Hi. Beware of some major picture (and word) hogging up ahead. And yes...one MUST crop!
So, the other day, I went for my second visit to the local botanical garden. (During the first visit, I accidentally got sunscreen in my eyes and so I was squinting and burning and watering the whole time and couldn’t wait to get home to wash it all out. So I didn’t see much.)
This visit also started out shaky when we meandered into a castle-dragon-moat thing and within a few minutes we had lost track of each other. Now, hub is 6’2 and walks fast and I’m 5’3 and walk slow and so our hiking around together usually involves a sort of meandering back and forth. It’s been like this…
always. I wasn’t that worried and figured I’d find him someplace later somewhere and so continued strolling around and taking pictures.
Weirdly, I then got a FaceTime call. It was from my kid who was sitting with her friends by a pool in Washington DC. She said, “Where are you? Dad said he lost you.” I said, “Well, that’s what he gets for walking 15 miles ahead.” Oh sigh….she knows this about us. I say, “I don’t know where I am exactly but there are giant pine cones and red polka-dotted toadstools and dinosaur tracks under my feet and a cave roof above.” She said my location was pinned as the “Children’s Fantasy Garden.” Okay, so there I am then. From my cave, I wave across the country to her bikinied friends waving back on the tiny screen while hoards of shrieking kids keep running all around me. Ugh. It was just too much annoyance (or "civilization") bombarding me all at once so I said, “I’m fine, child. Have fun and thanks for checking in.” She said, “Ok, then. Sounds like a
‘great’ date…” Sarcasm doesn’t fall far from the tree - my sweet little sapling.
When I finally exited the cave castle, I saw hub standing with his back to me, so I just walked past pretending I didn’t see him. When he caught up to me, we had fallen back into step as we passed the Thomas the Tank Engine railroad tracks, and up to the Bugarium which marked the end of Kiddie Land. All this is just a tale of 2 old geezers out on the town but now it’s back to grownup stuff and the pretty flowers that many of “those people” seem to love. I prefer the empty and desolate landscape to garden-type things but at least, for once, I actually have some COLORS - other than brown - to share.
Oaxlis (False Shamrock) and Aeonium (Irish Rose)
Observatory light on a Bromeliad and Coleus and outside, a baby Smoketree behind Irises
Looking up through the colorful canopy of some Japanese Maples
I have more pics of colored things but I'm liking the subdued shades of green better. Nothing beats the curlicue leaves of the Kalanchoe or...the tidy spikes of a Yucca. I liked the way the Weeping Bottlebrush draped itself over the sunny boulder...sweet. I LOVE the grasses out here in New Mexico (like this Needlegrass) because of their delicate way in the light and breeze. The last pic is an Atlas Cedar which with its blueish leaves and seen against the blue fountain....turned out to be my favorite picture of the bunch.
