Nature is wild. . .

We had an interesting guest on our tram tour at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden this morning. He didn't have much to say, but he was obviously ready to listen to Benard's and my spiel. We figured that out when even after we told him politely that the seats in the tram were for paying guests, he persisted in running along beside us as we headed out through the Garden.

In case you don't recognize our guest, he's a Cattle Egret, one of many different feathered friends that we see regularly as we travel through the Garden. My personal favorites are the families of Ibis that hang around the edges of the lakes. I love explaining to the guests that while the Ibis was once the sacred bird of Egypt, more importantly to Miamians, he is the mascot of the University of Miami's football team, the Hurricanes. Chosen because of his bravery as the last bird to leave when a hurricane is on the horizon, and the first to return when the hurricane is over. Bet you didn't know that!

One last word about our feathered friend this morning. . he apparently took my remark seriously about only paying guests allowed on the tram. A few minutes after we started the tour,Benard stopped the tram to explain about some tree or plant we were passing. Up trotted our egret, this time with a tiny live lizzard in his beak. I swear he was offering it to me as payment for his seat.

Who knows, maybe lizzards are coin of the realm in the Bird World. I was grateful he didn't ask for change. What can I tell you. Is it any wonder we love this incredible Garden so much????
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Everyone needs a week away. . .

I'm back from a week in Sedona, Arizona's gorgeous red rock country. What I wasn't expecting was the unusually cold weather, but that's another story. Miami had floods earlier this months, Oklahoma just had an earthquake. . .Mother Nature is really on a tear these days.

Visiting my old friends, Alice and David Goodhart, is always an eating experience, amd man, did we eat. Starting with dinner the night after I arrived at their friend Beverly's home where the fabulous chef, who is actually an obstetrician in real life, delivered (pardon the pun!) an incredible meal that concluded with a birthday cake for both me and the chef's wife, also named Joan. (Take a look at the accompanying photo for an idea of what the dinner table looked like before we sat down and devoured everything in sight. That's Chef Nathan in the background.)

From there, it was all uphill, foodwise. If we weren't eating at some wonderful Italian/Thai/Continental restaurant, I was stuffing myself in Alice's kitchen, a pretty fine dining spot on its own, presided over by their delicious dog Shaina. In between meal times, we visited a whole slew of Sedona's marvelous art galleries, attended a wine tasting session, talked it up at her book club, and with David at the wheel, tooled into the mountains until the snow plows let us know it was time to turn around and go back to safer ground. Haven't seen that much snow since my last ski trip. For you Floridians, the second photo is to show you what you are missing,or what you can live without, as the case may be.

Sedona is getting ready for its Annual Film Festival. Last year Alice volunteered me to serve breakfast at the Arts Festival. This year she had me taking tickets in the lobby of the local movie theatre where they previewed a wonderful Dutch film called "Bride Flight". God only knows what she will have me doing next year. Mine is not to question why. . I just go along, and it always turns out to be fun.

It was a great week but it's good to be home. Wasabi and Ginger have been pasted to my side since I arrived, and the significant other looks pretty happy as well. It's Ramble time at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, and I have to be there at 8:30 tomorrow morning to work in the Kids Area.

Have a feeling my next blog may be waiting for me there.
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