Floating Clouds for Day 4 of the 7 Day Nature Photo Challenge.

How sweet to be a Cloud
Floating in the Blue
It makes him very proud
To be a little cloud.

― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

There were lots of white, fluffy, floating clouds at the Wacodahatchee Wetlands, one of our local nature reserves. A beautiful natural phenomenon.

My blog friend Gilly nominated me to take part in the 7 Day Nature Challenge. If you would like to join in the fun, then consider yourself nominated by me. The rules are simple; you just post a nature photo for seven days and link your post to my blog. You can nominate someone each day to take up the challenge.

Happy Thursday everyone. .

 

Mr. GBH poses nicely for the 7 Day Nature Challenge

My blog friend Gilly has invited me to join in the ‘7 -Day Nature Photo Challenge’, and yesterday when I went out to see what I could find for day # 3,  I was happy to see Mr. GBH surveying the lake from his favourite branch. Such an elegant stance, I’m sure you’ll agree.

It’s becoming difficult to find someone to nominate for the challenge, as so many of you have been nabbed already, so please feel free to join in if you have a mind to.

I’m also linking this post to Jude’s ‘March Wildlife In The Garden Challenge’ which changes its theme from 1st April.

We have a lovely rainy Wednesday here in Florida. Hope you all have a great day.

Farewell Mr A :Seven day Nature Challenge

My blog friend Gilly has invited me to join in the ‘7 -Day Nature Photo Challenge’ and I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings. I have it on good authority that the much photographed and celebrated Mr. A has at last been captured by the ‘gator trappers. Apparently they managed to get a total of five alligators from our small lake, and Mr. A  was the last to fall for their sneaky trick of dangling a piece of rotting chicken from a fishing rod. I’m glad we moved house before the deed was done, as I would really not enjoy the view without Mr. A lazing in the sun on the opposite bank.

As a  tribute to him, for Day 2 of the Nature Challenge, I give you the two faces of the handsome Mr. A:

His left profile,

and his right profile. Which do you think is his best side?

I hope he’s been relocated to a more suitable place, and is swimming free and happy.

I would like to nominate my South African blog friend Ark  of ‘A Tale Unfolds’, to join the ‘Seven Day Nature Challenge’. He posts the most amazing nature photos from his garden in Johannesburg almost daily, so I’m hoping he’ll be a willing participant. I’ve also just seen on FB that it’s his birthday today, so why not pay his blog a visit and wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’. As far as I know, he doesn’t bite. 🙂

 

The Art of Camouflage: Nature Photo Challenge Day One

My blog friend Gilly has invited me to join in the ‘7 -Day Nature Photo Challenge’.

This rusty cast-iron plant holder which travelled over in our container all the way from  South Africa, is waiting patiently outside the door until we decide where to place it and what to put in it.

Almost undetectable and blending right in to the rust, is Lizzie, hoping to catch a few insects.

The only rule for this challenge is to post a nature photo for 7 days and nominate a new person each day to take up the challenge. I always hesitate to tag people for challenges, but I’m inviting Anna of ‘Una Vista San Fermo’, who often posts nature photos. (Only if you have the time, Anna.) 🙂

Wishing you all a pleasant Monday and a great week.

 

Easter Wildlife In The Garden

Hubby keeps telling me that we have bunnies in our garden, but when I rush to see them, they’ve already disappeared. Toady I did manage to spot a couple hopping around on the grass. let’s see if i can catch them with my camera.

Aha……success at last! I’ve never eaten rabbit, so I wonder if these would be tasty. Maybe I’ll give it a try.

I’m linking these to Jude’s March wildlife in the garden challenge. Let’s see if she falls for it.

Wishing you all a very happy Easter Sunday.

 

WPC Half-Light: Memories from South Africa.

 

Sun softly rises

Ocean gleams invitingly

Lighthouse now in view

Click here to see more interpretations of the Weekly Photo Challenge ‘Half-Light’.

Feathers on Friday: Who is my mystery bird?

For Charlotte’s ‘Feathers on Friday’ challenge, I have a bird who came and perched on the rockery in our backyard. I usually only photograph the big water birds, but this cute little fellow posed so nicely for me and was very deserving of a photo. Now for the life of me, I can’t find out what he is. I’ve painstakingly searched on Google to no avail, and my bird guide is packed away in a box somewhere in the storage unit. Can any of you identify him?

I’m also linking this to Jude’s ‘March Wildlife in the Garden’ challenge.

Happy Friday to you all. Hope your Easter weekend is a really lovely one, whatever your plans are.

Hey there, you with your nose in the air!

Mr. GBH isn’t around much these days, but yesterday I spotted him across the water, looking very snooty indeed

Lenny and Linda Limpkin paid him no mind, as they foraged around in the shallows for apple snails, their favourite hors d’oevre.

Back on land, a smaller version of Ignatia was exploring our defunct water feature, which will one day be restored to its former glory when hubby has finished with the inside of the house.

It’s little sightings like this which rather puts me off doing any gardening. I don’t fancy reaching down to pull up weeds, and accidentally shaking hands with something green and scaly.

What would be your thoughts on this? Would you be keen for a close encounter of the iguana kind?

I’m linking this post to Jude’s ‘Wildlife in the Garden’ challenge. If you have wildlife in your life, just pop along there and post your link.

 

Offloading My Spare Benches for Cee’s FFC: Outdoor Seating

“When one door closes, another opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.” ~Alexander Graham Bell

My blog friend Jude had a long-running bench challenge last year which came to an end before I’d used up all the bench photos on my desktop. Oh horrors!……What to do with with the overflow?…….No worries…..Cee comes to the rescue with her ‘Outdoor seating’ Fun Foto Challenge. Yay! 🙂

Here are the benches which I’ve had  lurking around for months.

A couple of non too comfortable looking concrete benches in San Pedro Belize.

Another Belizian concrete bench, but this one has no backrest, and could do with a bit of weeding around it.

This moss-covered wooden bench in Manuel Antonio National Park Costa Rica even has a foot rest.

Something or someone must have  taken a chunk out of this poor old bench.

Yet another wet and slimy bench along the route. There was really nothing that invited us to sit down for a rest, so we kept slithering along the slippery path.

Now for something completely different. A bench with a pleasant view at the Edison Ford Botanical Gardens in Fort Myers here in Florida.

Zooming off to South Africa and a bench at the Piggly Wiggly Country Village where my sister and I went for a wander around the artists’ centre and a tasty lunch last September.

Here’s a bench I see very often these days when we visit our local Sherwin Williams Paint Store.

Last but not least, our son Jeff found a rather interesting outdoor seat at the Victoria Falls Safari Park in Zimbabwe.

Thanks Cee for helping me to clear some of my photos from my desktop. To see more examples of ‘Outdoor Seating’ pop over to Cee’s FFC

 

 

 

 

‘

Wildlife in the Garden: The Last Pelican

In winter, the trees along our lake are home to dozens of pelicans. These ‘snowbirds’ who travel south from as far away as Idaho, Minnesota and Canada, have over the past couple of weeks gradually disappeared, all except for one. Do you think he missed his flight and is now on ‘standby’?

If you have wildlife in the garden photos to share, just visit Jude’s March Challenge.