????who knows????? My dad and sister, Beth, have an on-going competition for the best garden grower of something. This has been going on for years and last year for the very first time, Beth won with her Peter Pepper! (I will leave that one up to your imagination! But it really was a pepper that grew as its name suggests.) I had entered the competition for the first time last year and came in dead last. So I donated my $5 to Beth. Anyway, this year it was decided that we would grow loufah squash. Now this is a squash that does dry to become loufah sponges. Beth started plants for all four of us (Beth's daughter, Amy has joined in again this year) and I got my two plants on Father's Day. Dad has conceded as he has managed to kill off 4 plants and decided this wasn't his year. Because this is a finicky plant, I am documenting my efforts of growing these now....just in case.....and everyone's dies too!!!!
I kept the plants in my kitchen garden window until yesterday and planted them in a pot. They sit on a warm porch in a pot now and measure about 10" long. If they are looking puny, into the house they are going to go!!! For whatever reason, they thrived indoors. Beth kept telling me to put them out (maybe a case of sabotage??????)
Our garden has decided it's going to grow in spite of cool spring and summer weather. I have spaghetti squash setting....hopefully warmer weather this week will help them along.
Actually the garden looks pretty good, considering! I was putting the grass around the plants this evening and discovered a cucumber that was about 4"! We have several very little tomatoes---FINALLY! (Can you tell we are ready for summer weather?)
The butterfly bush is in full bloom and smells wonderful. I'm gone so much of the day, I'm missing the humming birds and butterflies that frequent the bush.
Our latest visitor to the bush is a bird - not sure what kind - we have only seen the nest. We have kept our distance as we are hoping if there are eggs, mama and papa will sit and hatch them. How fun would that be?!
My dad made this awesome bird feeder but last winter did the shingles in. So....I decided a copper roof would be fun to have on it. Greg wrapped the roof in the sheets of copper and we will wait to see how it patina's. It's ready for the onslaught of finches, robins, swallows and other feathered flyers. Ah the wonders of nature!
We were escorted into port by pilot boats. The pilot boat carries a pilot who takes command of the ship and directs it into the dock. We were awake and on our balcony to watch the transfer of the pilot. Luckily they entered the boat from our side (port side). 
Our first look at land....6:30am. The sun was just starting to rise, much later than at home.
The houses and businesses in the area are very colorful. We took this picture from our balcony. It gave us a good perspective of how high above the water we were on the ship. 
These birds kept us entertained as we were coming into and out of Aruba. They kept diving towards the water......
getting closer......
splash down! Not sure what they were finding to eat but they entertained us!
Lizards were everywhere and they didn't seem to be too bothered by people. They scurried away when they thought we were too close, but otherwise posed nicely.
One of the many tropical flowers. All of them were colorful; hibiscus were the most prevalent and colorful.
