in the ER today (June 3) with my mother. She was then admitted to the hospital. What happens from here is unknown. Tomorrow will bring discussions, decisions....
photo by me ©2009

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Super Comments Award

Mishcat gave me this Super Comments Award. And guess what - it has no rules! How fun is that! It would be great to give this to everyone who comments on this blog, but I closed my eyes and picked five bloggers to pass it on to:
Beaded Tail
Rose Works Jewelry
Vintage Inspired Jewelry
Southern Charm Quilts
Aly Gatr's Everywhere

Please feel free to pass it on to anyone you like - or just enjoy it. I think this is a really pretty award and the panda is so cute.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Butterflies (number one)

The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.

The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings.

~ Joyce Kilmer ( Spring )

Here is a link to an earlier blog post with a young boy looking at a beautiful butterfly on his hand: Spring --third photo. This post also has a link to Krohn Conservatory.
photo by me ©2007