YAHOO!! I'm back . . .

Well, the last year has been a wild ride, my flower buds (old and new). Family problems and a few months in South Africa teaching and touring (and have I got flower pics !!!!) have made the last year useless to have my subscription, but now I'm back and ready to set seeds soon.

There seem to be LOTS of new people, and lots of the folks I got to know a bit when I was here before.

I got my fence finally, around my front yard last spring just before I left, and so of course now the city tells me they're going to dig up my front lawn and replace the water pipes this summer. BAH!! Thought I could finally make a plan for the front yard, and get it looking nice - but I've never yet managed to stick to a plan, so I suppose it really won't make much difference in the end . Does anyone else have a landscaping plan that boils down to " Wow, I really, really like those and I want some, so I'll just put them here for now . . ."?? That's how mine always seems to go, despite my best intentions.
Anyway, enough chatter - I've got to get reading what y'all have been up to while I've been gone.
~marilyn

Welcome back from yer trip! Looking forward to seeing your pictures from the trip.

Yow - I'll post some pics here as I go along, some can be seen at: grannym.wordpress.com

There are a couple thousand pics - not all of flowers, of course, but plenty of those. And several hours of video

Thanks for the 'welcome back'.

~marilyn
PS: I *think* these are Brugs, found in Durban, and on their last legs unfortunately, but huge flowers!

Plant kinda looks like Crinum.

I went and looked at your website, watched some videos. WOW...what an amazing journey.

I don't know Crinum at all - or Brugs for that matter other than the pics I've seem here from the Brug-lovers Brigade.

I just recalled large droopy flowers and thought that the photo might be of interest to the Brigade, but obviously have a lot of larnin' to do.

So nice to have you back Marilyn.

Thanks, echoes.

Really nice to be back.

Welcome Back!

Yes, I changed my name on here. Use to be DarrellR, now it's DCarringtong. The fella that you sent the bell to.

Darrell

Marilyn, what is that pretty plant in your last photo?

Thanks for the notes, everyone. It was a wonderful trip - the trip of a lifetime that I've been dreaming of since I was 3 years old. Took me almost 60 years to get there, but I managed it finally, and am *so* glad I did.

Darrell, how did the bell work out? Hope it serves the purpose well.

Echoes - I don't know what that plant is, or most of the others I took photos of.
I was kinda hoping you folks would help me out on these
I'm going to continue trying to find out from different sources though, so when i get some info, I'll pass it on.
So many absolutely beautiful flowers - and trees - and animals - and people.

The picture here is a sign at the entrance to the park where I was living for the two months that I taught - and they're serious about it!
~m

Hi cybercrone,

By all means utilize the skill of everyone here at DG and post the pics you need an ID for in the ID forum. The purple flower looks like some sort of Bromeliad.

The bell works fine. I took the old shed and turned it into a store. I hooked the bell on the door. The cash register beep's. The bell rings. Together they go "Cha Ching" everytime I ring up a sale. :)

Love that sign - how big are dung beetles?

Hahaha nice photos!! I love the sign photo too.

I am new on this forum - I am enjoying my time here! I live in Ontario.

Welcome Dawn. If you want to see more photos, go to You can go right back to last July when my trip started.

And JJ, dung beetles are about 2 - 3 inches long, and sound like helicopters when they fly.
They lay their eggs in elephant or rhino dung, then roll it up in a ball and bury it in their underground burrows.
The dung heats th eggs so they hatch fast and also provides food for the babies. Here is a picture.

ok so my next question is - why do they have the right of way?? Are they a vital cog in some very important system?

Hi JJ:

Yes, they clean up an amazing amount of large animal dung, and get it into the ground where it's needed. In savannah and sand forest areas like this, especially in drought years, the rain can't be depended on to do either of those things.

And Dawn - I forgot to tell you *where* you cold see more pictures. You can go to:
grannym.wordpress.com

Freezing rain just pelting down here - what a drag . . .
~m