Yesterday morning I was sitting quietly having my coffee when I happened to look out the window and happened to see a beautiful butterfly doing whatever butterflies do on the bush in front my patio door. I ran to get my camera thinking it will be gone by the time I got it and went outside but not the butterfly was still there and I had time to get a few pictures. It remained, doing whatever butterflies do as I tried to get a little closer. The butterfly didn't stay long in one spot and fluttered around me while I tried to get a closeup. Isn't he(she) pretty?

These pictures were taken at Epcot two days ago.

Duffys waiting to go to a good home!

The employees at Epcot are getting the park ready for the Flower Festival. The Festival starts March 7th and continues until mid May. I can't wait to see all the beautiful flowers and topiaries.

They changed the pattern this year, pretty huh?

2012

2012

2011

2012

2011

A little shopping

Tony went for a haircut at Mathew Michael's at the Loop and I did a little shopping at Bealls. There was such a big assortment of pants and tops to choose from I couldn't make up my mind, but I finally chose two pairs of cropped pants and 2 tops. This is not exactly identical to the one I bought but similar. The one I purchased has embroidered flowers. I remember having one like it the 70's.

Smocked Embroidery Peasant Top

OneWorld Petite Glamorous Rose Striped Top

For a change I chose a pair of colorful capris. I couldn't find a picture of the ones I bought but this picture shows the color I chose.

A more conventional color and these can be worn short or long.

Lee Clarion Natural Fit Cargo Capris

When I finished it was lunchtime so we headed over to Panera.

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is for Pancakes, fastnachts and pączki. Across the U.K., (and Canada) pancakes are flipped in celebration of Shrove Tuesday. The Pennsylvania Dutch fry up fastnachts (a raised doughnut). Folks of Polish descent (and apparently, residents of Michigan) polish off plenty of pączki (extra-rich jelly or cream-filled doughnuts). A Fasnacht, is a fatty doughnut treat served traditionally on Fastnacht Day (Shrove Tuesday), the day before Lent starts. Fasnachts were made as a way to empty the pantry of lard, sugar, fat, and butter, which were traditionally fasted from during Lent.

A pączki is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with jam or other sweet filling.

The weather is so strange one day goes down to 32F and then two days later the temperature goes up to 80F. Today it was around 76F with rain. In spite of the weather we decided to go to Hollywood Disney. It wasn't raining when we left but it looked like it might rain any minute. We didn't stay very long, it was very humid and our skin felt warm and clammy, uncomfortable so we decided to leave. We have annual passes so it's not a problem. We often go for a couple of hours just to walk around, maybe do a few attractions, most of the time we just walk around and take a couple of pictures then go back to the home.

Mickey greeted us at the entrance of the Park

Muppet Vision 3D at Streets of America

New York Subway at Streets of America

Disney's Hollywood Studios presents Jim Henson's Muppet-Vision 3D

Mermaid Fountain from the movie, "SPLASH" at Disney Hollywood

Street performers at Hollywood Studios

Happy Ground Hog Day

Happy Ground Hog Day! Let's hope Spring is just around the corner for all my friends back home. Newsflash at 7:25 a.m. this morning, Groundhog Phil saw his shadow in the little town of Punxsutawney, Pa. According to folklore, Phil’s sighting of his own shadow means there will be 6 more weeks of winter. Had Phil not seen his shadow, it would have meant “there will be an early spring.” Have a wonderful day!

Last Sunday Tony and I met Marge and Dick at the Cracker Barrel for Breakfast. I had Scrambled Eggs with Bacon and Sour Dough Toast, Tony and Marge had Sweet Potato Pancakes, Eggs and Bacon. After breakfast, we headed over to the Marketplace at Disney. Dick got Marge a watch for Christmas and the wrist band needed a few links removed. I started looking at the watches and guess what I couldn't resist and bought a watch!

We were at Disney Animal Kingdom a couple of days ago. One of the attractions at the park is the Kilimanjaro Safaris. The Safari provides the chance to see African animals including giraffes, black rhinos and lions, as they roam the 100-acre savanna in the Africa area of the Disney Animal Kingdom theme park. After boarding a jeep we headed into the animal reserve, off our jeep went, down the bumpy dirt trail and into Africa! Our driver pointed out the various wildlife -- but didn't stop long enough for photos, barely paused. The first time we went on the Safari the driver paused longer. Below are a couple of pictures taken during the Safari. Despite the short stops (not more than 5 seconds) below are some pictures that hubby took.

The Hippopotami don't seem to mind the Vultures and vice versa.

Gazelles are known as swift animals – some are able to run at bursts as high as 60 miles per hour (97 km/h), or run at a sustained speed of 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).[1] Gazelles are mostly found in the deserts, grasslands and savannas of Africa, but they are also found in southwest and central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. They tend to live in herds and will eat less coarse, easily digestible plants and leaves.

This Giraffe was about a foot away from our jeep!

The wildebeest also called the Gnu. Gnus belong to the family Bovidae, which includes antelopes, cattle, goats, and other even-toed horned ungulates

After the Safari it was onto the Maharajah Jungle Treck.

A Komodo Dragon, the world's largest lizard, resides near a waterfall at the beginning of the Maharajah Jungle Trek. It is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of 3 meters (9.8 ft) in rare cases and weighing up to around 70 kilograms (150 lb).

One of the highlights of this tour is the Asian tigers. There are 3 separate viewing areas where you can watch these majestic animals play. The tigers must have been tired from all their playing as they were sleeping soundly when we passed. It didn't matter, they are beautiful creatures.

Oops don't know what these are.

Continued on to the Bat Cliffs and observed the Rodrigues Fruit and Malayan Flying Fox bat species.

Malayan Flying Fox, I think

There are more than 50 species of exotic birds. These are a few that we encountered.