A bucket of baby sloths from the Sloth Sanctuary near Puerto Limon, Costa Rica...

PDAZ: They're so small!! Very cute. I thought sloths only had one baby at a time... are they really triplets or did several mothers give birth around the same day?

Oh and the bats were adorable too with the little ones safe in mom's wings (yes, I know I'm weird lol)

The baby sloths are adorable!!



Red Roses

bhs: lovely roses. All your flower shots are breathtaking. Loved the peonies too.

Zebra? Wow, where have you been "hiding" all this time? We've obviously been missing out on some artistic talent : )

Yes indeed, welcome Zebra. That's a lovely shot.

What a lovely lot of unusual animal pictures.
The flower pictures also are dear to my heart - I've been trying to grow peonies for years - all leaf, but never a flower. And how glorious to see phlox growing wild by the roadside!




" 'Tis the last rose of Summer"
Julia's Rose, waterlogged and windblown, clings on tenaciously. Pruning season's just around the corner, so the whole cycle starts over.

Bailey had an itchy ear.

Love the sloths, PDAZ.

Perfect for the summer.

What is that fruit, Sharon?

They are coconuts, Dawn. Coconut water is very popular in the summer.

What is that fruit, Sharon?

Actually, the Sloth Sanctuary only takes in orphaned or injured sloths -- they don't breed them -- so the babies aren't related. However, the guide did tell us that an adult sloth they had taken in gave birth to twins in January, so it can happen.

Here's an adult two-toed sloth. I didn't know this, but both types of sloths have three-toes on their "feet".

This is our village Flame of the Forest tree in its full glory at this time of year.

PDAZ - The bats and the Sloths are just wonderful and so cute.
Zebra - love your pensive cat.

I was browsing in a recycling yard recently when I spotted a Furphy Tank, as used to transport water to our troops in World War One. An iconic piece of Australiana!
The soldiers would share information with the water cart driver as he drove his horse from one battlefield to another. So the word "Furphy" came into the Australian vocabulary to mean unsubstantiated rumour, just as "Scuttlebutt" is used in America.

The Furphy family embossed mottoes into their tank ends, often extolling the virtues of water over other beverages. Their best known appears on this tank:
"Good, better, best
Never let it rest
Till your good is better
And your better, best."

Fascinating piece of history, Auntie!

Another photo from Costa Rica -- this was my very first basilisk sighting! And such a beauty

Thank you, everyone!

What a beauty!

Stunning kitty pic!

Here's a Mexican navy ship sailing near Gamboa in the Panama Canal

Pretty ship, that.
According to a quick googling, the Cuauhtémoc (named for an Aztec emperor) was built in Spain in 1982, and serves in the Mexican Navy as a training ship.

Oddly enough, I saw the ship a few years ago in Monterey Bay, California. I was sitting in a park near Fisherman's Wharf when the ship arrived in Monterey for a ceremony. The sailors were standing on the masts, singing in Spanish as the ship approached the harbor, and then they fired a few shots from their cannons. The cannon at the Presidio of Monterey fired back in response -- pretty wild (scared the heck out of all the seals and sea lions in the harbor!)

I know I took pictures -- I'll have to look for them.

An old, still functional bridge in Mangalore

I took this photo with a certain "Observer of Interesting Information" in mind, so I hope he's still visiting this forum