Pretty Water Lilies on Nature Friday

Welcome to Nature Friday where we get to meet new friends and share a picture or two of what nature looks like around Blogville. Last week, Mama took a ride over to the ABQ Botanical Garden to see if anything was blooming and now, I am pretty sure August is going to be filled with Flower Fridays. 

 Today, we are going to take a look at the pretty Water Lilies she found!

The Gardens installed a new Mediterranean area which includes a little pond for Water Lilies

Here we have an Egyptian Blue Lotus. Mama says this may be her most favorite flower (next to Rosy Roses of course).

Here is a white water lily according to the search she did. She thinks it may be something different though, because the yellow middle looks a bit different. Whatever it is, it sure is pretty!

Along with the pretty water lilies/lotus from the Mediterranean Garden, Mama also visited the big pond in the middle of the gardens where the water lilies have taken over for the Summer!

Mama picked the one day that we actually got a few showers in ABQ to visit the Gardens. Needless to say, the ducks sure were enjoying the raindrops!

Seeing the water lilies always make Mama smile 

The blooms are so pretty nestled among the lily pads

The only thing missing were the froggies!

We'll wrap up today's water lily post with this pretty pink tipped Lotus flower Mama found near the Japanese Garden.

We hope you enjoyed our look at the ABQ Water Lilies and Lotus Flowers. Next week, we'll have some more fun August flowers from the ABQ Botanic Garden!

We hope all our friends get out and see some nature this weekend!!

Show us your nature! It can be flowers, your current weather, a scene out of your window, or maybe a picture from a vacation, walk or other journey! Any kind of nature picture will do! If you don't see a link below, click HERE  to go to our Hoppity Page.

Thankful for a Paw to Hold

 

So very thankful for a paw to hold after a rough day.

Thank you to Maxwell and Angel Brian for hosting the

Thankful Thursday Blog Hop

Homer the Hawk Pays a Visit

 

We were so happy to see Homer the Hawk out at the fountain a couple of weeks ago. We hadn't seen him for most of the Spring and, although the doves and little birds were happy not to see him, we were getting worried something may have happened to him! Here is some video TC captured:

Thanks for stopping by Homer, maybe come back in the Fall?!

We are joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the 

Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop this week!

Italy Adventures - Florence

 

Happy Tuesday! 

Thank you for joining me as I re-cap our trip to Italy.  This week, we are taking a look around Florence, the final big stop along our "Best of Italy" tour.

Whether you call the city Florence, Firenze or the Birthplace of Renaissance,  I dare you not to fall in love with its beauty, history and, of course, its architecture!

Florence's streets were among the first in Italy to be paved...

The Florence Duomo has largest brick dome ever built...

...and the Florence Cathedral was only one of the beautifully detailed buildings we admired while wandering the city.

Here is a short video of some of the streets and architecture views we saw during our walk around the city:

But wait, there's more!

The Town Hall of Florence is also a museum, the Palazzo Vecchio.

The Medici Family, who have been credited for transforming Florence from a medieval village to a renaissance capital, are depicted throughout the Palazzo Vecchio. 

Here is a video of some of the beautiful artwork of the Palazzo, and some sculptures and fountains we experienced in Florence:

Last, but definitely not least:

The light fixtures, doors and door knockers in Florence were some of the most detailed I saw during our tour (and I admired many a door and light fixture lol)! 

Here are a few doors, windows and door knobs/knockers I admired around Florence:

Thanks for tagging along for our tour around Florence. This will be the last "regularly scheduled" Italy post. After Florence, we headed back to Rome where we spent a day catching up on sleep and enjoying some relaxation before heading home. 

 There will be at least two more posts before the end of the Summer from my point of view. I've also seen the girls looking at my pictures while pretending to snuggle, so I have a feeling they may have a few Italy posts they are planning too.

To answer my good friend C's question, I took over 3000 pictures and videos (both on my phone and camera). Thank yous go out to everyone for reading, commenting, and giving me a corner to record our travels!

We are joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for the 

Happy Tuesday Blog Hop this week! 

Arial View Aaaws

 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

We're also joining Comedy Plus for the 

Awww Monday Blog Hop!

Flashback Nature/FFF Friday

Welcome to the wonderful Friday each month where Nature Friday comes together with YAM Aunty's FFF!!  Make sure to visit YAM Aunty HERE to get the Rulez and join the FFF fun!! 

This week we're Flashing Back to 2020 and one of our favorite

Shark Week stories!

To wrap up Shark Week 2020,  we thought it would be nice to take you on a little walk/swim through a Coral Reef. Mama and Daddy say being under the ocean can be sooooo relaxing, we thought we should give it a try!

 SUNNY! Stop playing zoomies with the Porcupine Fish!!!

OK, so MOST of us thought it would be relaxing....

 Looks like Jacob is hanging out with a Trumpet Fish. Did you now they like to hang upside down to blend in with the soft corals..Cool huh?

Arty must be looking for the shark he was talking to the other day. Looks like the White Spotted Filefish may know where she is!

 

Oops!  I'm so sorry Miss Queen Angel,  I didn't know you lived here.

 Oh look, Arty found his shark friend. It doesn't look like she's too interested in being set up though, does she!

 SUNNY!!!!! Oh well, shark pups will be shark pups!

 Thanks for joining us for another fun Shark Week. 

It's always fun getting lots of treats  making Mama happy by dressing up!

Show us your nature! It can be flowers, your current weather, a scene out of your window, or maybe a picture from a vacation, walk or other journey! Any kind of nature picture will do! If you don't see a link below, click HERE  to go to our Hoppity Page.

Thankful Thursday

 

Today I (Mama Beth) an thankful for documenting so many wonderful shark week memories. As I was looking back through these posts,  I fondly remembered one of Sunny's first Shark Week posts with Jakey:

Why you gots a shark on your head Jakey???

Well Sunny, this time every year there is this silly Mama tradition. A TV channel has a #SHARKWEEK and they play shark shows on TV for a whole week!!   For some reason, Mama feels like she needs to celebrate all these sharks by dressing us up in silly shark clothes, hats and bandanas.

There are a couple of perks though. First,  there is always lots of snuggling in front of the TV at night while Mama and Daddy watch the sharks, AND there are LOTS of treats involved for posing too!!

A little later.....   Just one treat??? 

Jakey said you would gimme LOTS of treats, Mama!!!

Thank you to Maxwell and Angel Brian for hosting the

Thankful Thursday Blog Hop