Books at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens gift shop

So Many Choices…

More bee-friendly plants at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Agastache

The bees really liked these flowers at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (and Clarissa really liked the color)

Flower Mix

Relaxing view of koi pond at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Relaxation

Zen contemplation-pond at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Full Pond, Empty Mind

Koi pond at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

Koi

Clarissa’s engagement ring (the wedding is on 05/05/2013)

Engagement Ring

Maple-glazed sweetbread, with bourbon glaze, orange pecan salad, and maraschino cherries, from “Edison: food+drink lab” in Tampa.

Sweetbread

Getting ready to start an aquaponics project

Proof my yard is like this on purpose… ;)

My humble abode

Home

Ok, so I wasn’t exactly “roughing it”…

The Great Outdoors

Maya, looking quite ominous in her box…

Special Delivery

Maya, trying to catch the other cat…

Gone Fishin’

One of the hens, wandering around the yard.

Australorp

Invasive, but pretty

Mimosa

Maya’s favorite spot to sleep

Cat Nap

I thought they were going to swarm, but these ladies were kind enough to stick around for a while longer… and I got lots of tasty honey from them.

I normally let nature do its thing… but when I came across this little fella’, I decided to make an exception… It’s an invasive plant called Tropical Soda Apple. I uprooted it and turned it into compost.

Spiky Plant Of Doom

An eye-catching display of Winterberries in front of the North Carolina Arboretum.

I’m going to get some of these for my yard!

North Carolina Arboretum

Clarissa, posing for a shot, during our trip back down the mountain.

Katie, one of the farm dogs, sitting next to me on the swing out back. She slept on the back deck for the entire time we stayed there. So cute.

Katie

This was our cabin for the handful of days we spent relaxing in the hot-tub or in front of the fireplace.

Knob Cabin

We spent a long weekend on vacation in North Carolina at Briar Rose Farm.

It was a beautiful area.

Briar Rose Farm

One of the rare times when the cats are actually getting along…

Opposites Attract

We got about 22lbs of honey out of the hive. Awesome.

Too bad it almost all got given away as gifts…

Next year, I’m keeping it all to myself!

Honey

Maya, staying warm with our her electric blanket

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Huh? What? Where’d she go?

Camouflaged

“I canz use ‘magination now? Vroom-Vroom! Beeeep!”

Cat In A Box

Found this “Spider” made out of railroad spikes at a landscaping place in Land O Lakes… It’s cool, but — at $350 — far too pricey.

Spider Plant