back from paradise

I know that I have been absent from blog world again for a while.

I have been doing some of this.


My son took this picture of me. I was holding one of these guys...


He gave me the flower after getting help getting it out of the Jacaranda Tree. I thought it looked especially pretty against the blue sky.


These flowers are on what is known as a Bombax tree.


The trees were gorgeous and it almost looked like they were raining pollen. They were simply beautiful.

After viewing these you surely can understand where I have been spending my time.

We are home and we are missing the family and the warm weather, but we are getting ready for summer coming up here.

I have more pictures of our trip to post but I will make no guarantees about getting them posted.

I hope you all have also been doing well!

Alligator Alley

We took a boat ride in Florida at the Myakka State Park. We rode around the Myakka Lake which is known for it's alligators. They said that because we were there on such a warm afternoon that we probably wouldn't be seeing very many alligators. We probably saw at least twenty alligators in their very natural habitat.



You can tell how long an alligator is by measuring in inches from the tip of the nose to the eyes. This guy was big enough that I wasn't going for a swim anytime soon.

If you look at this picture you can see three alligators together. We were there during their mating season and so there were places on the lake that we didn't go because we didn't want to disturb them. They had hung out the "Do Not Disturb" Sign.

Only one person has reported a bite on this lake and there are people fishing and kayaking and canoeing there often. I did wonder how many alligators we would have seen on a cooler day.

Pictures are clickable!