New friends at the pond

Adding a water feature to our backyard has attracted some interesting new friends.  It seems every morning when I go out to feed the goldfish there is some new friend at the pond.  Last week a whitetail dragonfly lit on the railing beside me as I enjoyed my morning coffee.  I took a chance of getting my camera and it paid off with this spectacular picture. The dragonfly was probably there for mosquitoes that hang out near water.   I appreciate the dragonfly's beauty and eating habits.  A couple of days later an American goldfinch landed on my black-eyed susans to feast on the seeds. I was so excited to see it up close I didn't dare move to try to get my camera.

Monday, I captured this grasshopper resting on the pond treatment bottle.  He loved having his picture taken so much that I had to shake the bottle to get him off it.  Yesterday, when I walked out on the deck, I scared off a blue tailed skink (lizard).  It was about six inches long so I got a good look at it before it slid between the railings.  They are quite common around here.  I hope he didn't have Monday's grasshopper for breakfast.

Today's visitor was perhaps the most disturbing.  As I watered the flowers by the pond, the spray prompted out a southern black widow spider from the rocks.  Holy cow!  I knew what it was immediately because we have seen them before in this yard.  I sprayed the rocks again and got this picture.  Don't worry -- I'm not going to get that close again.  I am going to look for the can of bug killer AND call the Orkin lady!

Now, I know to take my camera out with me every morning when I check on my babies.  I never know what new friends might be hanging out near the pond.

August vacations

With many kids starting school today, I couldn't help but think what August 1st used to mean to me -- first day of vacation!  Back in the old days (before air conditioning), school did not start until after Labor Day here in Nashville.  My dad was a bricklayer so August was unbearably hot for working outside.  His solution was to close down his business for the entire month of August and go on a fantastic adventure!

The adventures started with a trip to Florida in Daddy's work truck during the summer of 1964.  Mom and Dad were in the front and the three kids were in the back in a small camper.  It was actually a truck topper with a bed in back.

That trip prompted my dad to buy a proper camper to take to California to visit his brother's family.  The photo above is a Polaroid snap of me sitting on the hood of my dad’s GMC truck.  On the back it says, “Aug. 11, 1965.  Before we left on vacation to Calif.  Wanda.”  My father’s brother, Herman, was living in Long Beach at the time so it gave my parents the perfect reason to drive across the country to California.  The 1960s were a troubled time and race riots had started in the Watts suburb of Los Angeles on August 11, 1965.  By Sunday night we had driven across county to my uncle’s house and the riots had spread to Long Beach.  From his house we could see fires and hear gunfire.  The adults tried to remain calm but we were all scared.

We saw the wonders of the country on that trip and it is probably the trip that sparked a love of travel in all of us. We visited The Grand Canyon, the Rocky Mountains, Old Faithful, and the Pacific Ocean. We started a ritual of emptying a small jar of Hessey Road well water into any large body of water we visited. Disneyland, which is close to Long Beach, was a highlight of the trip for me.

We continued to vacation during the month of August for several years.  We would pack up the camper and pull out on August 1^st and come back August 31^st just in time to start school after Labor Day.  We saw magnificent places and things as we criss-crossed the United States, Canada and Mexico.  My August vacations ended when I graduated from high school and later got married.  Over those five years, I had visited 47 of the contiguous states.  I realized years later as a parent what a sacrifice those month-long vacations were to our parents financially so I am very thankful to them for creating in me a love for travel and an appreciation of all that God has created.