Now this is winter!

I'm traveling on business this week. It's my second trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil in a month. What a fascinating place! It's the middle of winter here, the calendar equivalent of January in southern Indiana. But, boy howdy, it sure is different.

Today's high temperature in Sao Paulo was 76 degrees. I've only lived in Indiana for 6 years, but I doubt that it ever got to 76 degrees in January. When I got settled in my hotel room mid-morning, after the all-night flight from Dallas, here is the view:


The view of the pool... 

And I left my bathing suit at home, thinking "it's winter down there, who needs a bathing suit?"

What you probably can't see in this small photo is a) the fountain at the end of the pool in full operation, and b) the sunbather to the right of the pool.

Lots more to say about this place, but it will have to keep til later.

Cheryl Flies the Coop - Part 2

Today's Top Story:
At the time of this posting, 938 US soldiers have died in Iraq.
Source: http://icasualties.org/oif/

(Why is this "The Top Story"?

1. Each of these soldiers died in a war that was initiated by a President who intentionally misled the American people to serve his own ends, and
2. Like Gen. Anthony Zinni, I believe that this has got to be more important than "American Idol").

Today's Feature: Cheryl Flies the Coop!

It's been about 6 weeks since my last post. All I can say is it's been a busy summer. More on that later. What I "owe" is the finish to the story of Cheryl the moth. Here it is...

After "Cheryl" dropped out of the mesh "moth-house", she sat on the ground for a few minutes and let her wings dry. Then she flew off across the yard and into the Serenity Garden. I grabbed the big 35mm film camera and followed, hoping to get a shot or two before she flew off.

I managed to get two shots of her. The first one caught her on the euyonimous.


Cheryl rests on the euyonimous. 

After that, she flew over to one of the hostas.


One last look at Cheryl before she flew away. 

Mary and I stood in the garden and watched, spellbound. After a couple of minutes, Cheryl flapped her wings and flew away, over the fence and out of our lives. We felt a range of emotions, but mostly stood in awe of nature as we had witnessed it unfold.

Good luck, Cheryl, wherever you land. Thanks for dazzling us for just a few minutes.