Buzz-worthy

After reading the very cool article from NPR about the bees who make the wonderful magical little nests to house single eggs (see my post "Bee Flower Architecture" below)...I've decided to try (TRY being the key word) to give bees the benefit of the doubt. So I got a little up close and personal with my camera and watched them drinking up the sugary yumminess of these sweet flowers. Until one buzzed a little too close to my ear and sent me scampering off...

Summer Colors

My parents' wonderful yard. I love wandering through with my camera when I visit.

Southern Comfort

Smell the Jasmine (these little tiny buds with a sweet mild perfume, which no one can remember the exact name of...)... ...and Magnolia (just about ready to bloom)......and these pretty Bay Rum buds... ...oh and the pretty green of banana leaves in there too! I love summer.

Bee Flower Architecture

Check this out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126556246 Aren't they gorgeous? I have an irrational though, I feel, justified fear of bees. They sting me for no apparent reason. People tell me if I leave them along, they'll leave me alone but I do not find this to be the case. They'd lead much happier and longer lives if they left me alone, as, though I've never seen one drop to the ground immediately post-attack, they do die after they sting right? However, these guys seem pretty cool. Check out the nests. Insect architecture... I love these - I wonder if I could make something like this and make some sort of delicate mobile? Hmmm...

Any Occasion Flower Note Cards

More flowery cards in my Etsy Shop!! Apparently I am feeling very flowery and girly lately... What do you think? Any suggestions from you beautiful-blog creators out there? http://www.etsy.com/listing/45527162/six-any-occasion-flower-note-cards

Summery Sun Shining

The chirping of insect fills the air and I know it is summer. The calendar might not say so, but the whirring ceiling fans in my apartment confirm it. The soft breeze is so welcome on my bare shoulders, when it seems just yesterday I was piling on sweaters. Spring is a short-lived thing here in Florida; it is a mere stepping stone to get to summer. But it is still early enough that the sun doesn’t yet seem to bake and/or melt everything its rays fall on. Let the sun shine: ...off to the beach I go...

Ballerina Love Azaleas

When I was small and thought differently about things, azaleas were not amongst my favorite flowers. I didn’t like that if you plucked them from their stems they would quickly wilt while other flowers would last much longer.

My thoughts have shifted over the years…I love how delicate, fragile, and thin azaleas are, and that they begin to droop so quickly. It makes their brief beauty much more powerful.

I saw an azalea shrub in a front yard – with hundreds of these gorgeous orangey-coral colored flowers - and the sun was in just such a position that each flower seemed to glow. The petals are so thin that the light came right through. The image is resonant with me.

About a month later I saw the same shrub and all the blooms were gone. But across the street were these,

which are my favorite azaleas ever. They are little ballerina love azaleas. And they too, will quickly be gone but their beauty is that much more for it.