Ladies of the Night

More than three years ago, I started a small gem of an orchid hybrid, the Brassavola "Little Stars." Then it has been rush rush rush in life and I neglected to pay any attention to it. This plant blooms when it begins to turn cool in Miami and it gets dark early. At 7PM tonight, it already is pitch-black outdoors, but I did not need much light to find these Little Stars from its scent that is so delightful. This makes one forgets all the troubles of the world. All mine vanished instantly. Thank you, Little Stars, Ladies of the Night. Trouble? What trouble?

Dream On

Students come to this campus to study and complete homework and do research for projects etc... Many do... and many don't. A favorite past time is to surf the internet for whatever their interests for the moment. Girls like to browse for cosmetics, clothing and I think high heel shoes. Boys, like these two youngsters' "numero uno" interest is hot cars. They share their dreams on cars of all make, but mostly hot cars like Mustangs and Hondas that may be just beyond their reach because the norm at colleges like this is that the parents are not rich by any means. So, I guess there is an incentive in this activity: study hard to get a good job.

Guy Cones

After having shown you the female Encephalartos ferox, I thought it unfulfilled until I find its match, and here it is. E. ferox is also known as the Zululand Cycad and you may want to know that Cycads are often referred to as "living fossils" because they have changed little since the Carboniferous period 50-60 million years ago. They belong to the group of plants called Gymnosperms (meaning "naked seeds".) The reproductive organs are produced in cones and not in flowers as in higher plants. The Afrikaans name for Cycads "broodboom" means "bread tree" and the stems of these plants have been used in the past as a source of food. The starchy pith is removed, tied up in an animal skin, fermented and then ground into a meal.

Compared to the female cones, the male cones are longer (40-50cm) and much narrower (only 8-10cm in diameter). They are held on short stems up to 3cm long. Pollination of these Cycads can be done by hand: The pollen is collected from the male cones then mixed with distilled water and sprayed into the female cones.

I really have lived the ferox part of these Cycads and was pricked numerous times when trying to get a closer shot of these cones today. Just look at the leaves, they protect the cones like a fortress!

Panamera

I am telling you, there is so much money in the streets of Miami that's unreal. I've been to many cities in the US and found none like here that has so many expensive cars running around town day and night. Here is a brand new looking Porsche Panamera (Type number 970) whose name was derived from the Carrera Panamericana race.

The Porsche Panamera production model was unveiled at the 13th Auto Shanghai International Automobile Show in Shanghai, China, on April 2009; and later, the hybrid version was launched in 2011. This car is manufactured to compete directly with cars like the Aston Martin Rapide, the Maserati Quattroporte, the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class, and the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo, all of which run in the streets of Miami. Looking at this, I say that it is too long, too big and kind of ugly too. This car upsets many Porsche purists who agree with my assessment. You should know that I am no Porsche purist... but if you do drive a Porsche, not this one though, I may love you.

This one here is the cheapest in the line of Panamera, at a meager US $75K. Adding the label Turbo S and the price jumps to $175K and of course you can see that in Miami too. Only in Miami!

Harp Lady

I was at Macy's today... not that I wanted to, but because I had to. This large department store is a major anchor at Dadeland Mall. They have this young lady playing her harp that really gave a very festive mood to the entire space around here. It's almost Thanksgiving and not quite Christmas which are the two major holidays in the US and the decoration will begin to blossom everywhere very soon. This electric harp does not sound very nice, but she plays it well and I did like her rendering of "Fascination." I wonder if she'll play some rap music. That would be fun to hear that on a harp.

Audi

This is how Audi showcased its sport cars at the Biltmore hotel in Coral Gables. Come with a lot of green backs in your wallet or all of your credit cards in case you fall in love with one of these.

Roots

Ficus and banyan trees are beautiful... but before planting them, one must be aware of the aggressiveness of their root structures. They are very invasive and destructive. Near a home, they will eventually invade the foundation and may even find ways to your toilet! In Miami, many concrete sidewalks are cracked and destroyed because they happen to be near a ficus tree. However, the roots are lovely to look at. Stare at this a while and you'll fall in love and you'd want to hug the trees.

In Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses, the village of Titlipur is built around an enormous banyan tree, whose roots cover an area "half a mile in diameter." The tree is intrinsic to the village with some villagers building shelters in it and others living in the foliage. Did you also know that Robinson Crusoe, in 1719, built his house in a banyan tree? Well, that's according to the novel, and if I were him, I would be very happy to find a big banyan tree and build a big house in which to live.

Free Jazz Concert

Back by popular demand, Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Kendall Campus once again presents its popular Jazz Under the Stars concert, one of many of the campus’ annual Fall Festival. The concert, free with a ticket, features some of the very celebrated names in jazz and Latin music at 7 PM today, at the campus’ Fred Shaw Plaza.

Featured are Jon Secada, a former band member of Gloria Estefan's band, Miami native saxophonist Jesse Jones Jr.; and professors of music at MDC such as Ed Calle, Matt Bonelli and Silvano Monasterios.

The stage is being readied as can be seen here. The people who organize this event must be very good weather forecaster, or must feel very lucky. If it rains, that would be a disaster... but... it won't tonight, knock on wood!

Helicopter Drop

Today, if you were at the Biltmore hotel in Coral Gables, you would have witnessed this event: a helicopter hovering above the huge and beautifully manicured golf court to drop a whole bunch of golf balls aiming at a hole marked by a red flag.

This is an annual event by the local Rotary Club of Coral Gables to raise money for their preferred charity projects. Tickets are sold and linked to numbered golf balls. The three golf balls that land the closest to the hole with the flag win the three prizes.

I was there to watch and am smart enough to stay far away, making sure those solid hard like rock balls have no chance to land on my head.

No Flippping

This is is a peek at the local Burger King kitchen where the food magically appears promptly after a customer orders it. I think this is a real high pressure job because the managers' only loyalty is to the bottom line and they are all instructed to have the assembly line moves at top speed. To make a burger here must be tough. The worker looks at a monitor up high to see the code of how to make up the order, then get the correct ingredients on the buns and wrap it up to move it to the counter for delivery. OK.. buns... lettuce... onion... mayo... mushroom... patty (precooked by gas flame under computer control and delivered frozen so there is no need to "flip the hamburger" any more)... next one... next one... Can you do this all day? Someone must!

Virginia Key

Virginia Key is a 863-acre Miami barrier island, in Biscayne Bay, south of Brickell and north of Key Biscayne, accessible from the mainland via the Rickenbacker Causeway. On this island, you find Virginia Key Beach Park, Miami Seaquarium, and the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, the former Miami Marine Stadium, the National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Fisheries Science Center; and an office of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This island has a long history and it acquired its name in 1849. Today's Historic Virginia Key Beach Park was designated as the "Virginia Key Beach, a Dade County Park for the exclusive use of Negroes" in August 1945. That ended in the early 1960s and by the 1980s, Virginia Key beach was the scene for gay couples and nudists. It's too bad that is now long gone. If it were still here, I would understand the US $6 charge the county collects for each car to get in. Now, for that outrageous entry fee, the only nice thing you can visit is Jimbo's place.

The fence you see marks the entrance to Jimbo's , a long time landmark of Virginia Key situated on the right side of this photo.

Fantasma

It's here! The fateful night they call Halloween. You see ghosts everywhere you go in Miami. I am staying put inside. Not taking any chance to run into these fellows. If you live in the US and you do celebrate, Happy Halloween! If not, happy day, where ever you may be. If you want to be scared tonight, watch this, and this.

Pink Boy

I returned to visit the Victoria amazonica and happy to see that the flower is now fully opened. It is of the pinkish color so the hocus pocus might have happened last night when it opened for the first time and supposedly white. I am pleasantly surprised to see it open during day time, which is 2:11pm when this photo was taken. Books say this flower only opens at night... unless this is not the amazonica species, the books may be wrong. This is interesting and I wish I could get to the truth behind this... some day and certainly not today.

Bubba

Known as "A Genuine, Original Florida Establishment, Virginia Key, Miami, Florida USA," this is Jimbo's Place. It is said that his is "simply the last place at the end of the road where everyone is welcome, from kings and politicians to working folks and the salt of the earth."

I come here once in a while, and today's a special day which is Frankenstock Halloween Party at Jimbo's place. This place is boasted to be the most popular location in Miami where music video shoots, models and photographers, television shows and motion pictures are shot on location; such as Porky's II, Ace Ventura, True Lies, 2 Fast 2 Furious; Flipper, Miami Vice, CSI Miami, Burn Notice; JayLo, Who Let The Dogs Out, Sugar Ray and photo of Maria Carey's first album cover... You get to meet quite a few exotic characters who frequent this place. For instance, I got a nice photo of Jamaican Paul and he said he wouldn't charge me a fee for that. Lucky me! Look him up.

Jimbo himself was here and I got a couple of nice photos of him... but he is so well known already and I am sure he wouldn't mind that he didn't make it to my today's blog. But... less well known is Jimbo's Jr. and here he is... Bubba (James "Bubba" Luznar Jr.)! Bubba is Jimbo's son and, like everyone around here, also very friendly. He gave me a Halloween mask without me asking for it. Thanks, Bubba!

Don't Hug Me!

If you do not like to be hugged, be like this.
This is a Pachypodium lamerei, which is a stem succulent and a species in the family of Apocynaceae from Southern Madagascar. It has large thorns with leaves growing only at the top of the plant and bears large, white fragrant flowers, which is rare for plants in the cactus family. This species is one of the best known pachypodiums in cultivation because it is relatively easy to propagate and grow. Propagation is by foot long pods the size of cucumbers that bust open when ripe to disperse its seeds to the surroundings.

Do you see a large colorful lizard on the top? How did it get there? It must have followed the spiral pathway between the thorns, right? How else?

RIP

Halloween (or Hallowe'en) is an annual holiday observed in the US, and many other countries in the world on October 31, which commonly includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving jack-o'-lanterns, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. The carving of jack-o'-lanterns originated from Ireland and Scotland from the souling custom of carving turnips into lanterns as a way of remembering the souls held in purgatory. Immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which are both readily available and much larger – making them easier to carve than turnips. The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837 and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century. Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" refers to idle "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. Unfortunately, there is real danger of poison-laded candies given out and that practice is all but abandoned. However, traditions die hard and many houses in the US put up Halloween decorations to celebrate. This house looks beautiful with the mockup cemetery in its front yard.

Every Halloween night, I plan to watch "The Shining" but too chicken to have it done. That movie is just too creepy for my sensitive soul. If there is a scene I would blog, that would be when Wendy sneaked up to read Jack's book. The entire novel he wrote only contains one repeated phrase. Do you know what that is? Do you think I will watch that this year?

Lonesome Bird

I was walking alone this morning on Sunset Drive when I spotted this lonesome bird perched on a large aerial tree root at this canal. Without a good reference, I can't tell its gender but pretty sure it's a falcon, a species of raptor in the genus Falco with about 37 species, widely distributed throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. These birds are also sexually dimorphic.

In Miami, you can sometime see flock of birds of prey flying high looking for food. If this is one of those birds, it is a kestrel, which hovers while hunting. One species, the Peregrine falcon has been recorded diving at speeds of 200 miles per hour (320 km/h), making it the fastest-moving creatures on Earth. Being birds of prey, falcons have exceptional powers of vision; the visual acuity of one such species has been measured at 2.6 times that of a normal human. This thought brings me back to the reason why I am walking this road... I am visiting my ophthalmologist to log a complaint of why I can't see as well as a falcon.

Interment

There is a burial at the Woodland Park Cemetery South, also known as the Caballero Rivero this morning. This is a large 60 acres cemetery on SW 117th Avenue and 116 Street and it is a nice final resting place, for some. Others choose to be scattered with the wind and not leave any trace. That lead me to think about the different ways the finality of one's life can be dealt with, such as...

Air burial - Mongolia - body is left on open ground for natural predators.
Sky burial - Tibet - Body is dismembered and left outside to nature's course. This is because Buddhist's Jhator believes the body is worthless, only fit to be used to sustain birds of prey such as the vultures.
Viking burial - Scandinavia - Body is left inside dragon ship and burned with ship.
Fire burial - Bali - This is a Hindu way relying on fire for cremation.
Workplace burial - Southeast Asia - Bodies are buried in the fields where they lived and worked. Stone markers are used to mark the locations.
Cave burial - Hawaii - Bodies are bent and tied, covered with tapa cloth and buried in caves. This is similar to the Incas and Egyptians' mummies.
Ocean burial - Bodies are placed in burlap bags and weighed with stones to sink, a la 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne.

There are many more ways to dispose of the dead bodies and sometimes painful memories linger on. Any memorial can prolong the memories and with it the sadness so for me... I like the Final Frontier mode - Bodies launched into space aboard a private commercial satellite to a permanent orbit around the earth. That's still too close to earth, I'd prefer a higher escape velocity and my capsule will sling shot to escape the solar system into deep space, never to return... orbiting the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Please, would you please lighten up! Not you, you, that's me talking to myself.

Love Graffiti

In Paris, there is a wall named "Le mur des je t'aime." The wall is a monument dedicated to love erected in the romantic garden of the Square Jehan Rictus Place des Abbesses in Paris Montmartre. With over 311 written declarations in 250 different languages, I love You : The Wall has become a meeting place for lovers. I saw it in Paris but can't blog it because this is not Paris... but... Love is here in Miami too. Here are some great declarations of love expressed in graffiti and posted in a very unique and beautiful place: the trunk of an Albizia niopoides, which is the largest and most elegant of about 150 species of the Albizia trees, which is related to the Rain Tree. This one is in Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, and although pretty much forbidden, lovers have found the way and the courage to carve their love declarations on its trunk. If you can find your name here, you know that someone does love you deeply. Click on the photo to enlarge it. You can never tell what you can find.

In Full Bloom

As predicted on August 20th this year, the Alstonia scholaris in lot 57a at the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is in full bloom today. This is the absolute peak of this tree. It is fully covered head to toe of dense clusters of flowers and they are all fully opened, except very few isolated clumps that are late. During day time, there is a lingering scent but at midnight, this tree lives up to the description in literature that serenades the sweet and subtle nightly scent. Downwind of this near midnight, you can't get enough of this perfume. During the day, this tree attracts many small butterflies and bees that pollinate the flowers to produce seed pods in about a month.

The purple flowers you see in the foreground is from the Lonchocarpus violaceus tree (Balché Tree) of the Fabaceae family from West Indies and Columbia. This tree smells very good during the day but it is no match to the Milk flowers at night.