Back to the Jungle

All it takes is two weeks for an unattended South Florida garden to become a Jungle during the summer.

I came back from my vacation yesterday and I found my garden in complete chaos, overgrown, full of weeds and a few casualties from the heat. Is going to take a couple of weeks before I can get the place back in shape. I started this morning with the front garden but the heat and mosquitoes were intense, all I could do was a couple of hours of work.

One nice surprised was my banana trees, all three adult plants had fruits, I hope they don’t ripen at the same time.

Lazy days in Sanibel

The weather has been perfect all week, no rain, and the days are sunny with a nice breeze from the gulf. My typical day starts with bike ride around the island (I am been careful, the shoulder is not back 100 percent yet) follow by a day on the beach shelling, taking in the sun, swimming in the gulf, and ending the day with a walk on the beach at sunset. I do think about my garden sometimes, (a jungle by now) but like a parent of little kids is good to get away.

It took a few days, but I am beginning to unwind, I am checking my email from work less and less (thousands curses to the inventor of the Blackberry) I can see myself as a permanent Sanibel resident living the life of a beach bum, tending a small garden of course.

Yesterday was my birthday, the big 57 (1825 days to go before retirement, age 62 is the target). My family took me out to dinner to the Bubble Room in Captiva one of our favorite restaurants on the islands.

Blogging from paradise, Sanibel Island, FL

This morning my wife and I woke up in paradise, the Island of Sanibel in the West Coast of Florida. For the last 20 years my family and I have been coming to this island for our summer vacation (a couple of weeks of well deserve R and R). Our two daughters will join us this weekend after their school year is over, both are teachers.

This year we are mindful of the terrible environmental disaster happening a few hundred miles west of us in the Gulf of Mexico, we are all hoping that this wonderful island is spared such calamity. The Coast Guard has told local officials that the chances of this area been affected by oil is less than 10%, but with so much of the oil spill on the news, the drop in tourism is noticeable on the island.
If anything positive can come out this disaster, is that drilling offshore is not the answer to our energy crisis, and we most demand from worthless politicians to find alternative ways. There is so much Mother Nature can do to keep fixing our mistakes.

Here is my wife practicing our favor Sanibel sport of Shelling, we spend hours walking the beach looking for shells, I don’t know why I do it, but once I get going I can’t stop. After gardening it is the most relaxing activity I can think of.

What does bromeliads and weeds have in comments?

Both thrive in the summer hot, humid and rainy weather of South Florida. These are some of the bromeliads thriving in my garden this week; I will spare you pictures of the weeds.

Thank you for all the nice comments, I’m doing better from my injury, but my only activity in the garden these days is that of taking pictures.
My family and I are taking our yearly summer vacation to Sanibel Island in the west coast of Florida next week, so I will be away from my garden and blog for a few days

Lazy Wednesday

Yesterday on my afternoon bike ride, I fell off the bike and landed on my right shoulder. This morning I could hardly move my arm. Driving to work was out of the question, so I called in sick and now I have one of those rare days when I have nothing to do but stay inside (under heavy medication) and read blogs. I though of going to the garden and pull weeds with my left arm; but the weather outside is hot, muggy and rainy.
Before the rain, I managed to take some pictures.


Peacock Ginger are back for the summer


Rain Lilies before the rain

PS – If you are asking how did you fell off the bike? This is what happened, a FOOLISH 57-year-old man trying to recapture a long-long ago youth, biking in a place where he shouldn’t have. I have a mountain bike, and as you know there are no mountains nor hills in South Florida, but there are construction sites with very high piles of dirt. I tried to conquer one; I made it to the top but didn’t make it to the bottom, not on my bike anyway. So that’s the story, I feel very foolish and I thank god it wasn’t worst. Calling my wife to pick me, and my broken bike up, was as painful as the fall.