Cemetery

 

The Beers and Cornen families have nearby monuments.  

Many names are on each monument, but the biggest and most ornate memorial on the Beers monument is for a boy who died at six years old in 1864.

The biggest memorial on the Cornen monument is for a seventeen year old girl who died in 1865.

"The rose blooms, it withers and is lost to sight, but not to memory."

Abstract Art

 

Love those roots.

Hydrangea

I lived in West Hartford for nearly 40 years.  About 12 years ago I planted limelight hydrangea plants in a hedge along one side of my property. 

Yesterday I drove past.  I am delighted that the current owners are taking good care of the hydrangea hedge, as well as good care of the entire property.

The Park

 Back in Connecticut after a truly special visit to the Galapagos Islands.

I had business in West Hartford, so I detoured past Elizabeth Park.  Canna lilies are blooming.

The annual garden is replanted every year, so every year it looks different.  This year's edition looks great.

Smile!

 

Land iguana.

Variety

The islands of the Galapagos have many variations.

Lava on Santiago Island cooled fast, leaving rope-like fields.

Sombrero or Chinese Hat is beautiful.  Lava-formed basalt rocks in the foreground.  Red carpet weed in the middle.  A hill behind.

Lava flowing down the side of a volcano on Bartolome produced lava tunnels.

The copper on Rabida turns the soil red.

Some islands host "chandelier cactus."

Prickly pear cacti are on other islands.

Sand and lava and water in various combinations are common among the Galapagos Islands.

Tortoises of Santa Cruz

 Santa Cruz is a major Galapagos island, one of the few with an actual town, Puerto Ayora.  We were driven inland to highlands in the center of Santa Cruz.  Tortoises  were plentiful in the fields we passed.  

After reaching a preserve and having lunch, we walked paths in fields where some of the tortoises were ten to 20 feet away.

Some tortoises seemed to wonder who these white-skinned people were.

Their curiosity didn't last long.  They promptly went back to the important thing.  Eating.

Charles Darwin Research Station

This biological research station is located on the shore of Academy Bay in the village of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos Islands.  

It honors Charles Darwin who was in the Galapagos for geological research in the 1830s.  While there, Darwin made acute observations about birds and other animals in the Islands, that later influenced his Theory of Evolution.

While the research station has long lists of objectives in its mission statement, a central job is conserving Galapagos tortoises.  They breed tortoises, always keeping track to assure that they do not intermingle tortoises from different Galapagos islands.  I think these are about two years old, all from one island.

Most Galapagos tortoises are domed, but there is a small subset of saddleback tortoises like these.  Males challenge for dominance by stretching their necks.  The one who reaches higher is the boss.  The other slinks away and tries again another day.

Tip Top V

 

Two pelicans and two blue-footed boobies rest in front of the catamaran that has been taking us around the western Galapagos this week.

Dinner in the Galapagos

 

We're eating fresh fish tonight!

Blue-footed Boobies

 

Blue-footed boobies deserve their own day.

Mosquera Wildlife

 In addition to the sea lions on Mosquera that I showed yesterday, there were other creatures.  Many are endemic, meaning they are native to the Galapagos islands and not found elsewhere.

These are Galapagos terns.

Yellow warblers are native but not endemic.

A marine iguana with a pair of Galapagos lava lizards.

Striated herons look a lot like the green herons I see in Southwest Florida.

This isn't endemic.  A sea urchin shell.  But I thought it ws gorgeous and worthy of a photo.

Sea Lions in the Galapagos

 We will be in the Galapagos for a week or so.  The first day, sea lions on the very small island of Mosquera were the stars.  There might have been at least 50 on this small island with white sandy beaches.

Affection.

Quiet time for mother and child.

This friendly one-eyed sea lion spent time with my family.

Some youngsters wanted to play with us.

It was hysterical watching the youngsters play.

I swear this guy was practicing its poses.

These sea lions didn't want to see us leave.  They chased the guests as we returned to the boats.

Quito, Ecuador

A day in Quito, Ecuador.

If you go to Quito, you have to visit the equator outside Quito.

A church on the equator.

The colorful interior of that church.

In the old city of Quito, the Basilica del Voto Nacional.

And the rose window of the Basilica del Voto Nacional.

One corner of the main square of Quito.

The folklore gift shops of Quito have beautifully colorful items for sale.

An, a few blocks away, there were dark storm clouds above, but no rain on my group.