Treasure found

While working in the yard this morning, retrieving the plants in pots from the safety of the garage and returning them to the garden . . . I found this treasure. A huge, beautiful snail, living in one of the pots in the garage for the past few days! 3 years ago, in 2014 I took a photo of a much smaller snail in our garden and shared it here on blip. It is one of my favorite photos and I know my friend Pam loves it too. But this snail I found today is so large & beautiful I had to share! I will add a close-up to the extra photos where you will be able to see some of the snails body. 

We just did a bit of clean up today, filling a couple of trash cans with strewn branches and leaves. I did not finish all that needs to be done and neither did Steven, but we are taking it slow. We had a very good night's sleep last night which did refresh us. It has been a long time since that has happened . . . and we are the fortunate ones. I have offered our extra bedroom to a friend who does not have power yet - she is elsewhere and fine for now but will let us know. Steve has offered the ice we made in preparation for the hurricane to anyone who needs it . . . we are trying to do what we can. My mom's generator is still running, but it is a large external one my dad set up before he passed. She will be fine for many days and has a caretaker to check on it, who is awesome. 

My friend Ann Hall-here on blip, who helped me with the planning and planting our gardens in person when we moved to this home in 2012. She asked me today about our Royal Poinciana Tree . . . she planted it 4 years ago & this was my blip of it!  (so tiny!!) In the extra photos, I will add a photo I took today. It really is fine. It lost a lot of small branches, but it does not look too bad at all. Still very strong and healthy and SO huge. It has grown so much in 4 and a half years!! 

All is well.
We are so fortunate.
thank you for being here.