These beautiful seed pods on the mahogany tree have opened up, but they are too high for me to reach! By the time they fall to the ground, all that's left is the hard shell. The tree is in the parking lot by the police station, and it may attract attention if I carried a ladder across the street. It must be nature's way of preserving the species. No seed pods for me this year.

The landscape project at the post office is finished. They planted fox-tail palms. Some people thought they should have planted native palms, but these do look very pretty. It is normal that a few of the lower fronds die during transplanting. I asked why they don't trim the dead branches off and was told that it is better to leave them on because some of the energy goes back into the tree in this type of palm. They are like daffodils, you don't cut off the flower after it dies because it sends energy back to the bulb for the following year.

Cindy celebrated her 60th tonight with chocolate cake and raspberry martinis. Her and her girl friends go back to Vermont tomorrow to who knows what kind of weather. Whatever...they will make the best of it, and Cindy and Bill will be back in October for Fantasy Fest and the toga party. Look out!

Landscaping the KCB Post Office

It's not an easy task, digging 4 holes to plant 4 palm trees down here in The Keys. They have been working on this for at least a month. A shade tarp to work in the hot sun of the day, a back hoe and loader yesterday to dig in the coral rock and haul away bits and pieces and sand. The trees are standing by ready to be placed, and an irrigation system in also ready to go, so it shouldn't be too long before I am posting the "after" shot.

Some find it curious that all this work is being done while at the same time the US Post Office has pretty much guaranteed that our post office will be closing sometime in the near future. But the city owns the building, and the planning, work, and trees have been provided by some very industrious snow birds and full time residents who have a desire to make our city offices and post office area a more beautiful place to walk in to every day.

Yes, our vanda really is 7 feet tall and doesn't fit into our condo. She's a beauty, and in full bloom with another spike coming out on left side near the top. As long as the iguanas don't spot it, we hope to enjoy the bloom for a few more weeks at least.