Butterflies and Flowers

I was up at 0600! It was still drippy outside, can't call it rain. But we did has some rain overnight. Woke Jim at 0800 but he didn't get up until an hour later. No matter, it's been a cloudy do nothing day.

But we did take pictures! Anne and I took a walk this morning and I snapped the following:

This one almost got away before I could take his picture!

The following pictures were taken by Jim when he went to Bentsen State Park this morning:

Not crazy about spiders but Jim's camera can get up and close

This pretty one has eluded me, keeps closing it's wings.....Nice shot honey!

I like the angle on this one

I took Boo for a walk and only had my phone to work with. I think the camera takes good pictures

We do have other color roses....sorry about the dead one. Didn't think to remove it before I took the picture

More clusters of butterflies on blue flowers.

It's almost dinner time. Boo is hungry....Jim isn't even here!

Just another day in the valley

I was up a little before 0700...hmmmm, I wonder if change is in my future? I woke Jim at 0800 and we had blueberry muffins for breakfast. It was a little cooler this morning, only 67 when I got up.... :)

Can't recall exactly when Jim left, but he took the truck to the Ford dealer to get the oil changed and to check a leak. I was working on my spices when he left.

When we attended the RV-Dreams Rally earlier this month I saw this tubular spice rack and decided I needed it. http://www.tubularspices.com/

It takes up less space than all the bottles and tins I have. In the future I can buy smaller amounts either from this company or from specialty stores that provide small packets.

After I cleaned up the kitchen I headed out with Anne to do some shopping. We went to Mitchael's and Walmart. We looked at a lot of Halloween stuff! We also picked up needed groceries at Walmart.

When we got home our guys were reading. I put away all my purchases while Jim told me he didn't get the oil changed.....Then the three of us went riding in Bentsen State Park. I didn't take a camera, but Anne brought hers and she shared a couple pictures with me

This is the first monarch we've seen here.

While we ladies were out and about Jim took the following pictures.

The amount of Butterflies on the bushes around here is amazing. Like Anne said it's magical!

Home Sweet Home

When we returned from our ride it was time to fix dinner Anne and I fixed shrimp scampi and we had our dinner on our patio. We had a loaf of Italian bread and a bottle of Green Apple Riesling from D'Vine Wine in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Chocolate cupcakes for dessert. After dinner Anne called Karen and we all talked with her and David trying to convince them to come on down to the valley! You see they aren't full timers :( and they wont be here until after Christmas.

We finally broke up around 1915. It didn't take long to do the dishes and then I showered. I've been sitting at this computer all evening and it's time for bed! What's this? I hear rain!

Nothing better than sleeping with rain coming down.

Hope your day was a good one....

Butterflies and Flowers

I was up around 0700 again, and I woke Jim at 0800 but he didn't get up immediately...sometimes he likes to snooze. We both did our normal morning routine of blogs, emails and coffee with breakfast. Just not at the same times!

I did up the dishes and watered my plants. Then I went for a little bike ride to mail something. Back home I realized I forgot something else I needed to mail so this time I walked, Jim had my trike turned on its side and was working on it. It was nice out so I walked to the mail box and just continued on and walked a couple miles.

Yesterday Anne and I walked around Bentsen Palms Resort and took pictures. Before long the flowers will fade and the butterflies will migrate south. I hope you enjoy my attempt at capturing shots of moving butterflies on a breezy afternoon.

How many can you count in this picture?

Or this one? they were thick on these flowers.

It's difficult to get up close enough without them flying off

Bet I took a dozen shots of this fella and I think he knew it! Kept folding his wings!

these little yellow butterflies were a challenge also. When they land they close up.

Olive tree with flowers and fruit

These flowers are much prettier in real life.

Anne probably has some better photos on her blog, http://scottfree09.blogspot.com/. I just checked and she does!

I had a big salad for lunch and watched my soaps. I was reading my book when Anne popped over to show me the embroidery she did on Zena's coat. Zena is a family dog that lives in New York. It's cold where she lives! She wanted to mail it and I had a package to mail to Sonsearae so we headed to the post office.

Then we stopped a newly opened Walmart to get planting items. But their garden center isn't. Christmas items instead.....but we managed to find other things to buy. Since we didn't have a cart we couldn't buy much!

Back home we got our happy hour/dinner ready. Jim and I had chicken sandwiches, Anne made potato salad and she and Scotty had ham and cheese. We also had some spinach dip with bagel chips and some olives. It was breezy but nice enough to sit outside. Boo joined us for dinner and then the begging started. We need to break him of that!

After dinner Anne served us some strawberry shortcake complete with whipped cream. It was very tasty! We ladies cleared the mess and then took Boo for a walk. I think we wore him out, he's sleeping soundly right now.

We've been watching NCIS on the USA channel. Jim is playing games on his computer.

Today has been cloudy and windy perhaps we'll get rain later.