Grandpa Igasho Comes To Visit

I’m afraid I’ve been rather absent from the blogs lately. Since our return from South Africa and England, we’ve driven up from Florida to see our family in New Jersey, calling in on friends in North Carolina for a couple of days. I had a wonderful birthday weekend with our son and family, but unfortunately we had to curtail our trip somewhat, as just before we left, I went to see an eye surgeon, who confirmed that my left eye has now developed a macular hole, just as my right eye did late last year. Today I go in for surgery and am sure it will be just as successful as the op I had done In South Africa. Many years ago, my dear Granny had eye problems and eventually became blind. I’m so grateful that there are such wonderful eye specialists and surgical procedures these days.  Living today, we are so fortunate that medical science has progressed so far.

This morning, Grandpa Igasho appeared outside my bathroom window to wish me good luck.

I told him that soon I’ll be able to see him with both eyes, and I’m sure he understood perfectly.

Wishing you all a very happy weekend. I’ll see you on the flip side.

Isolated Subjects for Cee’s FFC

All of my isolated subjects for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge are animals or birds, as these are my favourite subjects to photograph. I thought I’d do this post as a sort of fashion parade.

First up we have the gorgeous Tricolored Heron looking very swish and dapper, with blue beak makeup and wearing pink stockings. The outfit is topped off with a white feather fascinator.

Next up is the dashing Grandpa Igasho, wearing bright orange hose to match his stunning fiery mohawk. Note the wonderful and very tough keratin jacket which is made from actual lizard scales.

Peli pelican, showing off his handsome profile, poses amongst the flattering green foliage. His splendid gray- brown and white feather ensemble tones really well with his spectacularly large orange and gold-tinged beak.

Here we have the stunning Great Egret attired in a dazzling snow-white feather suit, with black tights and fashionable yellow footwear, chosen especially to match his eyes, beak and face make-up.

Majestic Woody wood stork could be called ‘cute’ in the old dictionary meaning of the word, which is “ugly but interesting”. He could well be the poster boy for ‘skinheads of the wild’ and his attire, although somewhat on the grungy side, would appeal to those of his fans who wish to look unusual and not too polished.

Last but by no means least, is the elegant and long-legged Miss Rosy spoonbill, flaunting her striking, bright pink plumage. The rather large and somewhat bizarre-looking built-in spatula at the end of her beak, whilst not exactly attractive on a young lady, is a great asset when it comes to mealtimes.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my solitary subjects found here in Florida. I wish you all a happy and relaxing weekend. I will be busy packing for our trip to South Africa.

To visit Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, click the badge.

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Grandchildren are a blessing

They’ve been and gone, leaving behind many happy memories.

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. .

 

Wordless Wednesday: Cuteness Overload

Sammy enjoys a nutty breakfast.

Wishing you all a happy Hump Day.

Mr. Iggy has a lie-in.

Monday morning saw Iggy looking the worse for wear after what can only have been a rather rough weekend. I couldn’t help but laugh at the “I’m all in!” expression on his face.

Wishing you all a happy month of March.

Granddaughter in motion for the WPC

Well the family visit is sadly over, and all that’s left are wonderful memories, lots of laundry, and a myriad  of sticky fingerprints on every mirrored closet door and sliding glass door throughout the house. Why are these surfaces such kid magnets? I certainly have my work cut out for the next day or two, and will be constantly in motion, without needing to go to the gym.

The weekly photo challenge this week is ‘Motion’. I captured our son and 9-year-old granddaughter having fun in the pool. I think these photos fit the challenge.

He was certainly getting a great arm workout, because no sooner had she landed in the water, than she was back again for more.

To see more interpretations of this week’s photo challenge, click here.

 

Picnic spot on Sanibel for Jude’s B&W Challenge.

Here’s another entry for Jude’s February B&W Bench Challenge. This was taken at a picnic spot on Sanibel island, not far from the lighthouse I showed you a short while ago. A few steps through the palm trees, is the beach and the calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A really beautiful place to visit.

 

Floral Friday Foto: My brave orchid

Last year, hubby bought me a beautiful orchid, and when we left to go back to South Africa for six months, I planted it out in the garden and just hoped for the best. When we got back, it looked like just a couple of dead sticks, but last week, I noticed it had started to come to life again. I was so thrilled that it had resurrected itself after so many months of neglect.

Thank you so much to all of you who wished me good luck yesterday. I’m sorry to report that our expedition to Fort Myers wasn’t a great success. When I walked in the door, the woman who had done my fingerprints previously, asked, “What are you doing back here again?” She couldn’t understand why the ink prints she’d done, hadn’t been accepted, as they looked fine to her. I asked if there was a good reason why we’d been summoned to their office, two and half hours drive from where we live, rather than out local Palm Beach USCIS. She didn’t know, but went off to have a word with her superior, who invited us into his office for a chat. What a charming man this officer was. He said the only reason he could think of, was that as their office was quite new and very quiet, someone had decided that they needed more traffic, without considering the inconvenience caused to people such as ourselves. He also said that I should never have been asked to go back for more fingerprinting, as, if two sets of prints aren’t acceptable, there is a different approach to be taken. He is sending an e-mail to whoever is in charge of our application, and advised me in the mean time to go to my local police station to get a clearance certificate saying that I haven’t been involved in any criminal activity since we’ve been living here in Florida. As I was there, they scanned my fingers once again, and only one print was acceptable. What a business this has turned out to be, but I’m sure it will all turn out okay in the end. The delays are such a pain though, as we need to book our flights back to South Africa to make sure we’re there for my mom’s 90th in May. Everything else is fine with our application, except for my elusive fingerprints. I guess I’ll just have to keep calm and hope for the best.

Wood Storks go stalking three by three.

Seen outside our ‘abandoned house’ whilst hubby was tackling the jungle. He just managed to get this shot with his iPhone, before they stalked off. The bird life here in Florida is amazing.