Late Spring Vacation in Key West

I usually select photographs for a blog post and then upload to flickr so I can embed the photolink.



I did it differently this time because I wanted to upload more shots to flickr for a friend who is from Key West, FL to see what her hometown was looking like during my vacation.



This is making it harder for me to figure out which ones to include in this post.



It was nice to get away for an out of town vacation and I also took some time off once I got home because my adult child was visiting for mother's day and to help me deal with my house.



The photographs are all from Key West although the narrative will skip around.



The AIDS memorial is very touching.



I've lived in the same house since 1984 and although I don't have plans to move it is overwhelming to think about a change that would involved packing up. By the way I live NC and although I have tried my best to hide my house in overgrown bushes, I haven't accomplished a hidden house like this one in FL.



Avory offered to help me look through stuff and decide what I was ready to get rid of and what I wanted to keep.



We got a remarkable amount done.



It also motivated me to keep going with the rest, a little bit at a time.



A lot of these shots are from the Key West public garden.



A friend of my sister's is on the garden board and took us around while supplying us with interesting information about the plants and Key West history.



I love gardens and always find it interesting to see ones with different growing conditions.



I feel a bit guilty about the bird below although my brother in law set it free.



When I started photographing him I thought he was on the outside of the screen resting.



As it turned out he was caught between the glass and screen door.



I usually avoid cars in photographs but the red car and red flowers seemed to go together.

March 21 through April 29, 2018

The first shot was taken on March 21 and I was glad the snow was short lived because we were well into spring.



We even had a tiny snow in April but I would have missed it if I hadn't looked out my window in the middle of the night.



We've lucked out in the triangle area of NC because the below freezing temperatures we have had in April have been short enough not to cause much damage.



I probably shouldn't say that since I'm not a farmer.



I don't know whether it's been a hard spring for North Carolina farmers or not.



I spotted the sign in front of a house in Durham and I LOVE it.



I've been tempted by the bicycles in downtown Durham since it's fairly flat.



I haven't tried to ride a bike in my neighborhood in ages because it's so hilly.



The shot above was taken looking up in my yard and the shot below is a neighbor's yard.



I love wisteria and shot the vine below on the Shelley Lake path.



The next shot is in my driveway facing the house across from me.



The shot above and below were taken around a week ago when my phone kept signalling that there was a hard frost warning.



It was only below freezing briefly and I didn't notice any damage to speak of.



The shot above is looking up in my driveway and the shot below is a neighbor's tree.



The next shot is around the corner from my house.



Bill and I went to the WRAL azalea garden last weekend for a walk.



Everything was looking very good.



They have a variety of flowers and ornamental plants.



The cardinal below was bathing on my deck yesterday.



I also shot the American Robin yesterday.



I took the rest of the shots today during a walk at Shelley Lake today (April 29, 2018).



I took a ton of shots of the great fisher otherwise knows as a great blue heron.



I think this is known as success as long as you're the fisher and not the fish.



You probably can't see them in the next shot but there are 5 Canada Geese babies and 2 adults.



I zoomed in on some of the babies.

Late February through mid March

The photographs are chronological starting with late February.



We had some warm weather in February which jump started spring but this past week we had snow so it's not a clear trajectory. 



I noticed we may have another little snow this coming week.



I was more concerned with some very cold nights since early spring flowers are pretty resilient but if the temperatures drop too low it creates issues.



It's been a very pleasant weekend.



I'm never too eager for hot weather but I like moderate weather the older I get.



It's interesting to me how some flowers get their signals from temperature and others seem to wait for longer days (this is observational not scientific).



The snowy, icy shots are ones I took this week.



I used to know more about the science behind plants and trees but I have forgotten most of it.



Some trees and flowers never go into spring mode until much later but others do seems to react to the immediate weather.



What I worry about is when my pecan tree starts leafing out too early.



I've had that happen a few years where the first bunch of new leaves are killed by low temperatures.



Too early leaves haven't had long term damage to my pecan tree but I don't get very many pecans when the leaves have to start over again after being killed. 



The flowering trees above were taken during a walk today.



The cormorants haven't left Shelley Lake yet.



They usually go somewhere else in the later spring and return in the fall. They are spotted year round at other lakes in my area but I don't usually see them at Shelley Lake in the later spring and summer.



The herons are at this lake year round.



I can tell when they have babies because they scream and fly up and down the lake if I get too close to where they nest.



Happy St. Patrick's Day!