26 May 2024
If it’s May, it must be time for Royal Poincianas to bloom.
I always look forward to their blooming and this tree is particularly nice on my block. This is the second tree on the same spot. The first one disappeared during a hurricane.
I had a nice walk of 1.5 miles this morning. About halfway through, I met Chris and Tucker on their walk and we finished up together, catching up on the local gossip. Along the way we met several neighbors and had brief conversations. Chris plans to do a lot of work this morning – I plan to do nothing.
Eventually, I need to head to the pool store and see if they can repair (again) my Great White pool cleaner. It’s gotten to the point it goes to one location in the pool and stays there. This thing probably has none of its original parts it’s been repaired so many times. Maybe it’s time to get a new version.
I’m back to my fruit and yogurt for breakfast. Cheerios was a nice break but the summer fruit has begun to come in and I actually got some decent tasting cantaloupe and watermelon from Whole Foods. I could eat watermelon every day but I would stay in the bathroom peeing. Years ago when I was in grad school at FSU in library and information science, I would run on the track for the track and field events – much better on my feet and back. I learned the track team always had watermelon after their workouts to rehydrate and I’ve taken that to heart over the years.
Also blooming in my yard is an orchid Jim gave me several years ago. It’s the genus Myrmecophila and I think it’s the species tibicinis but I’m not 100% positive.
This is a huge orchid! I have it in a 25 gallon pot and it’s overgrown that.
It has pseudobulbs below these huge leaves and ants often are found in the pseudobulbs in a symbiotic relationship.
It sends up extremely long spikes of flowers – the longest I’ve ever seen.
One of these flower spikes is over six feet long! This year I got about 5 spikes. Some years I have 7 or more. The blooms last a long time. After the flowers drop and the stalks dry out, they can be quite woody and rigid.
The weather forecast for the next 3 days is 95°F. This is a very late start to the rainy season. We have rain predicted on Tuesday but we’ve seen that before and it hasn’t rained.
Take a page from my book and curl up in bed with a book and after reading a while, take a nap.
Stay tuned!