This and that....

I noticed this week that a few of my succulents are blooming. Got to say that as much as I love the foliage of many of the succulent plants, their flower blooms are very blah and unimpressive. The first picture is of the whole plant in the top of the tiered planter, and the next is a close up of the flowers- see what I mean? Blah. Pretty little bloom when you look at it up close, but it sure wouldn't grab your attention.

Click to enlarge all photos

Mary wanted to see a photo of the Bismark palms Mike planted last week, so here they are. They are about as tall as me right now. Hopefully they will take off and grow rapidly. They are at the back of the house and we are hoping they will provide shade for the air conditioning unit.

If you have read my blog for any length of time, you know my neighborhood is very quiet and boring, especially now that the snowbirds have gone back north for the summer. Usually by 9 p.m. the streets are empty and I don't even see any lights on in peoples homes when I go for my walks. So imagine my surprise the other night about midnight when I was working in my studio and suddenly three police cars zoomed in and stopped in front of the studio windows. Did someone find it suspicious that I had lights on and was up so late? Was I going to be raided because I wasn't in bed like all good old people should be? So I grabbed my camera and went outside- if anything exciting was happening I wanted to get a photo of it!

So I was in my front yard snapping pictures when one of the officers came walking towards me- was I going to be arrested for not going to bed when the sun set which seems to be the official bedtime for old people, or maybe for having in clear view naked old lady sculpts on a table in front of a window? Nope! He explained to me that someone had noticed my neighbor's front door standing open and called it in as a possible break in. Who had noticed and called it in, I haven't a clue, but evidently there really is someone besides me who stays up later than 9 p.m. The officer said they did a walk through and found nothing disturbed, so they assumed the door had not been closed securely and locked. I told him I didn't have a clue, all I knew was that the man who owned the place had returned up north several weeks ago. The police made sure the door was closed and locked before they all drove off into the night looking for criminals. And that was the end of my big excitement.


Crime does seem to be up in our area, maybe due to the bad economy? I've read that the economy seems to be perking up in some areas, but not in Florida. They are predicting that it will be late 2010 before it starts to get better here. So many foreclosed homes and bankruptcies! It's really sad seeing what many people are going through. There have been layoffs at Mike's work place and their orders are down. So far Mike's job is okay, but we know that can change at any time and I can't help but worry. With the high cost of living expenses, we wonder if Mike will ever be able to retire. We are being careful with our spending and trying to save, but you know how that goes. Seems something always comes up to eat any money before we can stick it in savings. I just hope we don't become homeless old people living in the Tracker with the dogs. Of course we could get a tent and live in one of the numerous homeless camps around town. All over town, anywhere there is an empty wooded lot you will find a homeless camp. A far cry from the beach home I dream of spending the last years of my life! Ha!

Peace-

Linda