Day 14.031: Not for the first time...

...the waves on the beach were just as interesting as the waves off the beach.

Day 13.115: Things we saw at Clifford Park

A six-spotted tiger beetle - always spectacular especially if the sun catches its iridescent wings:

Some trout lilies:

This tree - which seemed to have completely exploded. Half of it was obviously quite rotten and the part where the two trunks were just starting to divide was turned into a half-hollow bench - modeled here by E5N1 and some of the good side had made some steps we used to bypass the flooded trail:

And, talking of water, you know I can't resist turning a reflection upside-down from time to time!

Day 13.056: It's the weekend!

...and the mood is:

Day 10.173: Exile #2's Sunday Column #163

Exile #2 writes...

I'd had my eye on Fuller Gardens for a while, although it was difficult to tell if it would be worth the journey from Maine. As we got closer, the villages got prettier, until we reached a stretch of mind-bogglingly large coastal mansions, each one bigger than the last. Our destination turned out to be one of these. The garden didn't look huge but we were pleased to discover there was plenty to explore.

We spent the first part of the morning smelling the roses, both literally and figuratively.

E5N1 came up with a theory that red roses looked good but didn't really smell of anything. From my investigations, I can confirm that Queen Elizabeth doesn't smell, the Queen of Sweden does, but quite delicately, however, the real star of the show is Gertrude Jekyll, who smells quite spectacularly.

E5N1 loved the roses, and the Japanese Garden:

but was most taken with the greenhouse full of cacti and succulents:

Once again, although the space was not huge, the variety of plants was amazing.

With a dahlia garden:

a small walled garden, and large bed of hostas thrown in for good measure:

we left feeling quite happy. It seems we're still most definitely British at heart!

Day 8.289: Reflections in the sand

From our walk on Sunday afternoon...

We walked from Ocean Park to the Old Orchard Beach pier and back - maybe two and a half miles total.

Day 8.229: Family portraits on Timber Island

Looks like I took a photo of all five of the Exiles while we were walking around the rocky shore of Timber Island:

Day 8.151: Look who it is!

One of these people...

Has a birthday tomorrow.

So I had better get to bed so I can be ready to celebrate with her.

Day 8.083: Mystery photo

The kids had the day off school today and enjoyed the amazingly warm weather (it hit 66°F/19°C) and hanging out with their friends from down the street meanwhile I had a pretty good Friday at work.

We didn't go to church tonight - instead opting for dinner, a walk in the early evening sunshine and a couple of episodes of Star Trek. We were really in need of some down-time.

All of which has very little to do with this:

 - can you tell what it is?

Day 7.337: Parade of Lights

Late this afternoon we made our way to the Old Port in Portland to see the 12th Annual Parade of Lights.

It's a different kind of parade - boats with lights rather than cars, buses and fire trucks. E5N1 asked hopefully if they would be using a candy cannon to distribute sweet treats to the crowds. They did not, but the views were a pretty good compensation.

As well as the boats, we saw the Polar Express. It was quite photogenic:

We weren't in a great place to see the fireworks - which were launched from one of the boats in the parade, but they were a nice finale to the evening:

Day 7.105: Disoriented

I got slightly lost on a run earlier this week. Not so that I didn't know where I was, but I was wrong about there being a way from where I was to where I wanted to go. Fortunately, I was able to refer to a map on my phone and plot a course home.

If I hadn't gone the 'wrong' way, I wouldn't have seen these views of an inlet on the river:

...not that I did see exactly those views - although I did take those photographs.