Sunday morning

My chrysanthemum is beginning its fall blooming period. I bought this last fall and it was a little plant in a 4" pot. Now its big and loaded with flowers. The color is a little faded out from the morning light, but the flowers are a dark maroon color.

This is my Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha) and it has lots of flowers. The flowers are unususal because they are fuzzy. Here is a close up:

I will end with a picture of our two inside only cats. The white and black one is Kitty and the orange one is Mike. This morning it was a cool 62 degrees so I opened the back door to let in the cool air. Kitty and Mike are very curious about what goes on outside, so I put a bar stool by the door so they could see out. I snapped the picutre when they were watching our outside cat Ginger eat catfood. They also love watching the birds that try to steal Ginger's catfood.

Lake Fausse Point State Park

Dave and I spent the day wandering around this state park. It was a nice day to be outside. We started off the day by renting a canoe...our 1st mistake.

We paddled around the bayous near the canoe landing and saw lots of white egret. The white egret pictured wasn't scared at all when we paddled within a few feet of it. I guess he is used to seeing people.

Dave and I have never been in a canoe before and this was an experience! We are used to travelling through the bayous in a jon boat (aluminum boat with wide belly for stability). Canoes are wobbly and the complete opposite of a jon boat. We almost tipped the canoe over trying to get out!

We returned the canoe and headed out for the wooded hiking trails.

I brought a can of OFF insect spray with us, but decided not to apply any. The last few days have been chilly (morning temps in 50's) and I thought that the cold temps had killed off any remaining mosquitoes....my 2nd mistake.

At the trail head we stopped to get trail maps so we would know how long each trail was. I see a bottle of OFF insect repellant, but choose not to apply bug spray....my 3nd mistake. I soon found out that the cold weather didn't kill off any mosquitoes! At this point we are too far from the trail head to go back and apply bug spray. I figure out that as long as I keep walking, the mosquitoes can't bite me.

The few seconds I stopped walking to snap these pictures, my legs were swarming with mosquitoes! Wish I had brought bug spray with me....

Seeing this alligator was the highlight of our day! I spotted the alligator and Dave took the picture. He was around 2 feet long and appeared to be sleeping. He didn't move at all while we observed him.

I don't know what the bumps are on this tree trunk, but it looked neat so I took a picture!

Dave and I had a great time at Lake Fausse Point State Park and plan to return in a few months when the weather is cooler and the mosquitoes are gone. We will also rent a cabin facing the bayou and fish off the boat dock.