RIP Jack

I don't usually post photos of people... but Jack was special. He was John's employer many years ago, and John's friend ever since. The first time I met him was when I came to spend time with John before we were married - we went to dinner with Jack and Rhona so he could vet me as a suitable bride! lol (not really, John wanted me to meet him as a family friend...)

When we were married there was no question in his mind that he and his wife Rhona would come to our wedding. They were our only guests except for a friend John works with who offered to take photos for us (that was very sweet of him too, and he did a nice job!). Jack's health was never good, and he has been extremely ill for the last three years from the cumulative consequences of many minor strokes. He passed away on Sunday morning, so today I post our wedding photo and remember a good friend I would have liked to have known better.

Jack was Jewish by birth but an atheist in long practice, so he wouldn't want prayers for his soul - but I'm pretty sure that he's up there at the pearly gates now giving St Peter a good talking to. He always liked a good argument. RIP Jack.

I never got around to doing a second entry yesterday... so today I give you two photos in one go. These are both from our trip around the US, specifically our bus tour of the American South-West. We stayed overnight at Lake Powell and we drove up to the dam for an optional guided tour of the dam workings. The timing of our tour was bad - thanks to anti-terrorist paranoia we weren't permitted to take ANYTHING into the building with us, even our wallets or our jacket (or a camera), plus it was late in the afternoon of a very long day's travelling, so only a couple of people thought it was worth the hassle of going in. When I was a little girl, my parents took us to see a real hydro-electric dam and I remember that it was incredibly noisy, unbelievably HUGE, and I would have loved to see one again as an adult - but not if I couldn't even take photographs!
Next morning we went on a boat tour on the lake and it was fascinating... And on the way out of the area we drove past the dam from the other side and I snapped a photo through the bus window (hence the blur and the black line across the middle of the picture.)
The scariest thing about Lake Powell is how little lake there actually was. All that white stone has been bleached by decades submerged in water, and those huge chunky dam abutments were intended to be well below the surface of the water. But for the last fifteen years the lake level has been steadily dropping until everything's out in the open air. As far as I know, the lake level has continued to drop steadily in the years since our visit... if it continues at this rate, one of these days there won't BE a lake there to see.

Mmmm! Cookies!

I got a strange message when I tried to make a post a minute ago 'Error 503 Service unavailable'? Weird! Sorry I didn't get to post a photo yesterday. I guess that means you get two entries for today instead.

I'm on a diet and not eating this stuff... but that doesn't mean I can't think of it! I baked this enormous tub of cookies for a church function last year.

Budlia

Today's photo is a budlea (budlia?) in the Butterfly Garden at the Leu Gardens in Orlando. My parents had a big budlia in their garden and the butterflies used to swarm around it when it was blooming. Ours was one of the light-coloured budleas that looks like a giant lavender bush, but we had a cutting growing in a pot that was this vivid purple colour.

When they were tiny...

This is our two cats when we first got them... looking at them now, it's hard to imagine they were ever that small! Silver weighs in at 15lbs and Scouty is 16lbs. They dwarf our third cat Tessica. They were such adorable little kittens... but then what kitten ISN'T adorable?

Passion flower

Time for another flower photo... this vine is part of a display of passionflowers at Butterfly World. It reminds me of my childhood - passionfruit vines and passionflowers grow really well in Tasmania. When I was a kid we had a big passionfruit vine growing in our backyard, and the flowers were almost identical to this one, only a bit smaller. There was also an enormous banana passionfruit rambling over an old shed at my school, and all the kids loved to pick the fruit off the vine as it ripened. (I went to a small community school so there were about 30 or 40 kids there, and there was plenty of passionfruit for all of us!) There's nothing as yummy as freshly-picked passionfruit.

Morikami Gardens

The Morikami Gardens are in Boca... you follow a trail around the ornamental lake, enjoying the Japanese-style gardens as you go. There's something to see at any time of the year, but it's nicest in the Spring.This is the view across the lake from near the main building.

Everglades bird

Birds are great opportunists... this particular one was hanging around the tourist park in the Everglades, hoping that the grateful tourists would ignore the 'don't feed the wildlife' signs and give it a snack. It didn't even ruffle a feather when I took its portrait.

Post-hurricane Sunrise

I took this photo the morning after Hurricane Wilma came to call... all was remarkably still and peaceful once the winds had blown themselves out, and the torrential rain left the sky remarkably clear.

Moonrise over Bryce Canyon

Here's something different for you today... in 2003 I was lucky enough to go on a tour of the American South-West and we visited the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, and several other major parks including Bryce Canyon. There's something awesome about standing on the rim of the bowl and watching the colours change as the evening light dims... and the night we were there, moonrise was early enough for the canyon to be in full view at the same time as the full moon rose above it.

Meow (snore)

This is one of our three cats, Silver, blissfully sleep in the afternoon sun.

Lauderdale by the Sea

I didn't get an entry posted yesterday, so you get two today to make up for it. I just love the sound of waves breaking on the beach. We live three miles from the beach, so you'd think we'd go there often, but in truth there's not a lot to draw you to Fort Lauderdale Beach unless you're a sun-worshipping tourist staying in one of the many waterfront hotels. There isn't really anywhere for the locals to park, and it's to far to walk there and back. But one day I put my walking shoes on and hiked to the closest waterfront just to see what was actually there - a lot of touristy stuff, a really yummy chocolate shop (which I'd love to revisit if there was ever anywhere to park within a mile of the place!), and the pier.

Carrot Cake

Today's entry is not a travel photo... but I was proud of it anyway. I bring you a tropical carrot cake, packed with pineapple, carrot, coconut and all the good things in life that I can't eat any more if I want to stick to my diet! (yes I made the cake myself.)

Butterfly

Today's image comes to you from the Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida. They have a beautiful display of camelias, azaleas and rhododendrons, and roses every year... but there's plenty to see even when none of them are flowering.  It's a lovely place to sit and have a picnic lunch (yes, you can take your own food and drink in with you) and admission is only a few bucks apiece so it's well worth it.

Florida Sunrise

I very rarely wake up early enough in the day to see the sunrise... usually I wake up when the sun starts shining through the bedroom doorway and hits my face. But one morning in January I opened my eyes and noticed that the sky was vivid red! I grabbed my camera and dashed outside and took this glorious photo from our balcony (Click on the image to see it in all its glory).

Welcome!

I've had my photos on Webshots for the last ten years... but they keep changing their access policies and increasing their price, and with my latest computer upgrade the desktop program won't work at all! So enough is enough... if I can have a craft blog of my own, why not a photo blog? Each day I'm going to post a photo or two that I particularly like. And I hope you like them too! Come with me and travel through Australia, Canada, the American South-West, and of course my home state of Florida.

To get you started, here's a photo from my old home - Melboune, Australia. This is a photo of the central skyline in the late afternoon taken from across the Yarra River. The spire on the left is St Paul's Cathedral and in front of it is the Flinders Street train station. There are five train stations in the inner city, three of them built underground on the 'City Loop' but Flinders Street is the first stop for most trains.