Around the House

One of the first things I did with my new replacement Sony camera was walk around the house. There's always something interesting to see if I only keep my eyes open.

Example 1: There's a big boulder alongside the stone wall in our car turn-around area. It's been there ever since I can remember. There used to be a greenery area near where it now resides, but somehow we rolled it over when the "garden" was paved over. The boulder has resided in its present position for dozens of years.

My mother-in-law is the superstitious type and when someone asked in passing if she'd had it blessed because some Hawaiians believe spirits inhabit big rocks. So she had a guy come over to exorcise it. That was, in my opinion, a joke. But no evil has become us, so maybe there was something to it.

Example 2: We have a tangerine tree that's always threatened to close down the driveway with its heavy branches laden with fruit. So we had one large branch cut off.

The result is an interesting stump once the cut area dried up. Sometimes I go over and just stand there checking it out. It's kind of mesmerizing.

Example 3: There are brown anole lizards galore galavanting in our yard, on trees, under the eaves, and in fact all around the house. We used to have green ones as well, but I guess they've been driven off by the more aggressive brown ones.

I love it when they take an aggressive stance and flare out their red dewlaps from under their throats, bobbing their heads in a feisty challenge. Sometimes they tolerate me sneaking slow up to them; sometimes they haul their reptilian butts away as fast as they can.

Walks around the house sure can be interesting.