Happy Mother's Day!

Wishing you all a wonderful day.

Strawberry Fields Forever!

Every year I look forward to strawberry season, so "Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about. Strawberry Fields forever." (Remember?) I don't think I ever fully appreciated the songs of the Beatles until I got older because it wasn't till then when I started to pay attention to the lyrics. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone, but it all works out. It doesn't matter much to me. Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about. Strawberry Fields forever." Southern Grace Farms operates this strawberry field every year from the beginning of April till the end of May. People can come and pick their own berries or purchase them ready picked by the gallon or flat. As soon as you drive up, you can smell the strawberries. What a lovely scent! Here's Gizzy peeking out of the passenger window where the car is parked at the entrance. You can see rows upon rows of strawberry plants and in the very back are some people picking strawberries. (It helps to double click on the photo to enlarge it.) I don't know why I felt compelled to look down to take a picture of this lonely little strawberry that fell to the ground - never to be eaten (poor little berry!) I asked the young lady to take a picture of me for my blog after I purchased the strawberries. Simple things in life make me very happy! Here I'm beaming some more in the sunshine. I decided to purchase two one-gallon containers full; one for me and one to give away to a friend. Here are my sweet, red jewels in the back seat of my car, awaiting their final destination...Yummmmmmm, I can't wait! Hope you'll be eating fresh strawberries very soon too (if you're not doing so already) and, thank you little honey bee, you did a fantastic job! The strawberries are delicious! ...and may you be around for another 30 million years so that we might enjoy "Strawberry Fields forever!"

It's a Great Day in May!

Today I'm blessed with another beautiful day and the mosquitoes are not bad at all. Maybe all that spraying the city's been doing helped or maybe the breeze we've been having blows them away, but I'm thankful about having a little reprieve - for now! I visited my friend at Bank's Lake again, and, as usual, we sat outside on the bench, just talking and watching nature. I did see another alligator (with the binoculars) but it wasn't close enough for a good shot with my little camera. She told me that earlier this morning a big 8 footer was laying on the boardwalk and I could have got a really good picture. Maybe I'll try going there earlier in the mornings and see. Here are some pictures that I thought turned out really well, considering I don't have a fancy camera: This picture to the left, is me looking down from the landing of the boardwalk, onto a protruding patch of land with cypress roots growing up from under it and the reflection of the opposite trees in the water. I thought it looked kind of interesting. Afterwards, Gizzy and I stopped at Roquemore Memorial Park. We saw a few new memorials that were added recently. Gizzy had to run straight to his favorite "Rocky's Bridge" memorial. Then, we strolled around while I took some scenic pictures. This memorial is one of my favorites. It commemorates the departing of a beloved daughter. It's a lovely statute of a girl reading, surrounded by beautiful roses. The roses' first bloom is almost over, but they bloom continually all year through autumn. They have a lovely, fruity fragrance. Here's a close-up of one of the remaining big blossoms: Lastly, Gizzy tried out the swings to see if they're still Gizzy-proof and that's the resulting short movie clip of him swinging: (just click on the right-arrow to view - it's very short!) Here are some stills for those of you with a slow internet connection and no patience - you know who you are ;-) Maaaaam, I'm ready to go now..... And this, ladies and gents, is what happens when a woman has no grandkids. Have a nice May!

Just can't get enough of all that Green stuff!

(Remember to double click on the pictures to make them big) Today, I'm going to talk about my surroundings. This post is primarily for my family and friends' benefit who live far away. Yes, I have a tiny apartment and yes, it's not particularly in the most prestigious and modern of neighborhoods, but you know what? I've been there, done that and I'm here to tell you that a fancy big house and an ocean view does not necessarily for happiness make. I live here amongst all this greenery (and yes, the mosquitoes too) but I just love looking out my windows and doors and see green all around me. It gives me the impression as if I were on a perpetual camping trip. Isn't that funny? Looking at all this green is medicinal to my eyes and it soothes my soul. Fuer meine Familie in Deutschland: Ich hoffe dass Euch diese Bilder gefallen. Die habe ich von meiner Wohnung heraus geknipst um Euch zu zeigen, wie schoen gruen hier alles ist. (Bitte auf die Bilder zweimal druecken damit sie gross werden) I feel lucky to have all these trees around me because some of the apartments have little or no shade. I'm also happy for the birds that chirp and sing continuously - it sounds like a tropical rain forest here. It is a perfect place for my cat, Middi, who practically lives on the window sills because bird watching is her specialty. Middi is also an accomplished lizard observer:

Cutter Skinsations works!

Just to let you know that there is life after mosquitoes, providing you can handle being covered by a thick layer of insect repellent. I sprayed myself, my clothes and the dog with insect repellent before our daily morning walk and guess what? I did not get bit! I carried the bottle with me and kept reapplying so that I used quite a bit. I don't like doing this to myself, but it's either that or stay inside all the time. However, it's important to not stand still and keep on moving. Waiving your arms around helps too. Therefore, Gizzy's walk was a bit quicker than usual, but at least he got to be out there sniffing around and doing his doggy duty. Then, after we got back home, we both got in the shower to remove the repellent and now our day has started out right. It really was torture for both of us yesterday having to stay inside on such a lovely day. Revelling in Contentedness!

Talking Gizzy and our new floor!

Just a little movie clip of me and my Gizzy being silly together and our new floor that's vinyl, but looks like wood. I'm so glad to be rid of that old, dirty wall-to-wall carpeting that was in the apartment before. Now we can just mop and go! (or go and mop, as the case may be!)

My cat, Middi!

Since I talk so much about my dog, it's only fair to mention my cat, Middi, also, because she's a smart and brave cat who has earned her way into this house...and I secretly think she's partly responsible in keeping the bugs away that are ever so abundant in humid climates like Southern Georgia and Florida. She adopted me in spite of the dog, who absolutely hates cats. Thankfully, she's smart, streetwise and good natured, so that she can always find a way to avoid him. I also have the apartment rigged so that she has plenty of high spaces to sit on. Occasionally, he gets her cornered, but then I go over and pick him up so that she can make her getaway. She feels secure in knowing that I'm a team player. She loves to sleep on top of me and since Gizzy's not a lap dog, he doesn't seem to mind...unless when it's thundering and lightning outside and then he cries to sit on me. I named Middi for midnight, but I also call her Miss Middi Prickly-Claws because she has the sharpest, thorny needle claws that I have ever felt on a cat before. I take her to the Vet's for a trim every month or so because she won't let me do it. She turns into an absolute and perfect daemon that seems to grow ten legs equipped with sharp, scratchy claws. She scratches and bites with a vengeance and I'm just not in the mood for that. She is otherwise a sweet and loving cat and since I let her in, about eight months ago, this cat has morphed into a healthy, shiny coated, full-bodied beauty because when I first saw her, she was nothing but skin and bones, a total mess, but nothing that a couple of hundred dollars at the Vet's couldn't fix. (Here she looks disturbed over having to be my model and wear the cat collar that I crocheted. I like it, only she was NOT impressed.) After having been starved, Middi now has a healthy appetite (to the point of gluttony) and a strange fascination with danger because occasionally I see her sneaking into Gizzy's bed to take a nap (usually when he's asleep somewhere else or on top of the windowsill.) I have bought her a pretty pink bed, but she doesn't use it, so Gizzy took it over and now he has two. So what if it's pink? He's male enough to pull it off! Handsome boy - even in pink!

Mein Haeuschen (mit Kurzfilm)

(BITTE MERKEN: Dass wenn man an den Bildern zweimal darauf drueckt, dann werden sie gross und sind besser zu sehen.) Da, an der Ecke wo die schoenen, rosa Azela Straeucher bluehen und die bluehenden Baeume stehen, bin ich zu Hause. Da hat gerade die Sonne so schoen hingescheint und ich wollte Euch die Bilder davon zeigen. Es ist halb 7 Uhr Abends und die Sonne geht ganz langsam unter. Am Mittwoch bekomme ich neuen Boden. Die werden den alten Teppich herausreissen und ich kriege dafuer, wie gewuenscht, Linoleum Tile boden. Dann brauche ich nur schoen abwischen und bin damit fertig. Ich freue mich darauf und werde Euch dann Bilder von innerhalb der Wohnung schicken. Noch ein kurzer Film von wenn ich heute Abend draussen um die Wohnung mit Gizzy herumgelaufen bin. Tschuess! Mein erster Kurzfilm von zuhause:

Bank's Lake National Wildlife Refuge and Pear Blossoms

Greetings from Bank's Lake! (This photo was taken two years ago, when my friend took me for a boat ride and we kept getting stuck on the roots of the Cypress trees) (REMEMBER to double click on the photos to make them large for better viewing.) Today, I would like to share a few photos that I took on the way to Bank's Lake back on February 1st, 2009, because the weather was interesting with the clouds and the sun playing peek-a-boo. I live only about 1 mile away from the National Wildlife Refuge, so we (my dog, Gizzy, and I) visit there often. If you would like to know more about Bank's Lake, just click here: U.S.Fish & Wildlife Service On the way to the lake, I passed my two most favorite pear trees. They are late/winter pears and give an abundance of pears that I like to cook up into a delicious compote. I look forward to these pears, but look, they were blooming already and it was barely February. We were still expecting some frost and freezing temperatures. My concern was that the blossoms won't survive and I would not get pears again this year. They didn't produce last year. I was told these trees skip a season sometimes. But the blossoms sure looked beautiful. I wanted to share some pictures for those of you that still had snow to provide a little glimpse of Spring. Here's Gizzy inside the car, barking and yelping at me as if to say: "hurry up already with the picture taking and take me to the lake..." When we got there, I placed him on an old tree stump and proceeded to take a few very photogenic shots of him posing like Rin-Tin-Tin (for those of you too young to remember, Rin-Tin-Tin was a German Shepard movie hero dog, similar to Lassie that I saw on TV in Germany when I was a kid) Soon, the clouds began to get darker and thicken, so that the sun was almost covered completely, except for a few rays that reflected on the water. Eventually, it got so dark that I feared of getting rained on and we headed on home. Only it never rained that day.