Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Flora in our Backyard

These flower buds come out of a larger bud. They will become a head of several small blue flowers.
I enjoy taking photos of small delicate flowers and seeing them magnified.


The bird-of-paradise is one of Cindy's favorite flowers.

A lily pad and water lily in the small fish pond.

posted by Brislen Family @ 8:21 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Living in our Backyard

Several types of small animals either live in or visit our backyard, including two cats, lizards, chameleons, several types of insects and many birds of different colors and sizes.

This bird likes to come onto the back porch, even as sit in the next chair and read.

Another bird is enjoying the bird bath on a sunny afternoon.

A large ibis walks into our yard every afternoon looking for insects to eat.

This ibis is also enjoying the bird bath.

No! This isn't a thumb! It is a slug where we hang out laundry to dry.

A slug proudly displaying its antenna. We've been having a lot of rain and there are many large, slimy slugs in our back yard.

posted by Brislen Family @ 8:08 PM 1 comments

Sunday, November 12, 2006

UN Summit on the Environment is in Nairobi

The United Nations Summit on the Environment was held just down the road from Jordan's school.

I thought this article on the effects of climate change on nomads in Kenya was interesting.

African nomads to be first people wiped out by climate change.

Here are some other articles on Kenya.

Kibera slums.

Shameful Legacy.

posted by Brislen Family @ 9:10 PM 0 comments

Friday, November 03, 2006

Jacaranda Trees

Nairobi seems to be full of jacaranda trees. We have several in our compound. They are beautiful, covered with their violet blossoms. There are so many of these small violet flowers on the tree, that you might think they have purple leaves. These blossoms regularly fall from the tree creating a violet carpet around the tree. Alia loves these trees and the carpets they make. When I sit and read on the back porch in the late afternoon, it seems as if it is raining large violet raindrops. The trees drop many flowers as the sun sets, but new ones consistently replace those that have fallen. Here are some pictures of various trees around Nairobi.

posted by Brislen Family @ 4:33 PM 0 comments