Sping Is Here
One of my favorite times of the year is Spring (early March in FL) when my wisteria and azaleas bloom. It’s so very nice that both bust out with tons of flowers at the same time. My eyes almost get overloaded!
Years ago when I lived in Brandon, I used to drive by a very old wisteria vine that grew into a huge oak tree. Every Spring it would put on it’s very own flower show. Eventually progress came along and a shopping center was put on that site. Boo hoo – no more tree or vine.
I found a wisteria plant at the USF Botanical Gardens several years ago. I built it an arbor to climb on with the thought that it would grow up into the old magnolia tree next to it. It’s coming along rather nicely and besides being so visually beautiful, the smell is wonderful!
The plant made a sucker last year, so I dug it up and potted it. It’s looking for a good home……
Wisteria vine with my azaleas in the background
I wish this was a scratch 'n sniff picture!
Tic Tac Toe Anyone?
Sometimes you just never know what kind of interesting things you’re going to see if you’re paying attention and happen to be looking in the right spot.
I took a break from working and was looking out my window yesterday. The sky people were playing tic tac toe!
It was all I could do to not draw in x's and o's on this picture.
Azalea Season
In contrast to the pesky worms that are currently falling out of my oak trees in the front yard, my backyard azaleas are in full bloom… and they completely take my breath away every year. It’s like being engulfed in a solid wall of flowers when I stand in front of them.
They are super-sized this year because as I was trimming them last year with my electric hedge trimmer, I sorta-kinda zinged across my extension cord. That put a quick end to my little project. By the time I had a new cord (and thought about getting back to the job), it was too late in the summer to cut them back. So, from the ground to my roof is a sea of flowers!
Mother Nature sometimes outdoes herself.
The bees like the azaleas, too!
The Invasion Begins
This is the time of year when my big oak tree has lost all it’s leaves and is making the oak tree ‘flowers’ – aka: fluff. The fluff is full of bright yellow pollen that turns everyone’s car yellow, too.
It’s also the time of year for the oak tree moths to hatch and turn into little green worms. These critters fall out of the tree on silk threads. At times it looks like a curtain of them hanging over my driveway!
I guess the good news about them is they don’t bite or sting…. and that I park in my garage!
A steady stream of green wigglers coming out of my tree.
…yes… the invasion has begun!
They're everywhere - including my head when I walk outside.
Clean up on aisle 1!!!
How many times will I have to clean off my lights?
My version of March Madness. :-p
Cousins Are Great!
I had a lot of fun hiking on the little mountain with my cousins yesterday. The weather was fantastic and the company was even better!
What a bunch of cute girls!
Greyson Chance – Boy Wonder
I showed up for my volunteering act at the Tampa Theatre last night expecting to see a lot of crazed little girls… and they were all sooooo cute. Miranda Cosgrove from the show iCarly was performing.
The opening act was a kid I’d never heard of – Greyson Chance. What a little cutie he is and a really good set of pipes. His stage presence was quite amazing for a 13 year old. I was still probably trying to figure out how to tie my shoes at that age….
I looked him up on the internet today and found out that his father had posted a homemade video of him at a talent show doing a cover of Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi on YouTube. As of today, it’s had well over 37.5 million views. (Gaga has better outfits but Greyson has that cute little ‘Beatle’ hairdo.)
Just for fun, a couple of the other volunteers and I decided to get our picture taken with him. If he goes on to get really famous, I can say I saw him back when I was taller than him. I had his autograph too…. but I gave it to a little girl. 
Greyson got a few new fans at the Tampa Theatre on 2/16/11
Photo credit to my favorite photographer: Radko Keleman
Here’s the video of him on the Ellen Show shortly after he put his video on YouTube. It has better sound quality. Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHXo7aCnjM4&NR=1
Can You See the Light
I must have been living under a rock because I only found out a couple of days ago that Jeff Healey died almost 3 years ago.
I saw Jeff perform at the Tampa Bay Blues Festival in 2001 and again in Sarasota. I had taken some pictures of him from the first time. I made an enlargement and hung around to see if I could get it signed when I saw him a couple of years later in Sarasota. One of his roadies took the picture back to him and much to my surprise, came back with the signed picture AND Jeff himself.
I was so tongue-tied to get a chance to talk to him. I think I made a big goof ball of myself and wound up stammering something about how much I loved it when he played ‘Angel Eyes’. And then something about how he was cute even though his hair was shorter. Geeze – you’d think I could have come up with something better than that!
He was a class act and sorely missed.
Happy Valentine’s Day
The Rockapella guys made a little Valentine’s mashup just for everyone to enjoy. Must be time to pop that champagne cork and get out the strawberries!
Eagles on Honeymoon Island
I finally made it out to Honeymoon Island to see the eagles today. It was one of those perfect winter days in Florida with the blue, blue sky.. not hot, not cold.
After consulting with a lot of other people along the trail about the best places to be able to see the nest, I got a few pictures. I think my 200mm lens wasn’t quite up to the job but I did get a few fuzzy head shots of the baby.
How cute is that baby eagle?
Mama eagle guarding her baby.
Alien Song
I’ve had this video as a file for over 10 years on my computer. Every time I watch it, it cracks me up.
I wanted to put it on my blog but it would have sucked up too much bandwidth. This evening it occurred to me that perhaps someone has uploaded to youtube already. What was I thinking? Of course someone did!