Our little dog, a Pekinese/Chihuahua mix, is showing the signs of aging, along with us. Yet, he is still Miko the Magnificent! He has quite the personality. The rest of the family will testify to that! 👺 Around here, Carol is his queen and I am his slave. Just ask him!

I can't help being impressed with the beautiful Calla, often called a calla lily. Our daughter has several of them in the yard and they have been in their glory, but a few are beginning to fade. I really liked this group of flowers.

I found some interesting facts at this website - https://www.pickupflowers.com/flower-guide/calla-lily:

"Some Interesting Facts about Calla lilies"

"The Calla lily is a perennial bulb.

Though called a lily, Calla lilies are not really lilies.

Calla is a flowering genus of twenty-eight species originating in Africa and growing mostly in marshy areas.

Calla lilies are grown from bulbous roots with finger-like growths. These are known as tubers.

The blooming time of Calla lilies is late spring.

The word Calla comes from the Greek term for beautiful.

The Calla lily roots are poisonous."

These long stemmed flowers and tall plant are beautiful additions to a yard, and make excellent ground cover too. I photographed this the other day, and went to look at it again yesterday. The pink highlights were gone and the flower is now all white. I got it at a good time!

About them, the 'Better Homes and Gardens' website has this to say:

"Grown as much for its silver-gray foliage as for its neon-color flowers, campion provides excellent color and contrast in perennial borders and beds. Once the flowers bloom in late spring to early summer, the stems can be cut back and the foliage forms a groundcover for the remainder of the growing season. Campion is also at home in rock gardens, wildflower meadows, and cottage gardens."

Little did we know last summer what lie ahead for the whole world a year later! People are social creatures and love to have fellowship, so the desire to get back to normal is natural.

But now, as states open up in different ways across the country, we have to be aware of an unseen enemy out there. We will see what this summer holds for us as the country passes 100,000 deaths from the pandemic. If one deals in numbers, the percentage may seem small. But families of all of those people don't care about percentages. That is a lot of people to lose in a matter of a few months. Compare that with the average of 70,000 deaths from the flu during a whole year, and you can see the significance. If we care about people, one death is one too many.

This fawn was looking at me through the fence between our place and the woods next door. Deer can be very curious animals, sometimes to their undoing. In the wild, when the see a human they will take off fast, but then often stop after a short distance to look back curiously. When being hunted, this brief stop often gives the hunter a chance at a clear shot.

Once the deer start showing up here, especially when the apples start showing up on the trees, they can get quite used to me. I have had three or four on the other side of the fence chomping on apples as I threw them over the fence for them. This youngster came right up to the fence to look at me.

One of the good things about a cloudy day happens when there is a break in the clouds near sunset. This winter scene over Fern Ridge Lake is brightened by a lovely band of orange and layers of different tones and colors. I also was pleased with the nice reflection in the lake.