POODLE UPDATE

my beloved whippet, luna, died unexpectedly of leptospirosis last month. she has been much published in this blog. if you search the blog, you can watch her grow up. words cannot express my feelings over this sudden loss of my 11 year old beauty. 

however, colton still needs a pal, and we have welcomed little roxy into our hearts. she is also a standard poodle, but will only be about 40 lbs full grown, whereas colton is around 70 pounds. here she is drinking from the bird bath with begonia "millions of kisses" photo bombing.

the bees busy pollinating magnolia "bracken's brown"

colton with his new gal pal

POTAGER PROGRESSION

photos showing the progression of the potager

this kobucha squash is taking over the garden; we call her "audrey"

 wire fences in place to prevent potager predation

MISTY MORNING

a misty april morning provided an excuse to wield the macro

BONAIRE IDYLL

we finally took another tropical vacation - to bonaire.... there are 3 things you can do on bonaire... windsurf (best flat-water windsurfing location in the world), dive (or snorkel) and bird watch. below, at jibe city, is me...

and my husband...

me again... 

a gull fishing at jibe city...

jibe city traffic jam (hubs with yellow sail)...

jibe city from the water...

we snorkeled all around the island... here i am off klein bonaire with 2 queen angelfish, which followed me for about 10 minutes...

friendly (or hungry?) queen angel...

on the boat (the sea cow, highly recommended) back from klein bonaire, we saw our hotel beach...

the hotel had great bird watching! we saw this little hummingbird in the garden...

and this parrot, perhaps one of the endangered yellow-shouldered parrots? we only saw these at the hotel...

it's really hard to get a good picture of a parrot with a telephoto while it's windy and the parrot is perched on waving branches! the parrot was interested in us...

we traveled (on the worst bumpy dirt roads ever) through washington slagbaai national park... wait, what are those odd pink dots in the water? can you see them?

those pink dots are flamingos... bonaire is one of the few places in the world where flamingos nest...

it's almost impossible to get close to these guys... this is with telephoto and blown up...

iridescent lizards are everywhere in the park...

typical park coastline... bonaire has few sand beaches - most are coral rubble.

this gem, hidden in the park, is wayaka ii. i think it was the prettiest beach in bonaire. it has a cave and good snorkeling, though we didn't have time to snorkel there.

we did visit the donkey sanctuary... here's a typical bonaire landscape... many of the trees indicate the prevailing wind direction...

the staff at the donkey sanctuary were hardworking and friendly...

donkeys are curious and always seeking a handout...

i took this from a tower in the sanctuary... 

mother donkey with foal... we had a great time in bonaire!