Picture day

This is the waterfall one sees when driving one's esposo to work. And, because this is Costa Rica, there's a shrine next to it.

My two favorite cars in all the world right next to each other at a classic car show over at the new plaza in Lindora (the one where the Spoon is). Car on the left is an MGB (I actually owned one, though it was newer and not nearly so cherry as the one in this picture), and the one on the right is a VW Karmann Ghia (I always wanted one in pink--esposo, dear, are you listening?).

The flowers we planted when we first moved in are finally blooming. This one is an orange cosmos, which are popping up all over the yard.

Not a great shot of my peach-colored roses, but I was trying to get the black bee in the center of it in the picture. Moving on...

Son likes to buy flowers every time we go to the home store (EPA in Escazu has a nice selection of plants). He bought these marigolds last time and they're doing great.

Orange and yellow canna lillies, which amazingly survived the leaf-cutter ant onslaught. These grow great in Costa Rica, come in several colors and varieties, and spread quite nicely to fill in a patch of yard or give color to a fence. At one of our houses in Ciudad Colon, we had them surrounding a well house that was painted bright white, and they were just beautiful against the walls. I think this particular flower is a descendant of those flowers from that house, as we always keep a few when we move.

The scorpion tail flower in pink. If anyone out there knows the correct name in English for these (common or scientific), I'd greatly appreciate you letting me know. I've been searching and haven't come up with anything so far.

This is the scorpion tail in purple, the more common color. Now here is something interesting. These are the two plants growing by our front door:

As you can see, the purple (on the left) are doing far better than the pink (on the right). I planted them both at about the same size and time, and from one side of the path to the other shouldn't make much difference in soil, and they get about the same amount of rain and sunlight. But obviously the common purple plant is hardier (and survives leaf-cutter ants better, as the poor pink plant has been ravished). Also? I've cut the purple plant back at least twice already, otherwise it would be growing right into the path. I just wanted something nice around the entrace because there was nothing here when we moved in. And, there are these beautiful emerald-green shiny bees that love this plant, but unfortunately I have never been able to get a picture of them.

Even the cactus plant is blooming!