The Wood's Secret Garden

The Story of the Butterfly Many of you know that I spend many hours photographing the wild life that visit the Woods Secret Garden.   There are always plenty of birds, squirrels, and even a couple of chipmunks.   Rarely do I see a butterfly.   I would, on occasion, see a couple of butterflies; however, we do not have many flowers for them to enjoy and with so many birds, they don’t hang around long enough for me to capture them with the camera.   Fast forward to yesterday.   Lindsay and I have been meeting regularly for approximately a year for coffee and fellowship around the Word of God.   I have never brought my camera to our meetings, accept once when Lindsay agreed to model one of my handmade, cross shoulder bags. Yesterday morning, as I was getting ready to meet with Lindsay, I decided to bring my camera and I wasn’t even sure why.   Even my husband found it odd and said, “You are bringing your camera?”   I answered, “Yes, I ju...

We were able to reach our original goal of making and selling 100 Transformed Bratz dolls to benefit an organization that helps rescue children trapped in the sex trafficking industry.  For that we are very thankful and have decided to continue the campaign throughout the year.  That means that almost all of the profit from the sell of my "Just K.I.D.S" dolls during calendar year 2016 will again go to such an organization.  Here is one of my newest kids on the block: While sitting out back enjoying the crisp morning air, the husband noticed that there was moss growing on top of the short little side yard fence. And coming up out of the moss, were sparkly green sprouts of some sort. My little hippie kid really wanted to get a closer look and so did I. So, even though she got a little dirty and I had to clean her up afterwards, it was well worth the adventure. We took a bunch of cool pictures! Enjoy! She even has hand painted Birken...

No, that is not the creature.  That is what started our exploration.  We recently built a small back patio so that we could sit out back and watch the zucchini grow.  Seriously, have you ever noticed how fast zucchini grows?  Okay, back to that thing up there.  Over the last few weeks we started seeing what looked like mouse droppings, only they had a little white ball on the end of them.  So, being who we are, we wanted to solve the mystery.  So, I googled, "droppings with white tips" and guess what?  We discovered that what we were seeing were lizard droppings.  Yep, you heard me right--lizard droppings.  Here is what I have learned:  "Lizard droppings have white tips due to the process of reptile elimination: both feces and urine exit their body through the same opening: the cloaca. Lizards are very water-efficient and their urine is quite concentrated. The white tip on the droppings is uric acid crystals."  In case you w...

Each year for our wedding anniversary (which is in May) we purchase a living plant to plant in our garden.  Last year we purchased a "Bleeding Heart" and planted it in our new yard at the Mobile Home Park.  Here is how it looked last year:   It was really beautiful while it was in full bloom; but, once it lost all its leaves it was a twisted mangle of dry wood that I almost thought we should chop down. While watching everything else grow, bloom and flourish in our little garden spots, the "Bleeding Heart" was showing no signs of life.  Just last night, we were discussing whether or not we had room to plant an anniversary plant this May and I mentioned that if the "Bleeding Heart" is dead, we might dig it out and replace it with something else for our Anniversary this year.  Just last night, I truly believed that it had no life in it. Early this morning I went out back to check the basil and the tomatoes to see how they were coming along and as...

Checking the garden after a wonderful, worshipful, Sunday.  These were taken a little after 5:20 p.m. And here is how the Basil that the husband planted by seed is coming along.  It is about 1/2 inches tall.

How many people do you see in the image below? Take a good look and use your imagination.  I will be the first to admit that my husband and I have a very child-like imagination; but, that is a good thing. Unless of course you are sitting at a stop light, oblivious that it has turned green and cars are honking at you, while you are staring at the cloud formations with bated breath watching a giant whale slowly morphing into what appears to be an elephant. Along those same lines, when we downloaded a few pictures from the new blooms in this Year's Spring garden, my husband and I both saw a Calypso Orchestra smack dab in the center of one of the flowers.  There are at least 24 men in black pants wearing those ruffled sleeve Calypso shirts.  Now do you see them? Well, even if you don't, you might enjoy the simple beauty of a few of the flowers that are currently blooming in are tiny little garden, in the tiny little back yard of our tiny little 520 sq foot house....

Okay - Not really.  But, I am so grossed out by these guys.  Michael came in with the camera and said, "Look what I found".  Well, I certainly won't be going over to the side of the yard where our neighbors tomato plants are hanging over our fence.  Yuck!  These guys gross me out!   Look at that.  They have fake little eyes all along the sides of their body.

I am so thrilled that my husband Michael and I both get equally excited about the smallest of things. When I get home from work, it has become somewhat of a routine to check the wildflower garden to see if any new flowers have bloomed.  This afternoon was no different.  However, this afternoon we had a new little visitor.  He was sitting on a broad leaf at the base of one of the wild flowers and hopped out of sight before we could return with the camera. A few hours later, after soaking the garden really well, we decided to take another look and guess who we found? This time he stayed put long enough for us to get a few pictures!

Before moving to our little mobile home in Rancho Cordova, we lived in an apartment that overlooked a creek and greenbelt.  During that time we must have seen seven different species of these little guys--more than I had seen during my entire lifetime.  I never dreamed that we might be visited by one here in the park.   But, to our delight, there he was.  I went out to the garden yesterday morning to water and as I moved a branch on the "bleeding heart" plant (that we had planted in May for our Anniversary) there he was!  

It is frustrating to have no time to write.  However, (as they say) a picture paints a thousand words.  So, I will rely on the pictures to do most of the talking.  Last year we planted a wild flower garden.  We watered it everyday and yet it really didn't produce much of a garden.  Once the flowers would die we would pull them out and toss them into the wilderness area nearer the creek.  Well, this year, we got wildflowers, with no tending whatsoever on our part!  Now that's what I;m talkin' bout"   So many illustrations that could be written about this wonderful discovery of my husbands.  We discussed in length the applications; but, alas, no time to write: New birth from scattered seeds! And, we are still finding amazing creatures in the Wood's Secret Garden--even after 2 years.  This guy decided to come to our front door one morning and take a rest. Look at the artwork on his body!  He was approximately 4" long wit...

This is the time of year, when the leaves of the oak trees, contain those curious, mysterious, gall formations.  (For those of you not familiar with "galls" you might want to click here to check out last year's posting.)  Upon arriving home from work yesterday afternoon, I decided to take a walk in the Secret Garden before getting rerady for prayer meeting at the church.  I grabbed my camera and headed out.  The last rain storm had flattened most of the long grasses which had been hiding the creek from view.   The creek was now visible from the bank and full of tiny fish (perhaps tadpoles).  After spending sometime enjoying the new view, I headed over to the grove of Oak trees where last years' pink galls were found and to my surpirse, the leaves were covered with two entirely different types of galls from those found last year.  How fascinating!  Is this difference because a different type of insect is now present in the secret ...

As we were watering the wild flower garden and filling up the humming bird feeders, I glanced down and found that a little, tiny, baby "Praying Mantis" had stopped by to pay a visit.   He was joined by a bright black and red beetle.  The beetle scurried along too quickly for me to take his picture; but, the Praying Mantis, was a real ham.  He hung around for a lengthy photo session. Everywhere you look (if you pause long enough) are little creatures to delight in.