The Lizards Are Back!

It's finally gotten warm enough for my little buddies to resurface after a long cold winter. This little guy (or gal - how can you tell?) greeted me when I stepped out onto the sunny deck. It still surprises me when they don't run away from me as I approach.

Meet Eleodoro which means 'gift from the sun'. Look at that long tail!

I got down to Eleodoro's level to see if he'd let me - he did.

Would he let me get even closer? He did. He seemed as curious as I.

He looked me over real good with his left eye...

... then his right...

... then his left again. Perhaps he was looking at his own reflection in the lens?

I kid you not when I say he followed me around as I walked on the deck.

I left Eleodoro to his sunbathing and what greeted me back in the house? Eleodoro's distant cousin Heveadoro* who was swimming in the water bowl courtesy of Lupe.
(* Heveodoro means 'gift from the rubber tree' ~ Hevea brasiliensis is the genus species name for the rubber tree ~ tee hee hee.)

Layli checked him out.

This is a lizard from last fall. I've included the picture because of the two-toned tail. It looks like when he regrew his tail it grew in a different color.

As crazy as this sounds Saeed and I feel that these lizards trust us, or whatever the reptilian equivalent of trust is. I'm sure they'd run away and hide if a hawk or cat came on the deck, but they walk right up to us and look us straight in the eye. Maybe they've looked there before and seen deep into our animal-loving souls and know that we could never, would never hurt them.

Earth Fare Is Getting Rid Of Plastic Bags

We've been using canvas bags for a long time but now it's official. You either bring your own or it'll be a paper bag. Congratulations to Earth Fare for taking a stand. 

Top 5 Reasons Earth Fare is Kicking Plastic Bags!
Posted by: earthfare | April 13, 2010

What we do to the Earth, we do to ourselves.

And for that reason, Earth Fare has decided it is time to take a stand on plastic bags. It is time to CUT, BREAK and even STAB the plastic “bag” habit. You have all seen the havoc plastic bags wreak on our landscape – littering the highways, the landfills and hanging from the trees – gross! Starting April 22nd (Earth Day), Earth Fare is taking a stand for Mother Earth! We are ELIMINATING plastic grocery bags from all of our stores.

Top 5 Reasons Earth Fare is eliminating Plastic Bags!

1. Plastic bags get into our rivers and oceans killing marine life!
2. Plastic bags decompose slower than paper bags leaving roads, forests and neighborhoods littered with garbage.
3. According to a study by the EPA, plastic bags are FOUR TIMES LESS likely to be recycled over paper bags!
4. Plastic bags hold THREE TIMES LESS than traditional paper bags.
5. Plastic bags produce 33% MORE fossil fuels and 59% MORE greenhouse gases than paper bags.

So, grab the reusable bag this Earth Day, and get shopping! And stay tuned for our next post on the Paper Bag vs. Plastic Bag debate!

Nice Little Weekend Visit

A few pics from this past weekend.

Cyrus and I went outside to play so that Shirin could complete her nap after Cyrus woke up from his. I asked him to make a happy face.

This is what I got when I asked for an angry face. I said, "Aw c'mon, make an ANGRY face!"

This is what I got - so scary I took a blurry picture!

Nearby the wisteria were in full bloom. They smelled so good and I could smell them from this far away.

Wow! I'll bet Cyrus got a snort full of fragrance!

Dinner at The Grit. Cyrus ate his dinner and some of Shirin's and mine.

Should I have included this picture in my blog? My sleeve is in it and Saeed looks really unhappy! He wasn't unhappy, I just have a hard time getting him to smile.

I don't look like my children or my grandson. Where the heck did my genes go?

I love this picture. Shirin is doing a crossword puzzle and Cyrus is reading by himself.

I bet he knows this story by heart.

Must be good - look at that grin.

I took some video too but don't have time to upload them right now. I have book club tonight, so maybe tomorrow? Check back later. :-)

National Cancer Control Month

April is National Cancer Control month so here is Dr. Weil's newsletter item for today:

A healthy diet can help the body in its efforts to heal itself, and in some cases particular foods can help protect against the development of serious illness. To help reduce your risk of some types of cancer, try the following dietary steps:

1. Avoid polyunsaturated vegetable oils, margarine, vegetable shortening, all partially hydrogenated oils, and all foods that might contain trans-fatty acids (such as deep-fried foods).
2. Increase omega-3 fatty acids by eating more cold water oily fish, freshly ground flaxseeds, and walnuts.
3. Reduce consumption of animal foods and try to replace them with vegetable proteins such as whole soy products.
4. Use hormone-free, organically produced products whenever possible.
5. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
6. Eat shiitake, enokitake, maitake, and oyster mushrooms frequently.
7. Drink green tea daily.

I can do all of those but the cold water oily fish. I eat walnuts daily but those flaxseeds, which have to be eaten quickly due to shelf life and ground to release the nutrients from the hull, are a challenge. The Japanese mushrooms are also difficult for us but worth doing some research.

Out Of Control

Out of control - that's how I see the Republican Party at this point. The concept of the Dems and the GOP keeping each other in check is basically a sound one, albeit with problems aplenty. Currently, however, it's like a marriage gone bad with one of the spouses refusing to take their meds. Here is the link to an awesome post titled "An open letter to conservatives" by a conservative republican blogger known as "American Dad." He's spot on.

Puddles Of Plenteous Pollen

Yes it did rain, quite a lot in fact, but not enough to wash the pollen down the drain. Big puddles of pollen are everywhere. I ended up taking my car through the car wash once the sun came out. It looks much better :-)

Puddle of pollen

Spring Has Sprung

You know I love to take pictures of the flora and fauna around our house...

These first few pictures are of the holly bushes by our front steps. How long have I lived here? I never remember them flowering this way, but the bees were going crazy so I looked more closely and had a beautiful surprise. Have they flowered this way every spring? Surely.

This is the picture I used for my blog background above. Can you see the pollen dusting the leaves? The pollen is particularly heavy this year.

The forsythia flowers are actually on their way out.

Last weekend the azalea bushes looked about to explode with flowers. This bush shows four early bloomers, but further down you'll see pictures taken three days later. BOOM!

If you enlarge this picture you can better see the pollen coating the blossoms.

Redbud tree.

Redbud blossoms.

Look at the baby leaves!

The apple tree blossoms are so pretty.

I worry so much about the declining butterfly populations so it does my heart good to see them in our yard.

We have several large beds of periwinkle groundcover.

Two little shy girls hiding in the leaves.

So simple, so beautiful.

As I'm coming back into the house I notice Obi in the sunroom.

He loves to stay in here and look out all day.

This picture was taken three days later. See how many more of the azaleas have bloomed.

This is actually Chappu on the other side.

More azaleas of a different hue. Even the leaves are a different hue, more of a blue-ish green than the true green of the azalea bushes above.

Not to be outdone by the flowers these maple tree 'helicopters' are beautiful in their own way.

Mystery blossom -- do you know what it is?

Today it finally rained a bit. All the pollen that was dusting every surface just glopped up into yellow puddles and yellow clumps. It's supposed to rain more tonight so hopefully it will all wash away.

Our yellow-dusted deck rail.

On NPR this morning they said the usual high point for pollen in this area is 1800 granules per unit measure. Yesterday they measured it at 9000 granules per unit measure. Local 'experts' have suggested that the large volume of pollen this year is due to the fact that we had such a relatively cold winter with such an abrupt and sudden heat spell. Temps the last two days were over 90 degrees with high 80s before that, perhaps fooling all the trees to throw out their pollen when normally different species release it at different points throughout the spring. I'm just ready for it to be gone! I've had to use my windshield wipers to clear my car window each morning as if it had been dusted with a light flurry of snow during the night.