Yes, we have bananas!!

On the island, near Packary Channel, there are several live oak mottes, and other trees and flowers, that attract birds during migration. Some of the neighboring homes have feeding stations with seed, fruit, hummingbird feeders, and bird baths. Bud and I spotted these colorful birds. The photo of what seems to be nothing but trees, enlarge it and see if you can find the Scarlet Tanager. [hint: look under the "A" in Hootin' Anni's watermark]--


Orchard Oriole


Female Baltimore Oriole


Look closer...see the red spot in the middle?  It's a....


...making use of the zoom lens, spotted: Scarlet Tanager!


Two love birds -- two Eurasian Collared Doves

linking to: Nature Notes, Wild Bird Wednesday, Our World Tuesday




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HODGEPODGE
linking to: Wednesday Hodgepodge


1. Share something you appreciate (or something you appreciated as you were growing up) about your mother. Her devotion to family! I've always admired this.

2. A quote most commonly ascribed to Plato reads "Necessity is the mother of invention." When did this last play out in your own experience? A make-shift saw to get a top branch from the tree. I made a hand saw extension for Bud from an old broom handle...attaching it with Duct Tape so he could reach it [the branch] without getting up on a ladder.

3. Share one of the earliest memories you have from childhood. Going out in the tomato patch with a salt shaker, sitting there on the ground, eating tomatoes right off the plants!!! And, I had to be younger than six 'cause we were still living in Nebraska.

4. When did you last 'hit the mother lode'? What was it? Maybe it's not the mother lode per sé, but we had a free month of electricity = Just this month!!! No bill to pay.

5. What is/was your favorite dish mom made? Do you make that dish for your family/friends now that you're all grown up? She made the best, creamiest, macaroni and cheese. I loved it and requested it as often as I could. Her holiday meals were to 'die for' delicious too, but we all pitched in.

6. Mother May I? was at one time a popular children's game. It required no equipment or parts to play. What was your favorite childhood game where you could just turn up and play-no gear needed? All I ever remember playing was with 'gear'...like hopscotch [chalk & playing piece], marbles, kick the can, ....oh wait!---I know one we used to play was Red Light...Green light!

7. Which TV mom (past or present) is your favorite, and why? Marge Simpson!!! Why? 'Cause I won a trip to Disneyland with her. A radio talk show had a question :What TV mother is professional football players favorite mom:....I was the 10th caller in with the correct answer!! Airfare, a week's stay and entry to Disneyland.

8. Insert your own random thought here.
If you're like me in thinking, I always thought that bananas grow on trees. Well, think again. They don't. Let me start this post a different way. One day recently, we were at a stop light...waiting, waiting, for it to change to green for our side of the intersection. And waiting. We were quite a way back in the line of vehicles too. I got bored with looking at the bumper sticker in front of us, so I started looking around and I spied a banana 'tree'!!! And it was blooming!!! 'fessing up here; I've never EVER seen a banana blossom. Now, you ask: "Why is a banana tree not a tree?" Here's the answer in a nutshell...

The roots and trunk do not contain wood tissue. Bananas are herbs. Altho, bananas are referred to as trees, they are perennials. They grow many, many leaves that wrap around a single stem which emerge at the top with a fruit-bearing flower stalk. The fruit fingers grow in clumps known as hands since they resemble a hand with fingers. The stem dries off as the fruit ripens and side-shoots rise from the underground corm to produce a new plant [like iris]. Bananas are sterile; unable to reproduce...yet, the corms have been known to rejuvenate 100 years or more. The banana plant is of the grass family!!!

...read more here

I grabbed my cellphone and took these three pictures behind the yard fence where we were near while in the car....still waiting!

...and my participation of Rubbish Tuesday is published in the post below this one.  Or, click here