Monday's Moment: Dock on the River

 

Wrapping up home leave 2021.....

The majority of our home leave 2021 was spent in Charleston, South Carolina....likely our last home leave there as we now have our own place in Florida. Looking forward to landing and everyone can come to us (as oppose to running around like we have the last 3 home leaves and R&Rs). We make the big flight over the pond, so a drive down to Orlando is not too bad.

We spent a lot of time running around to doctor's appointments (more than we had planned - someone got contacts, which involved a lot practicing, trying putting them in and out, etc). Based on the past two home leaves, it would not be HL if I didn't get something removed (luckily no cancer this time, just an annoying cyst that wouldn't resolve itself). We enjoyed plenty of time at our favorite restaurants as well. I was also still working remotely all HL (super fun to plan interviews at a reasonable hour in Qatar and not insanely early on the east coast).

Here is a picture of the cousins playing in their natural habitat (aka on electronics)....at least it appeared they were all playing the same game. After a relaxing Father's day brunch (that was on the only time we could get all the teens together...lol).

Given Frankfurt will be a lot colder the majority of the year and we won't have our own yard, we used up the rest of the water balloons we had leftover from Doha.

Airborne Ninja?

Someone was double dog dared to smash a balloon on their head...lol.

We took lots of walks with our new camera (upgraded to the Nikon Z6II mirrorless camera). So we played with the new camera a bit a lot. So I will end with a couple of the wildlife photos and save the rest for Monday Moments.

A Great Egret (Ardea alba) wading at the river's edge.

Deer on Deer Walk (street name.....just a bit ironic)

Osprey (Pandion sp.) on an electric line.

Eastern king snake (Lampropeltis getula) just outside the front door!

Lavender Fields in Delaware

As I mentioned a few days ago...lol. I spent a couple hours at the Lavender Fields of Warrington Manor in Milton, Delaware last summer during home leave. They have multiple fields of flowers besides the lavender (such as a Bee and Butterfly Garden; Dahlia Garden; Wildflower Garden; and Zen Garden. So here's a post of pretty pictures with flower names where I know them.

Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) and black eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

These seem to be the same, just different color variations.

I think this is Gaillardia (Blanket Flower), part of the sunflower family, Asteraceae.

Unknown white flower

More Echinacea (Echinacea purpurea) with bee friends.

I think these are rose blooms that have pink spots which apparently are Botrytis cinerea (a fungus) or maybe a camilla.

Lots of gladiolus (Gladiolus sp.), also called a sword lily, which are in the iris family.

Seems to be some sort of mini orchid or lily.

Old silo on the property.

Some type of orange lily.

English lavender, (Lavandula angustifolia, Lavandula officinali) and lavender with cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae).

 

Black Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio polyxenes) on pink/purple flowers.

Old fence with pink wildflowers.

Dahlia flowers.....so many colors and vanities.

Bird houses at the edge of a field.

Some sort of pink and white cosmo hybrid.

Okra blossom, (Abelmoschus esculentus) - tasty and pretty!

Fancy orange lily (I used to have a dog name Lily, named after my favorite flower at the time).

Small green cherry like fruits with black spots on a tree branch.

Hibiscus! We aren't in the tropics anymore, how did that happen! Likely the hardy Luna White (Hibiscus moscheutos) - both the pink and white are the same name, but different varieties.

More english lavender!

Possibly another Dahlia.

Yellow chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum sp.)

 

Some type of orange mum.

English lavender bunches drying in the shop.

One this cold and gray winter day, mentally walking through the flower garden has warmed and brightened my day. Hope you enjoyed it also!