Tuesday, April 12, 2011

A Southern Sun...

This past Saturday, we drove down from Asheville to my parents' place in the Orlando area. It was a long drive, but Max, Azalea and Kitsuni were all very calm and pleasant. This definitely made the drive more enjoyable.

When we got to my parents' house, it was still light out and Azalea drove around in her Jeep. She was deeply impressed with "CD player" that actually made music. She said that she LOVES her new Jeep.

Max also enjoyed spending time with my dad. It was cute to see them together. Max has been following him around and calling him "daddy". I think it might be because my sisters and I call him "dad".

Max particularly enjoys spending time with my mom. She can get him to smile and laugh like no one else. It's especially sweet when she makes something for him to eat and he says, "Hmmmm... yum!"

My parents are both... collectors... of things. Some might call them hoarders. (See, I come by it naturally.) The backyard is an interesting landscape of old cars, building materials, and exotic plants. For instance, one of my dad's old trucks being swallowed up by jasmine flowers.

Jasmine is probably one of my favorite scents. I love the sweet, flora smell. It's intoxicating and heady. I wish that it would grow where I live.

One of my best friends, Jennifer, still lives in Orlando and she came by. We were joking about how long we've been friends and how if our friendship was a person, it'd almost be ready to vote soon. It is comforting to know that I have friends that have known me through so many different phases and fads and grew up with me.

Above is a picture of her reaching up for a pomelo. It's kind of like a grapefruit that's extremely large.

Above is a picture of one of dad's other trucks. I sometimes think that I get my love of rusty things from him.

Above is a flowering vine growing on the barbed wire fence. I think it's a Carolina jessamine. I always find the intersection of nature and man interesting. My parents' yard is filled with examples.

Jennifer took the picture above of me peeling and honey bell orange. The fruit was so sweet it was almost like candy.

Here's a picture of us posing in front of the bottlebrush plant.

Above is a close-up of the flowers. I love the star-shape green flowers under the flossy red.

Another little visitor was this spider. It was hanging out under a leaf on a lemon tree. I don't remember these from my childhood. It was iridescent green, creamy white, with spots of bright orange. I remember more the crab spiders with the bumpy, wide white backs with red points. Or the jumping wolf spiders. Or even the black widows.

It has been a good trip so far, connecting with family and friends in the land where I grew up.

14 comments:

dawn said...

Thanks for sharing the beautiful pictures! Good to see you writing and photographing again....hope you have a lovely trip!

Unknown said...

Hi Andrew..the children they are so beautiful! And you look like the picture of health, its nice to see your parents too. Beautiful plants. Being in Texas I shudder to think of a drive to Virginia where my family is! I dont think I could drive that again, it was one haul! You guys must be real troopers. Ive got a pic on my blog I just put of the jasmine vine that has taken over and canopied over my porch, they are real prolific growing plants!

SueBeads said...

I'm glad you are having a wonderful time and getting some SUN! It's STILL raining here, Andrew! Have a wonderful trip!

Spirited Earth said...

gorgeous photos..thanks for sharing these andrew

somethingunique said...

Hi Andrew, thanks for sharing your time with family and friends with us it really helps us to get to know you better & what a great photographer you are is there anything you can't do,you sure are a young man with many talents and interests glad to see you having a great time ttfn L:) p.s my father in law would give your dad's collection a run for it's money when i get my camera this week i'll share some picks of his collection of all things rusty lol :p

moonlitfantaseas said...

ndrew, it looks like your visit with your family was a wonderful time! So glad you are enjoying yourself!

Unknown said...

Beautiful pictures!

Anonymous said...

great photos; enjoy your family time!

EB Bead and Metal Works, LLC said...

Love the photos and thanks for sharing! I am in total love with the two pics of the rusty trucks being swallowed up by the plants. Those are my favorite type of pictures, old rusty trucks being lost in the flowers.

BooBeads said...

Beautiful and inspiring photos!

Glad you're enjoying family time!

Kathy Van Kleeck said...

It's such an interesting thing going back to places that hold so many memories and emotions. Trying to look objectively and experience a place from the adult and awake 'me'. Truly a challenge and hopefully inspirational fodder for jewelry and writing.

Hope the trip continues to be grand.
Safe travels.

jamberry_song said...

Such beautiful photographs. :) Must have been a wonderful time.

Anonymous said...

I miss FLA! Thanks for sharing. Brings back loads of memories for me too. Lucky thing my fam is still there so I can visit often. Yummy jasmine! And the bottlebrush plants/trees. I can almost taste the pomelos too.

Suzanne said...

I think honeybells (aka tangelos) and bottle brush plants are so quintessentially Florida. Good choice on photos.