24 July 2023
I seem to be sleeping a lot these days – both at night and at nap time. It could be due to the blood I’m expressing into that damned bulb. At last count, 224 ml or 0.4 of a pint. I’m sure I’m replacing it but probably not as quickly as it’s going out.
I seem to do better in the mornings. I walked 1.5 miles today around 9 am. It was hot but not unbearable. The person I felt sorry for was the lone guy putting shingles on the house across the street from me. He just finished up (4 pm) and I can’t imagine trying to do roofing work in this heat (feels like temp 104°F). He finished shingling the entire roof today and it’s a big roof.
I picked up John around 11:45 am this morning and we met Joel at the Peter Pan Diner on Oakland Park Blvd and Dixie. It’s been in the same location since 1979 (I moved here in 1985) and it’s been years since I’ve been. It closed for a while after a fire but otherwise, it’s been open 24/7 since 1979.
I’m not sure why but most diners down here are run by Greek families. As far as diners go, this one is a cut above most in the quality of their food. We were seated in the bar area – a first for all of us – even though there was plenty of room in the main dining area.
Joel had the fish sandwich, John had a Ruben and I had the Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes. Everyone agreed the food was good. The diner has been gay friendly as long as I can remember and they even had “rainbow” cake in their dessert display case today. It’s the type of place that the waitresses have worked there 15-20 or more years.
I’m not sure I was great company. I was tired and not very hungry although I did eat about half of my dish. Joel and John had plenty to take home for another meal. After taking John back home, I went to bed for a nap and slept at least and hour and a half.
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There’s some disagreement as to whether this plant is considered a Florida native or simply an introduction from Cuba. In any case, it’s native to the Bahamas, Cuba, Central America and Greater Antilles.
It’s a member of the borage or forget-me-not family, the Boraginaceae. Biota of North America (BONAP) lists 42 genera in that family in the U.S.
No less a personage than John James Audubon named the tree for his friend John Geiger who “salvaged” ship wrecks off the coast of Florida. Audubon stayed at Geiger’s house while in the Keys and today it is known as the Audubon House.
You may wonder about the quotes around salvaged. Key West made an industry of leading ships purposefully onto reefs and then claiming salvage rights. Geiger could have been perfectly legitimate.
The tree doesn’t get too terribly large in most ornamental plantings in South Florida but it’s readily recognized by its orange flowers. The fruit is somewhat pear-shaped and is somewhat whitish in appearance.
This plant stumped me when I first saw it and a neighbor had a row planted along her swale. She was the one to tell me the name of the plant. Since my first discovery of the plant, I’ve seen it more and more planted as an ornamental in Fort Lauderdale. It’s always nice to see “natives” planted instead of ornamentals from other country.
Over my cross country trips, I’ve photographed 17 genera and 34 species in the borage family. That bit of data surprised me! Click on the links to see photos of the plants.
| Genus/Species | Common Name | Location |
| Amsinickia menziesii | Ranchers Fiddleneck | Pinnacles National Park; Catalina State Park, Arizona |
| Cryptantha angustifolia | Narrow-leaved Popcorn Flower | Death Valley National Park |
| Cryptantha flava | Yellow Cryptanth | Arches National Park; Canyonlands National Park; Capitol Reef National Park |
| Cryptantha flavoculata | Yellow-eyed Cryptanth | Bryce Canyon National Park |
| Cryptantha pterocarpa | Cryptanth | Catalina State Park, Arizona |
| Cryptantha simulans | Pine Crypthanth | North Cascades National Park |
| Cynoglossum officinale | Common Hounds Tongue | Shenandoah National Park |
| Cynoglossum virginianum | Wild Comfrey | Great Smoky Mountains National Park |
| Echium pininanna | Giant Vipers Bugloss | Redwoods National Park |
| Hackelia micranthe | Blue Stickseed | Crater Lake National Park |
| Heliotropium angiospermum | Scorpion Tail | Secret Woods Park, Fort Lauderdale; Bahia Honda State Park, Florida |
| Hydrophyllum capitatum | Ballhead Waterleaf | North Cascades National Park; Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park |
| Hydrophyllum tenuipes | Pacific Waterleaf | Snoqualmie Falls, Washington; Twin Falls, Washington |
| Hydrophyllum virginianum | Eastern Waterleaf | Cuyahoga Valley National Park; Shenandoah National Park |
| Lappula marginata | Cupped Stickseed | Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park |
| Lithospermum incisum | Narrow-leaf Cromwell | Fanning Springs State Park, Florida; Great Sand Dunes National Park; Bryce Canyon National Park; Theodore Roosevelt National Park |
| Mertensia brevistyla | Short-styled Bluebell | Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park |
| Mertensia ciliata | Mountain Bluebell | Yellowstone National Park |
| Mertensia lanceolata | Lance-leaf Bluebell | Theodore Roosevelt National Park |
| Mertensia longifolia | Small Bluebells | North Cascades National Park |
| Myosotis latifolia | Broadleaf Forget-me-not | Point Reyes National Seashore; Redwoods National Park |
| Myosotis sylvatica | Woodland Forget-me-not | Twin Falls, Washington |
| Namia demissa | Purple Mat | Death Valley National Park |
| Namia hispida | Purple Mat | Catalina State Park, Arizona |
| Nemophilia menziesii | White Baby Blue Eyes | Redwoods National Park |
| Phacelia campanulata | Desert Canterbury Bell | Death Valley National Park |
| Phacelia crenulata | Notched-leaf Phacelia | Death Valley National Park |
| Phacelia distans | Wild Heliotrope | Catalina State Park, Arizona |
| Phacelia fimbriata | Fringed Phacelia | Great Smoky Mountains National Park |
| Phacelia hastata | Silverleaf Phacelia | Yellowstone National Park; Crater Lake National Park |
| Phacelia popei | Phacelia | Catalina State Park, Arizona |
| Philostoma auritum | Blue Fiesta Flower | Pinnacles National Park |
| Plagiobotrys nothofulvus | Rusty Popcorn Flower | Pinnacles National Park |
| Tournefortia gnaphloides | Sea Lavender | Bahia Honda State Park, Florida |
