OLD Plant!

My friend in SC has been keeping this 48 year old Orchid Cactus going and just sent me its annual photograph. It is AMAZING how well it blooms.

I wrote about it a couple of years ago and it is great to look back. Just click on the link below. 

Two Years Ago...

Crazy Mix Here

Cactus and Cole Slaw and COLD CLAW?

I returned home, played at being Suzy Homemaker for a bit before going out to find another treasure. (I make my own cole slaw because the southern type doesn't suit me, and share with other friends who feel the same. Thank goodness for a food processor!

Out again!

This guy seems to have something wrong with his left foot, but after I took his picture and rode around the loop, he had disappeared when I returned and was nowhere to be seen. At first I thought it was a yard decoration. I have no idea what kind of turtle this is but it seems to be an old guy (girl?). There are no lakes, ponds, or streams in this area. I think he is lost.

Click on image to view larger

In Between Raindrops

 I took a very short ride this morning and found three colorful cactus and some bindweed flowers. It isn't sunny and clear today but I have books to read and a date for tonight. I wonder if there will be a rainbow.

Our old Pal

Wild  Bindweed 

Buds and Berries

Cactus blooms here

click on image to view larger

If you could avoid the thorns a Bagful of berries would be nice to eat. They grow in the sand throughout the cactus.

Futile Hunting

I rode around the park for a bit this morning. The bale of turtles was large. I believe there were over 30 sunning themselves on the end of the little island. I tried very hard to be inconspicuous as I approached to take a picture, actually just creeping small steps at a time from behind a tree. BUT! They saw me and immediately slipped back into the water. I could only find one head above the surface. I even sat on the wet ground and waited---waited---Oh well, I gave up, and got up with a damp backside.

In pure frustration I took pictures of the ducks and one egret. Nothing interesting or enlightening there.

As I traveled to the other side of the park I checked in on the lovely cactus plant that I have been watching for several years as it developed.  It seems that the abandoned trailer had enough dirt on its roof in the beginning to be nutritious enough for a seed to grow. It might have been dropped there by a bird. Last year the first blooms came. Well, sadly it went from bloom to doom after our ice storm. A small branch from the live oak tree has crushed this unusual sight.

DARN!

Last year I had better luck with my captures!

http://nookworm-connectionsmore.blogspot.com/2013/03/aha-captured.html

Cactus Grows Here...

All by itself! Birds must bring in  the "starters." The blooms on the ones here are all yellow. Most of them grow on the beach dunes.

Up close, the flowers are beautiful!