Florida Update

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we spent at Cardinal Spring Training Games. Today we headed out to Butterfly World, located in Coconut Creek, to explore the aviaries filled with butterflies and hummingbirds, Lorikeets, Macaws, and botanical gardens.

This photo was taken with our Olympus E500 Digital SLR. In addition to our digital photos, I shot 2 rolls of 35MM film with our 20+ year old Cannon. I was reluctant to switch to digital because of the great photos we would get with our Cannon, but trying to go back and shoot with the 35MM was a chore after having used a digital camera for almost 2 years. I kept trying to look to see if the photo had turned out, only to realize I was using the our old camera. I'll keep you posted on how the film photos turn out when we get them developed once we get home.

Later from on-the-road

BAS

Marinelife from Florida

Today we visited Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Jupiter. The center is for rehabilitation and research of rescued sea turtles, and educating the public about the turtles. Five species of turtles are found in the Juno Beach area - Loggerhead, Hawksbill, Leatherback, Kemp's ridley, and Green. Meet Jonah and read his story above.

Just spoke to my parents and brother, who were with us and headed for home today - they ran into snow flurries in Georgia.

Later from on-the-road.

BAS

Florida Landscapes

Sending this post Monday morning - another cloudy day in Florida, but from what I hear, the weather is much warmer than back home in the Midwest. When we called home over the weekend we heard it was snowing. Friday we went back to Roger Dean Stadium for another Cardinal game. On Saturday, my daughter and her husband arrived and the entire family headed out to the baseball game.

Sunday we spent sightseeing and I took a couple of photographs of the Florida landscape. I think the attached photos are great examples of good landscape design - using simplicity, balance, and massing of plant material. Similar types of plant materials are grouped in masses to create movement and rhythm in the landscape. You can use those same principles in your own yard to design a beautiful landscape for your property.

Until later, from on-the-road.

BAS

Banyon Trees

From what I could find out, this tree is a type of Banyon tree. This tree was growing on the property located near the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. Photo of tree and lighthouse taken by my son Matt - who after many hours and much work fixed our E500 Olympus. Thanks Matt!

Photos from On-the-Road

Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse

Wednesday we toured the lighthouse and some of us walked the 105 stairs up to the top. The view of the ocean and surrounding area was beautiful. The lighthouse was built in 1860 and was recently restored.

Not-so-Sunny Florida

On Tuesday it was overcast and windy in Jupiter so we headed out to Sawgrass Mills Mall.
It was a short visit at the mall and we were back late afternoon to sit by the pool.
Next we headed out to the Castaway. The Castaway is a favorite spot of locals and visitors. It is an outdoor eating place and bar - more bar than food - but once you visit you just want to go back again and again. It's located on the inlet, and the tables are set on a sand beach. You sit among the palm trees and watch the pelicans fly over swooping down to get a fish, the boats or I should say yachts pull up to the dock, and across the inlet is the most scenic view with an old red lighthouse.

We hope to tour the lighthouse Wednesday.

The plant material and landscaping here is amazing. Our pool is surrounded by a ficus or fig tree hedge - something we can only grow as houseplants in Illinois. Palm trees are everywhere. A small ornamental tree with yellow flowers is found dotting the landscapes - haven't figured out what it is yet and a medium size shrub with pink-red-purple flowers is in bloom now.

Haven't been to the beach yet, but hope to go there Wednesday too.

Later from on-the-road.
BAS
P.S. To Bob, thanks for the camera repair tip, we'll give it a try and maybe I'll get some plant and landscape photos posted.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

No luck-of-the-Irish for us. My parents were joining us on this trip. They headed out about 4:00 a.m. on Sunday. They got caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic twice. It seems everyone is heading to Florida for spring break and the upcoming Easter Holiday. Someone "bumped" into their car while in the bumper-to-bumper traffic. After inspecting the vehicle it appeared everything was OK and they were back on their way. It was after midnight when they finally arrived. We helped them unpack and get settled in for the night. They were glad to finally arrive and "Bertha" was glad to get out of the car. Bert is their dog. Everyone slept in the next morning. Around 11:00 we all headed out to the Cardinal ballgame. The crowd was dotted with fans dressed in Cardinal red and fans dressed in green for St. Patrick's Day. I had planned on posting lots of photos in my blog from our trip, but as our luck goes on this St. Patrick's day, our E-500 Olympus is not working. We used the camera on day 2 of our trip, but now it won't take photos. Everything comes out black. My techno son researched on-line and it seems the mirror/shutter is not moving - it appears it might be a mechanical problem, because we tried all the other problem shooting regarding the memory card/batteries etc. Anyone know of any camera repair shops in Jupiter Florida?
Later from on-the-road.
BAS

On-the-Road Day 2

After our car was fixed and we had a bite to eat, we were back on the road. It was late night when we were driving thru Atlanta, Georgia. As we were driving I could see large masses of white along the roadside. Trees were in full bloom in Georgia - from the size and shape of the trees, I would suspect they were ornamental pears. Like I said, it was dark out, but it was amazing how these trees stood out among the streetlights.

We arrived in Jupiter mid-morning, and the first thing we did was stop at Roger Dean Stadium to get tickets to see the Cardinals play on Monday, St. Patrick's Day. Our rental house wasn't ready yet, so we had to find things to occupy our time for the better part of the afternoon. We drove around - something you don't want to do alot of when gas is $3.47 a gallon, ate lunch, and finally pulled into a city park - parked the car and took a nap. Everyone was exhausted after traveling for almost 22 hours without sleep. Finally the cell phone rang, it was a call from the property owner and we could check into our rental house.

We pulled into the drive, unloaded suitcases, and collapsed on the couch.

Later from on-the-road.
BAS

Vacation Day 1 Continued

The news on the car wasn't good. We thought the belt had just come off, but the rep at the auto repair shop knew better - many times something else causes the belt to come off. Well our water pump went out, due to some worn bearings. Apparently this make and model has problems with the water pump because the mechanic predicted right away what the problem was. I had just had the vehicle in for complete service and checkup before we headed out on our trip. The good news was - they had a pump in stock, he volunteered to stay after hours to get it fixed and by 8:00 p.m. we were back on the road.

When we first pulled off the road we didn't know where we were - we were in Clarksville, Tennessee. If you ever have to get stuck with car problems - Clarksville is the place to be. We met the nicest people who went out of their way to get us back on the road. And I learn something new everyday - Clarksville is a military town, home to one of the largest army bases.

Thanks to everyone in Clarksville who helped us out - the Speed Lube or Jiffy Lube Technician, our tow truck drive, and the crew at Firestone.

More later from on the-road.
BAS

Vacation!

Saturday, March 15, our family headed to Florida for vacation. My posts for the next 2 weeks will be coming from warm, sunny, Jupiter, Florida.

We headed out around 1:00 p.m. and planned to drive straight thru to Jupiter. Our vacation started with a bang. About 3 hours into our trip I heard a funny noise coming from the car - of course my husband thinks I hear things with the car all the time, until he noticed a reading stating battery loosing power. Then he started loosing the power steering. We were going to pull off for gas and were close to a town - we got off just in time and pulled into a parking lot as the car coolant was gurgling, and smoke was coming from underneath the hood.
I called AAA right away for a tow truck - it was late Saturday afternoon and we knew our chances of getting the car fixed before Monday were slim. My first problem was trying to tell the AAA representative where we were. My husband walked around the parking lot to ask someone what city we were in.
We had a wonderful tow truck driver and he recommended we be towed to the Firestone Center because they stayed open later on a Saturday. He was so kind to recommend hotels for the night - He knew our chances of getting back on the road Saturday night were slim.

Until later.
BAS

Spring Break

When I began this blog, my goal was to add daily posts. Between work, home, and personal and community committments, I haven't lived up to that goal yet, but I am working on it. This is an update.

On Friday, March 14, I walked through the nursery at work, checking and tagging plants. The crew is harvesting plants daily. Check our nursery website for updates on what types of plants are being brought in from the field.

While on my walk, the Cornelian Cherry Dogwood were just beginning to bloom. It won't be long and other plants will be in flower.

On Saturday, my family headed out for Florida for spring break!!! I will be posting some of our trip adventures.

To Linnie - I researched what variety of Japanese Maple you may have from the link to the photo you sent me. It looks like one of the small dissectum varieties - and the most popular ones in the market are Tamukeyama, Red Select, and another small red leaf variety.

That's all for now.
BAS

Spring is on its way!

The sunshine finally appeared today! Though it was deceiving, it was not as warm as I thought when I ventured outside. I walked the nursery today, tagging trees and updating signs, but the wind was still crisp. The plants appear to be hibernating, but with a little warmer weather that is expected later this week it won't be long before the buds are opening and we see life again.

To the nursery customer who found the blog through the farm's website - I spoke with our Japanese Maple supplier today and we have approximately 60 nice size balled and burlapped Jap Maples coming in sometime the beginning of April. The freeze last year damaged so many of the Japanese Maples it was difficult to locate trees from suppliers - many places sold out early. We usually try to carry some of the more unusual or collector varieties; we do have about 6-8 different types coming in April.

And as for the request for pictures of the farm, I will try to post some photos soon.

For all the gardeners - its time to cut back the ornamental grasses and start on general spring clean-up as the weather permits. I have begun trimming back my own ornamental grasses, some perennials, and my liriope along with cleaning out the leaves that have blown into my flower beds through the winter. When I pulled the leaves away from my Hellebores I noticed blooms are starting to spring forth! Yes, spring is on its way!

Scenic Drive Home

I walked the nursery in the afternoon and by that time most of the snow had melted from the trees. However, when I left work today, the nursery still had a few inches of snow on the ground. Traveling just a few miles down the road the scenery was quite different; most of the snow within about 5 miles of the farm had melted and only traces remained in the fields. I travel on a country road past a small plot of land and the tame geese were out near the road - the resident of this property raises geese, chickens, a few sheep, a donkey or two and horses. Farther along on my journey the field was filled with turkeys. I grabbed my cell phone to take a picture, but the birds were too fast for me and were too far in the distance to get a good photo by the time I snapped the picture. I'll have to begin carrying my camera with me in the car.

Until next time
BAS

Day One

Good afternoon!  This is the first day of my blog.  Watch for more information to come!

Thanks for your help Bob :)