Fall Begins ~ Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Sep 2022

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

September tries its best to have us forget summer ~ Bernard Williams

September is the month of wonderful weather ~ Anonymous

Nostalgia ~ that’s autumn, dreaming through September. Just a million lovely things I will always remember ~ Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

September ~ where fall and summer meet ~ Will Wallace Harney

There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but somehow you know that it is all about to end as if summer was holding its breath, and when it let it out again, it would be autumn ~ Sharyn McCrumb

Summer Flowers ~ Quotes ~ Photos ~ August 2022

The smallest flower is a thought, a life answering to some feature of the Great Whole, of whom they have a persistent intuition ~ Honore de Balzac

You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way ~ Walter Hagen

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change ~ Buddha

Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful ~ Jim Carrey

A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms ~ Zen Shin

Earth laughs in flowers ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Edison & Ford Winter Estates ~ Favorite Restaurants ~ Fort Myers, Florida ~ Photos

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page ~ St. Augustine

A neat place to visit in the Fort Myers area is the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. They date from 1885 and in addition to the winter homes there is an historical museum, a 21 acre botanical garden plus a gift shop and a garden center where guests can purchase plants and trees. Plan on spending several hours as you explore this beautiful area ~ Check out the web site for additional information. www.edisonfordwinterestates.org

Favorite Restaurants ~ Happy Hours

Matanzas ~ the main restaurant has a fabulous Happy Hour, with good drinks and super appetizers ~ plus a fabulous bartender. The restaurant has a very good lunch & dinner menu ~ best Key Lime Pie! ~ eat inside or outside ~ or choose Petey’s Upper Deck ~ also a marvelous place to relax and enjoy the ambience. The restaurant is located at Matanzas Inn, where I stayed for several days and highly recommend ~ great location ~ short walk to the beach and next to the marina.

Matanzas on the Bay | Waterfront Restaurant on Fort Myers Beach

Matanzas Inn | Fort Myers Beach Bayside Resort & Marina

Courtney’s Continental Cuisine ~ mouthwatering menu, including many terrific Italian entrees and Key Lime pie for dessert ~ the food definitely lives up to your expectations (or surpasses them!). Bon Appetit!

courtneyscontinentalcuisine.com

Lani Kai Island Resort ~ the bar on the top floor has a fabulous Happy Hour ~ terrific drinks and a special menu ~ plus a spectacular view of the beach

Fort Myers Beach Resort | Lani Kai Island Resort | Book Today!

Savor your journeys, near or far, real or imagined

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, Florida ~ Photos ~ June 2022

The universe is a continuous web,

Touch it at any point

And the whole web quivers.

Stanley Kunitz, Poet

Savor your journeys, near or far, real or imagined

For information about hours, special exhibits, directions, etc:

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens – The Living Museum

Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, Washington ~ Photos ~ early April 2022

We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives ~ Gary Zukav



Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Feb 2022 ~ Photos ~ Quotes

Don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous ~ Rumi

All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost: the old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost ~  J.R.R Tolkien

The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination ~ Terri Guillemets

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back ~ Albert Camus

We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives ~ Gary Zukav

Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Early Nov, 2021 ~ Quotes ~ Photos

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower ~ Albert Camus

If a year was tucked inside of a clock, then autumn would be the magic hour ~ Victoria Erickson

Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree ~ Emily Brontë

Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons ~ Jim Bishop

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Gardens, Including Japanese Garden ~ Point Defiance Park, Tacoma WA ~ Photos

The earth laughs in flowers ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable ~ Joseph Addison

Rose Garden ~ Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ early September, 2021

God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December ~ James M. Barrie


We have got to learn how to not look at creed or color. Look at how beautiful a bouquet of roses looks like – different color roses, all look beautiful. We have to learn how to let our beauty of the color of our roses shine to the world ~ Charles Bradley


Truths and roses have thorns about them ~ Henry David Thoreau


What though youth gave love and roses, Age still leaves us friends and wine ~ Thomas Moore