BIRTHDAY FLOWERS

Birthday flowers come and go, unless one takes a picture and captures the image forever.

I didn't get many flowers this year, but Carlos' receptionist, who also is a good friend, stopped by just to give me this lovely arrangement.

PAPAYA GROVE

I took a sickly oak tree down earlier this year, then filled the hole with dirt from our compost pile.

Soon after, the rains came. In record amounts. It seemed they would never stop, though eventually they did.

I noticed that a bunch of papaya trees, small, tender, and fragile, had come up where my sickly oak had been.


Space was a problem, so I selected the strongest and sacrificed the rest. They grew all summer, spreading out their lovely branches, which are really nothing but giant leaves.

I admired them from a distance, thinking how lovely to have a papaya grove in the middle of Austin. It wasn't until I inspected the trees close up that I realized the little things nestled in the crook of every branch were nothing less than baby papayas. Back then, they were no bigger than walmuts. This is what they look like today.

If the weather holds, if we don't get a freeze in the next few months, it's possible we may have some tree-ripened fruit on our plates.
That will be a first!

EARLY MORNING STROLL

Luckily this picture of mama possum and her clinging brood was not taken at my house, though I'm sure it could've been. I hear their eerie calls while it is still dark outside. I know they are out there, somewhere. By the time daylight makes its appearance, they have burrowed into hiding.
It is unusual to see such a large family out in broad daylight. One wonders where mama is taking all her little ones on such a fine day.

Sunshine Plot

Wow, I managed to download this all by myself! Though it may seem a small feat to those who are more computer oriented, it is a milestone for me. From this day forth, there is no telling the colorful images you will be enjoying on this formerly bland blog site.

This is a picture of our plot at the Sunshine gardens, taken a few weeks ago. Today, everything is twice as big, and we are hoping our veggies will be ready for a Thanksgiving harvest.