Going Botanical

What’s this?  A blog from Joe on a different day then usual?  Why would such an outlandish event occur?  Well, there’s several reasons:  1) I was messing around with Google + and managed to delete many of my photos there and they disappeared from Blogger as well.  2) I’ve long searched for a simple way to put music on my blog again to no avail…finally I think I found out how to do it again!  3) Why do tomorrow (or for Thursday) what I can do now? 

Florida, ah Florida.  The places to go and see something beautiful abound!  We visited some gardens that were so nice to see.  Just seeing the pathway into this one I knew it would be something special.  It was hot but the path ahead beckoned like an instinct that won’t be ignored.  Inside there were many varieties of trees and flowers.  My goodness I love palm trees.  Bird of Paradise flowers always capture me with their exotic beauty.  This butterfly ironwork chair looked inviting…but not in this heat.  I’m not the flower or bird expert my grandpa and grandma Fahrion were but I know a beautiful flower when I see it.  These flowers were like living fireworks.  Can’t you imagine something like this on a 4th of July evening?  This place was not only beautiful but oh so peaceful.  Look at this wonderful wall mural.  The bright and hot sun made for a harsh glare sometimes but I clicked away in spite of it.  The shadows made the sunlight poking through a stunning contrast.  If I lived abroad again for any length of time I’d find a way to grow bamboo…love the stuff!  Other flowers reminded me of ballroom dresseswhile other things were just weird and exotic to my eye…especially seeing it here in America.  I like colorful flowers but there’s a wonderful classic beauty in white ones too…what interesting plants!  Well, this is sobering.  Yellow?  Coming right up.  Some delicate shades suit me just fine as well.  Such stunning names to go with these flowers too.  Coming around the bend there was a bird stretching out to dry his wings…wow!  I’m not quite sure what this is but I like it!  Talk about flowers that pop out at you…they remind me of coals and sparks.  Again some awesome bambooand some bamboo stumps.  The color and symmetry of these just wouldn’t let me go .  What kind of bamboo is it?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  Family made it all even better.  As we snaked our way around the area other interesting plants grabbed my attention…tropical petunia huh?  Some other varieties of palms…hmm, they are different.  I love textures.  Beauty down on the groundand beauty up above.  It’s great being able to have things to see all around.  I think they had at least four varieties of palms there.  Now we began to wind our way around to the parking lot again and Love had to get some shots of our friends and family in.  I do love the tropics and tropical walks.  We had still not seen a real live gator yet but this fake one looked pretty real.  How nice to escape the tunnel vision of home for a bit…or did we?  The last part of our walk had some interesting things to see too.  Mysterious glimpses through the wall gave it a surreal appearanceand though we’d not seen any live gators yet there were reminders to look out for them.  Unusual tall grass lined one side of the walkway  at this point.  Varieties of fruit were all around here too…what’s this?  I know what this is.  This sign made me think we were destined to visit.  Now the walk was quite forested in.  Such amazing plants!  Bananas, bananas by the bunch.  Even pineapple!  I’ve not seen one growing since visiting plantations in the Philippines!  Here were some unusual palmsand an incredible blossom.  The last photo reminds me so of the Baobabs of Africa.  A day to remember in Florida!

The Zoo, Universal Studios and a Filipino Restaurant

Our family is very much an animal loving family so visiting the zoo was a great experience in Florida.  Each section had its theme…the first one had an Asian flare to it.  Our little zoo here in our town is nothing to this one.  Just look at this huge Komodo Dragon !  We don’t even have monkeys in our zoo here but there was no shortage of them in the Florida zoo.  It was very hot and some of them chose to sit literally in the waterfall display while others sat on the various wood platforms that had been built for them.  Next we moved on to an African themed section of the zoo.  I enjoy flowers as much as animals at times…these I remember well from the Philippines and Africa.  Some animals have such personality that even sitting around they are a joy to see .  I love doors…these may not be the amazing doors that Dublin is so famous for but I like them none the less.  These have an old world flare don’t you think?  The tortoises were surprisingly active…ever roaming around their enclosure.  Who doesn’t love Giraffes.  These were sparing lightly by hitting each other with their long necks.  This one we were able to feed after paying a small fee.  The zoo was filled with interesting masksand designs that I really liked.  We had time to notice as we took shelter from occasional downpours.  The birds didn’t seem to mind the rain at all.  Gabby was prepared for the rain at least.  Here she is leaving the Giraffe area.  The flowers thrive on the rain for sure.  The Wallabies didn’t seem quite so thrilled with the rain…doesn’t this one look a bit sad.  Maybe it’s because the trees in this are didn’t provide much shelter for them.  They may not have looked thrilled but I love looking at them anyway.  A wedding was being held in the zoo so we had to leave…the last thing we saw were these Mandrills…what unusual creatures!  My daughter is a huge Harry Potter fan so Universal Studios Hogwarts was a particular joy to witness.  I heard it took many years to get it right with the author’s input and I believe it!  Filipino food is prevalent in Florida and we so much enjoyed going and eating it.  It felt so much like the restaurants we enjoyed in the Philippines  .  Thata, Meliza, Miles and Vince…we love you guys so very much.  Such enjoyable dishes!  The barbecue is to die for!  Be still my beating heart (and growling stomach)!  Pinakbet…oh how I love it!  Real Siaopao!  These delightful meat filled treats are so good!  Last but not least what Filipino feast would be complete without Halo-halo?  Here’s Danielle, Gabby and Meliza…such good timesand last but not least Mike and Thata join the crew!  Miss you all so very much!

Food: the Great Uniter

Staying with our Filipino relatives in Florida I find that once again I’m amazed at not just the variety of foods…like this Durian that I was shocked to see but the sheer volume of things to eat.  My pallet is somewhat experienced and many things I truly enjoy but Durian…well, I can’t get past the fact that my mind insists it tastes like a mix between rotten onions and something sickeningly sweet.  Fortunately there were many other things available to enjoy.  We had so much fun with the people that our family invited over and the pool provided great entertainment as well.  The next day we visited a food market of sorts with greens available that I’d not seen since my trips abroad.  The Filipino community is quite large but still I was amazed to see someone selling Balut.  Click the hyperlink to learn more…this picture doesn’t do it justice.  I was also pleasantly surprised to see some fresh coconuts.  I was enjoying our time so much when a man called me over and started talking to me.  He informed me that he had met former president Bush when he was selling his amazing mangoes in the past.  The president liked them so much that he named him “Mr. Mango”.  Eating one of these that he spiced up with Tabasco, Lemon and salt…I can certainly see why !  It was a flavor that was totally unique.  This man had been all over the place since coming here from Mexico…I think he’s the very symbol of capitalism working and the American dream…it’s not all about corruption and failure.  Another delightful treat that I had not seen since the Philippines was being sold by the box:  Rambutan!  It’s a delightful treat that looks pretty scary on the outside…amazing and cool in my opinion!  By the way if you didn’t follow my link about Balut above here’s a little peak at what it looks like opened up…you might guess why I will not eat this one…call it a delicacy if you want I don’t eat chicks boiled in an egg if I can help it.  Generally speaking the power of trying things, socializing and enjoying a culture has been one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever experienced in life.  Food is truly a uniter or a divider depending on you.  This applies to spiritual food as well.  God offers a wide variety of blessings.  There’s a buffet of spiritual gifts offered by God but if you choose to linger on misunderstandings of the scripture based on things about women or any variety of things you will find yourself cut out.  Bigotry is on the rise these days but for me I choose to love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength and love my neighbor as myself…against those things there is no law. Make no mistake there is still right and wrong but our decisions should be based on righteous judgments…God’s judgments not our own.