Burro's Tail Succulent

Photo by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . . . Click on picture, then F11 key to see a larger image.

I'd never seen this type of plant in any of the nurseries before so when I saw it in an antique store, of all places, I asked the shop keeper exactly what it was.  I knew it was a succulent, but thought it might be some variety of seedum, or even a cactus.  It was not a cactus, she said, and not seedum, but was a type of succulent called Burro's Tail.   We bought it because it was so different from all the other plants we have in our house. . . mostly philodendren and nephytis.  I like it's chubby little bulbous leaves, and if you look carefully in the upper right hand corner of the picture you can see there are little pink flowers.  I'll have to be careful with this one because all my OTHER house plants get watered every Saturday whether they want to be watered or not, and this one supposedly likes to be watered only every OTHER week.

Finally . . . my red peonies are blooming

Photo and Enhancement by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . . . Click on picture (then F11) to see larger image.

I've been watching and waiting and finally I have some red peony blooms in the back yard.  Just a few mind you, but enough to make me happy.  I still have dozens and dozens of buds that haven't bloomed yet, but I see today that the ants are working on them feverishly.  I was wondering if you could buy ants at Calloways Nursery like you can lady bugs.  Peonies need ants to help their blooms open up, but my husband, Mike, didn't think importing any more ants to the yard was such a smart idea since they'd probably find their way into the house if we got more ants than the yard could support.   So I'll just leave it to the crew of ants already out there to do their stuff. 

The Last of Puerto Rico. . . I promise.

Photo by Chris Duffy . . . click on picture (then F11) to see larger image.

Puerto Rico reminded me of an interesting blend of San Francisco and New Orleans.  It's buildings are colorful, they have lots and lots of balconies and the streets are hilly.  Flowers were in abundance. 

Photo by Chris Duffy . . . click on picture (then F11) to see larger image.

Here is another shot of the colorful buildings with their overhanging balconies.  The streets did seem to be a little narrow as well as the sidewalks.  Several times we had to walk into the street because flower pots took up the entire sidewalk. 

Old San Juan

Photo by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . . . . . click on picture, then on F11 key to see a larger image.

Old San Juan is a city within a city and is encircled by a large wall.  I should have taken this shot with some people in it so you would be able to see just how huge the wall is.  It's mamouth and stretches on and on. 

Photo by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . . . . . click on picture, then on F11 key to see a larger image.

I took this picture for two reasons.  (1) Because it's a pretty garden and (2) because of the sculpture.  It's not your usual nearly naked young girl with clinging clothing.  It is, in fact, of an older woman carrying books and wearing glasses.  This is as close as I could get, and I've got my camera wedged in between two rought iron bars in the surrounding fence. 

Photo by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . . . . . click on picture, then on F11 key to see a larger image.

There was a large group of high school kids getting their group photo made right beside this fountain.  In fact, the day we chose to visit Old San Juan must have been declared a "School Field Trip Day" because there were more kids than you could shake a stick at. . . all age groups too.   Out on the field between the Old City and the Old Fort were quite a few kids flying kites.  It was a pretty windy day and they looked like they were having a grand time.

Moss Covered Bridge

Photo and Enhancement by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . click on picture (then F11) to see larger image.

Well, this may not be a great picture, but it has a lot of the elements that I like in a picture.  It's old, it's outdoors, and it has an arch.  About the only other elements it lacks are some colorful flowers growing on that hillside and some running water.   

This was the road we took to get down to the Caves of Camuy in Puerto Rico.  Everything down in this cavernous sink hole was green and lush and moist.  Even the bridge was covered in green moss. You could hear an abundance of birds singing and every sound seemed to bounch off the shear rock walls and echo back.  It seemed like a separate peaceful world from the one above . . up on the surface.

A Shady Spot

Photo and Enhancement by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . . . . . click on picture (then F11) to see a larger image.

Looks like a wonderful spot to set down and take a short rest doesn't it?  It's in the shade and looks over a lovely flower garden.   It's up at the top where you buy your tickets to go see the Caves of Camuy, in Puerto Rico, and I suspect it's there for the folks who don't get to go down into the cave.  They make it quite clear that anyone with a heart condition, or anyone who is not sure footed, as well as anyone who didn't wear good walking shoes should not venture down into the cave.  The walkways are wet and slippery in places and we had several folks on our tour who, even though they had on good tennis shoes, came very near to landing on their keisters. . . me included.  

I really hope you take the time to click on the picture and then on your F11 key, because that's the size the picture is intended to be viewed at.  

Crazy About Bougainvillea

Photo and Enhancement by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . . . . . click on picture (then F11) to see a larger image.

You know how when someone brings a new word to your attention and you think to yourself, "I've never ever even heard of this word". . . . and then within the next couple weeks or so you hear it two or three more times.  That's the way it was with me and bougainvillea.  It's just been within the last year and a half that I learned what bougainvillea looked like.  Sure, I'd heard of them, but I hadn't a clue what they looked like.  Well, now that I know what they look like, it seems they are everywhere in the South . . . and they come in lots of colors. . . and I love them.  These were in Puerto Rico.

Walking Along the Beach

Photo by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Click on picture (then F11) to see a larger image.

This was the beach right out in front of our hotel room in Puerto Rico.  I'm not a "sun bather" but I do love walking on the beach and listening to the waves crash in on the shore.  Funny thing, there were very few people actually on the beach . . . at least the beach at our hotel.  Most people were swimming in the pool about 150 feet back from the beach.  But that was fine with me;  I just love strolling on the beach and taking pictures.

Photo by Chris Duffy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Click on picture (then F11) to see a larger image.

I took about 35 pictures standing in this spot trying to get a shot of the ocean spray as it hit the rocks.  I'm having a little difficulty with my new camera because there is about a two second delay from the time I click the button till the shutter finally clicks and it's a little hard to anticipate exactly two second in advance when you're going to see the perfect wave hit and spray.   But thank goodness it's a digital camera.  I pick out the best shots and delete the rest and have wasted no film. 

My First Peonies of 2002

Photo by Chris Duffy

I was SO surprised when I got home from work yesterday.  I found my first four peonies for this season.  Four beautiful white blossoms, AND I counted 135 more buds on 11 bushes, so it looks like I'll have a bumper crop of peonies this year.  Did I tell you that I love peonies. . . they remind me of my back yard when I was growing up in Quincy, Ill.   We had a sidewalk that ran all the way from the house to the alley and we had peony bushes on one side for about half the length of the sidewalk.  We had white ones, red ones, pink ones and white ones with dark pink streaks.  They're all beautiful. 

Underground Wonder

We recently went on a short trip to Puerto Rico and I wanted to share a couple of pictures I took of the Caves of Camuy.  They were really impressive we thought, but not very easy to find.  It became apparent that the highway signage was very low key. . . we ALMOST missed the caves completely.  In fact we passed it twice while looking for it.  It was almost like they didn't really want you to find their treasure.  I'm glad we kept looking.

Photo by chris Duffy . . . . . click on picture (then F11) to see larger image.

We took this little train round and round, down and down farther into a place that can be best described as a humungous sink hole with lots of vegetation, until we reached the bottom and the entrance to the cave.

Photo by chris Duffy . . . . . click on picture (then F11) to see larger image.

This is the view looking back at where we'd just entered the cave.  It was moist and much cooler than is was on the outside.  We had a guide who led us deeper into the cave system. 

Photo by chris Duffy . . . . . click on picture (then F11) to see larger image.

Thank goodness they had lights strategicly placed down in the belly of the cave or we wouldn't have been able to see a thing.  We saw lots of stalagtites and stalagmites and I forget what our guide called them when the two types actually meet and become one.   

Photo by chris Duffy . . . . . click on picture (then F11) to see larger image.

This was another opening to the sky about half way through the cave.  We also went through the area where the bats sleep during the day.  It was considerable warmer in that portion of the cave and our guide told us that was because there were so many bats sleeping in the cave that their collective bodies put out enough heat to warm up the cave.   I was glad we didn't visit that section too long.  All in all it was a very interesting afternoon.