...completely covered in scales!?!

First, I had no idea there was a NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Post Month this month as well. That's obviously what I'm going to attempt to do. Maybe next year I'll work up to writing the novel, but not this year.

Some weeks I love Monday's others not so much. Today wasn't all that bad. Plus to cap the whole day off I just turned on Lifetime to find that Bridget Jones is on and it's at my favorite 2 scenes. You know the one...where Bridget is at the dinner party with all the lovely marrieds and couples and they ask her why there are so many unmarried women. Seriously, these things happen. For some reason married people seem to think that if you aren't married, or living with someone, or at the very least dating someone, you must be unhappy and there must be something wrong with you. And it's not just married folk. It's so common that it's almost comical, if it weren't sad and sometimes bordering on annoying. That's not to say that I wouldn't love to meet my own Mr. Darcy, because believe me, I would. The trouble is there really aren't that many people who actually like you "just as you are".

All this sounds like I'm a little down, but to be honest, I actually feel pretty good about things right now. Work is good and I'm hopeful that they might ask for me to stay past Dec. 31st. When I left work today there was a cool breeze blowing and I love this time of year. Plus, I managed to get my existing PC networked in to the new wireless network that I got when I got the shiny new Mac. (Which still needs a name. I haven't felt inspired yet, but maybe soon. If you have a suggestion, let me know.)

I'll leave you with some great eye candy. Some of you, who have stuck with me in my attempt to blog, will remember the lovely flowers from early in my blogging days that bloom at night. Well, they put on a show a couple of weeks ago and I haven't had a chance to show you what we saw. Hope you enjoy the Night Blooming Cereus

It's stinkin' HOT here!

Let me just say that when it's 99 deg. F (or so) and the Heat Index is topping 110 deg. F that it's stinkin' hot! For those of you who live in more temperate climates, this is the time of year that living in NE Florida really becomes hard to handle. Believe me, it is the humidity that's the killer part.

To distract you from that let me show you a little something I like to call Quaker Reindeer ornament.Isn't it pretty? I think I mentioned before that this was my mom's favorite ornament in last years JCS ornament issue. The cool frame it's in is my favorite frame of all time to stitch with, especially for smalls. It's called a Stitch-Away Frame and I highly recommend them. I've been nothing but happy with mine.

Tonight I'm going to stitch with my friend Melody. We've been trying to do this for ages. We want to try and find a time at least twice a month to get together. Tuesday's seem to work best, so this is our first time. Wish us luck. Not sure how much I'll accomplish. Not even sure what I'll work on. So many things I've been wanting to work on lately. Love the choices!

Sorry Heather, your answer to yesterday's question was incorrect. The right answer is....
Night Blooming Cereus! Yes, it's got another bloom on it! I'm so excited. We think it might open tonight. If it does I'll have more pictures.

What some of you have been waiting for

Pictures of the Night Blooming Cereus. Oh, and I found out it's also known as "Queen of the Night" and "Dutchman's Pipe". Now I can totally understand where the "Queen of the Night" name came from, these blooms are fantastic. But can't figure out the other name. However, you want to see pictures....

First a picture I took with flash, you can tell this is where the 3 blooms were together. The flash doesn't let you see the detail so....

Here's just a single bloom. My mom had to hold a flashlight to light it while I took pictures.

A little better detail

A bit fuzzy, but still beautiful

You can barely see that there are 2 other's in this shot.

This is my favorite shot! I had to do a little work in a photo program so you could really see them, but I like the effect.

So that's it. We enjoyed them for one night and then they were gone. The fragrance was wonderful. If anyone ever offers you one of these, I suggest you take it. From what I've read they will grow indoors. We keep ours in a pot outside. Have to bring it in when it freezes, but otherwise, it seems to do pretty good on it's own. It's always a treat to see the bloom. Glad this year was so special. Hope you've enjoyed seeing the pictures.