Home again, home again...

And suddenly it's spring at home! After warming my tootsies in sunny Mexico for a few weeks I came home to find that all the huge snow mounds had melted, my street was no longer a one-lane plowed track, and the tulips and daffodils were poking up. I swear I brought the warm weather home with me. Also lots of memories of Mexico. And a new life bird.

I'd stopped to admire this Royal Poinciana tree on the way to breakfast one morning. This is not something I ever see at home. I thought the flowers looked like tulips until I looked at it closely. The individual blossoms are actually orchid-shaped but they grow in large clusters. While I was taking it all in, this guy landed.

This is a Golden-Cheeked Woodpecker. Wow, what a bird! As soon as I spotted the red and yellow head I knew it was a life bird for me. And since I've misplaced my Mexican bird book somewhere I had to immediately head off to the American Book Store and look it up in their Mexican field guide. Such excitement. I treated myself to this great Pina Colada for breakfast.


And then I had the entree. I did gain six pounds while I was gone. I made sure to eat a lot of fish for dinner but I think that was probably offset by the lovely breakfasts like this, and perhaps the Pina Coladas.

Mostly, I hung out on the balcony and watched the ocean and the people on the beach, and read books. I brought nine along and had to scrounge a few more left behind by departing tourists.

I did get up occasionally and move around. On one of those occasions I visited a new botanical gardens which was started two years ago. Look at all those bouganvilleas. They make the lone plant that I winter over look pathetic. The hacienda below is the main building for the gardens. It not only houses an impressive collection of botanical books to peruse but also a restaurant and a gift shop (they didn't take credit cards which is probably a good thing for me). The owners live in half of the second floor. Nice set-up.

There's something about gauze curtains blowing in the breeze that speaks to me. Add flowers, birds, the ocean, and warm weather and I'm in tropical heaven.

So, back to reality. It's a good thing we now have an extra hour of daylight so now that I'm finally caught up at work, I can spend some time in my shattered garden in the evenings. Then catch up on all your blogs. And dream of lazy days in Mexico!