Our Cypress Pond...

 After my appointments yesterday, I took a walk to my favorite place

in our yard. I went to visit the beautiful cypress trees on our pond.

 When we first moved here, there were five little cypress trees around the pond

perimeter that the previous owners had planted. We added two large ones soon

 after, but we didn't stop there. We planted more small ones - and they're all 

starting to come into their own. The original five are now quite impressive and

our two largest trees stand like sentries, having grown to at least twenty feet tall.

This is where I feel completely content and calm. I stand under their lacy boughs

and I can see and feel their knees rising around my feet. They're happy to be

living here, too...drinking from our pond. When Hurricane Charley prepared

to make landfall a short ten miles from our home,  I went into the yard,

hugged this big tree and asked God to spare it from the storm. It still stands.

As I turn back toward the house, I always stop to appreciate the riot of 

color provided by our (neglected) bouganvillea. (My plants always do 

better if I ignore them. Really!) That huge bush is content to just be soaking up

 the Florida sunshine next to our little shed without any interference from me.

 Then, I take time to thank God for my husband, my family 

and our home as I walk back through the yard. 

(That's my studio window behind the little palm trees on the right.)

I know Tag will be waiting for me back in the Holidome. (He's never

allowed in this part of our yard. I don't want him near the pond in case

 there's an alligator. We don't take any chances at all with Tag's safety!) 

Handsome will be waiting for me so we can catch up on the events of the

day and all is right in my world - and I'm so glad you could walk with me.

 I'll close the drawing for my OTR scrap bag at 10 pm Friday, so if you'd 

like to enter, you still have today to get your name in. Click Here to enter.

Surf's Up...

Each spring, I take a photograph of the little pond in our back yard at Brynwood to document its water level. It's not what I would call a pond if we still lived up north...it's more a catch basin for excess water that might come into our yard during "The Rainy". Most of the year it looks like this (bottom lip sticking out, sad face):

But let it rain for a little while! The water that lands on our roof is carried to gutters with downspouts. They drain into a tile that moves the water to The Basin. All the water in our yard moves to The Basin and before you know it, all those water drops add up to make it a real Pond! (Doing the wet-feet happy dance!)

This photograph was taken yesterday from the same vantage point as the first (taken last April). You can see here that my beloved cypress trees now have their toes in the water. The few fish that tough it out here year-round now have more room to swim. We have resident turtles who love to bask on fallen logs. (I'll have to go back and make sure there's one in there for them now.) It even makes me happier to see all that water.

First, I know our drainage is doing its job (keeping water away from our home), but also, I love seeing the water and the life it attracts. When I was out taking this photograph, I watched flurries of dragonflies hunting the surface of the water. I love dragonflies.

We've had a drought for a couple of years here in the sunny South, and even with all this rain, the water supply is a little tenuous. For now, I'll take a chair into the yard, thank God for the water, toss a little fish food for the "residents" and enjoy our view of The Pond. (More rain, please.)