Orchid Daze
In two more days, on February 6th, the Atlanta Botanical Garden will open its yearly orchid exhibit. This year promises to be different, a “surprising juxtapositions of fanciful flowers and playful objects inspired by surrealist imagination.”
I think it will it suit me perfectly.
While we wait, this is my own Orchid Daze portrayal.
Jack, the Hermit Crab
If you ever find the cleanest and nicest conch shell in the Florida panhandle shore, this is its story.
"Mama, remember the nice shell that Abuela gave me yesterday? I can't find it. I put it last night on top of the dresser. During the night, it was making a rattling sound and, in my sleep, I moved it to the night table on top of a book and later, because it kept rattling, I moved it again next to the book. But it's not there..."
That's how it started. In reality it started the previous day when I found a beautiful conch shell during one of our excursions around the Florida coast. I brought it back to the house we were renting and washed it several times, even using dish detergent to remove all the dirt from it. I stopped short of putting it in the dishwasher because I though the rest of the family would not appreciate having the dishes washed together with a shell.
Once clean, it was really a nice shell.
After Iya’s announcement, her mother said: “There was probably a hermit crab inside". Her statement started a complete room search of the now ‘believed to be a crab’ shell. Despite Iya’s worries about sharing her room with a crab, the rest of the family, me included, could not stop looking at each other and laughing. The room was thoroughly searched and no shell or suspected crab was found.
We told Iya that she was safe in her bed, high from the floor but she was not convinced. And she was right, as we later found out during an Internet search for more information about hermit crabs - they can actually climb rocks and objects with ease.
After our unsuccessful room search we extended it to the whole house, only half believing that we really had a crab in the house and thinking that maybe somebody was playing a joke on us.
We covered every inch of the house, even the other bedrooms and the downstairs entrance, but we could not find anything. Finally Iya's father decided to lift all the sofas and heavy chairs. There it was, underneath one of the sofas, probably confused trying to understand the sudden change in its environment.
Walking in circles, trying to figure out what was going on.
Another view showing the crab legs. Photo (c) Henry Durand.
After more laughs and sighs of relief, and of course tons of photos, we decided to take Jack, as we named it, closer to the water in the sound side of the island. Because of my actions, Jack the Hermit Crab had to go through the heartache of relocation. Hopefully he will find this new place to his liking. At least now he has the cleanest conch shell in town although I am not sure he appreciates it.
Jack in its new habitat.
Backyard Tales – Bluebird chicks
This picture is from yesterday. It seems to be four of them and one egg that still hasn't hatched. They are tiny and cling to each other when you open the door.
Both parents take turns feeding them, in and out all day long. I got them some mealworms but I don't know if it's going to work because there are other birds which also like them and right now, until I can figure out something, it's a first-come first-served affair.
Backyard Tales
Hear ye, hear ye. Wild life enthusiasts rejoice! Let it be known that from this day on our backyard will be known as the "Durand's Bird Sanctuary", a fitting name for a place so full of wild life despite being really small.
Besides the bluebirds and chickadees nesting in our birdboxes, we discovered also in our Japanese maple, next to our grill, an American Robin nest with 4 eggs. No more barbecues until the little ones hatch. 🙁
American Robin eggs
I looked yesterday into the chickadee box. At least three babies have hatched and I think that probably the bluebirds too, because I have seen both, male and female, entering and leaving the bird house several times today. I’ll check tomorrow.
Backyard Tales
It seems I'll be able to observe the hatching of a new generation of bluebirds firsthand. The couple that has been checking our birdhouse and its neighborhood have finally decided to make it their own.
When I checked several days ago there was a little blue egg there and since then, they have been in and out several times each day. The male comes, look inside the birdhouse and then the female goes inside while the male perches on top and watches for any threat. He also checks on her from time to time. I may very well have to retract my previous comment about the male-female roles in the bluebird world. (Backyard Tales in facebook)
Orchid Garden
My indoor orchid garden, eight plants strong, requires work, time and patience, but once a year several of them compensate me for all my hard work with their flowers. Now is that time of the year. Four of them are in bloom: one is not doing too well but the other three are showing off in all their splendor.
The rest don’t seem to like very much their new home. One came from Hawaii and it has never bloomed. Probably not enough humidity or sun. But it keeps growing new leaves; maybe one of these days it will surprise me.
A white-lavender-blue C.G. Roebling 'Sentinel' is the last kid on the block, I just got it a couple of months ago. When it finally blooms it’s going to be beautiful but it will probably take some time. I have learned to wait; it took a couple of seasons for my other plants to start blooming but it was worth it.
Circle of Life – Autumn Wind
Yes, I know it is almost Spring, but this PixelGraphs is the first in the Circle of Life-Seasons Series.
Autumn Wind
Spring is coming soon... Nature and I are working on that right now. 🙂
Wild Flowers
New PixelGraphs photo art to celebrate the North Georgia mountains and its flowers.
Circle of Life: Wild Flowers
Do you know the legend of Sautee and Nacoochee?
Nacoochee was the 16-year-old daughter of Wahoo, a Cherokee chieftain, who fell in love with Sautee, the young and handsome son of the Chickasaw chief, one of the neighboring tribes with whom they were constantly at war.
They eloped and fled to nearby Yonah Mountain, where they found refuge in a cave. After a few days they decided to face Wahoo and ask for his consent but instead, he ordered Sautee to be thrown from the high cliffs of Mount Yonah, while Nacoochee was forced to look on. Seeing that, Nacoochee also leaped to her death from the same cliff.
Yonah
Mount Yonah (Yonah is the Cherokee word for Bear) is located in the Chattahoochee National Forest in North Georgia’s Habersham County.
