The French Village, But Big

The homes on the north side of the street are bigger then the ones on the south side, that I have posted before. The landscape is minimal and you can see the entire house. Many homes in Coral Gables hide behind lush vegetation.

The French Village Once More

The garden has a strange object. Click on the picture and see if you can tell me what it is.

The Chinese Village

The owner of this home came out as I was taking this picture. Did she ever want to talk. She has lived in the house for 50 years and she looked it (I have lived in our house for 40 years and I look it). She did give me some interesting history. Her house was built in 1926, while all of the other Chinese houses where built in 1925. I said how nice, you own the new house on the block. The village was an attempt to get buyers to come to Florida. It worked.

The French Village

The two homes look like twins. The topiary looks fairly carried for and that's not the norm in a warm climate. The nursery people have found a plant that they can turn in to a topiary in three years. But most house owners don't keep these fast growers trimmed properly and they don't know how to fertilize them (the plants need special fertilize). While the one in the picture is well trimmed it need magnesium and iron. Most new comers want a landscape that looks mature as soon as it is installed. The concept of maturing a landscape doesn't exist in south Florida.

The Christmas Orchid

The common name of the orchid is Christmas Orchid, it's formal name is C, percivilia 'Summit' FCC/AOS. C, percivilia is the botanical name for the specie from the jungle. 'Summit' is the clone name and FCC/AOS is an award of excellent. This flower opened on the 23rd of December and will last for a few weeks.

Christmas Morning

DJ is 2 years and 3 weeks old going on to 4. He helped in opening the presents, every one's presents. The joy of a child on Christmas is fleeting and an extra present for the adults. DJ opened all of the presents and we had to figure out who sent the present and who received the present.

The Cookie Tree

Early in the morning we put the cookies on the tree. My Grandmother made these Springerle cookies then my mother and a few aunts made them. In my generation there were no females and I am the only one making them. But our daughter can make them. Click on the picture and you might be able to see Saint Gabriel and the bottom is Mary with baby. I didn't have time to get a better picture, but on the tree they look like ivory carvings.

A Nativity at Our Church

This 2D nativity took a while for me to like it. The church is on a busy street and we share it with a lot of people. This is my church and I give you all my good greetings of love and peace. If you have a different faith or even no faith please let me greet you with love and peace.

The Gifts Are Ready

No diamond pendant, no Rolex, no computer, just toys. This part of our Christmas is for the young. The gathering of family and friends, the food that has a history in the family, ahh that's what our Christmas is.

The Tree is Ready

The only thing the tree lacks is the Christmas cookies. In Coral Gables it's not to good to put the cookies out early. The heat and humidity would ruin them in two or three days. When we used cranberry or popcorn chains it was for 2 to 3 weeks. But then we didn't eat the chains.

French Village

This theme home helped to sell houses in the early years of Coral Gables.

Merry Christmas From China Town

This home is part of the Chinese village and is one of the theme villages in Coral Gables that was built in 1925. The theme goes through the inside of the house and the gardens.

Red stem Malabar Spinach

Yes it tastes just like spinach and the it's popular in the Indochina area. We did enjoy the taste but now it's producing so many seeds and hard to harvest.

My First Slideshow

I decided to bite the bullet and try to make a movie clip. Well it's really a slide show. The pictures are all from my garden during November 07. I saved it in two ways. First was a large file that I used to post it on YouTube and here on the blog. The other file has a much smaller file and it can be used in an email.
If you want see the pictures one by one go to my site: http://togofcoralgables.com/FlowersofNov07.aspx

At the end of the month this 'togofcoralgables' page will be removed. The site has only the present and last month. The clip in this blog will remain open. But your invited to go to my site and see what is current: http://togofcoralgables.com/default.aspx

As Close as I Get to Snow

The Justicia gives us a patch of white on this cold morning. Today is the coldest day that we have had this season. Since we are near (6 miles) to the water our yard is probably a little warmer then the posted 50 degrees.

This white flake is a Christmas cactus.