Cleveland November Part Four

From the sublime to.... After bidding goodbye to the butterflies, I ventured into hot, dry Madagascar -and this --

not one of the prettiest sights of the day.

Much sweeter was a little pure white hedgehog, fast asleep on a rock. A bit hard to see. A faerie version of our good old British hedgehogs but, I was told, absolutely no relation. Funny, that.

And here were baobab trees, straight out of "The Little Prince".

Fat and ungainly. They looked upside down, their roots on top.

Our guide proudly showed off this young chameleon in a fetching shade of pink, "No that's not how we tell she's female". Her mother, said the guide reverently, had recently passed away at the grand old age of five-and-a-half. The chameleon's eyes were mesmerising, swivelling back and forth in their sockets like gobstoppers.

Meanwhile some radiated tortoises where being chauffeured off for their sunlamp treatment.

And I stopped off at the gift shop, which had a very British display.

To be continued.

Cleveland November Part Three

There was some interesting philosophy in the rose garden.

But the nice volunteer at the entrance had urged me to see the indoor glass houses as well. They were divided into two parts: Madagascar and Costa Rica.

Costa Rica was hot, humid and misty. Butterlies were flitting everywhere, landing on the tropical plants,

Every sprig seemed to have a butterfly on the end of it.

And there seemed to be one on every leaf too.

While strange plants

Loomed out of the mist

And mini-waterfalls plunged and splashed

Here in a glass case was an Amazon milk frog

And the brown blob about a third of the way down was

Guess what...

At least it wasn't a redneck tarantula. Got to keep up standards.

More atmospheric jungle flora.

You wouldn't think you were in the middle of an urban Cleveland park in November.

Here were some butterfly chysalises in a case. They looked like tiny hanging umbrellas - each one different.

But this was the best bit. Butterfly release time.

They were still sleepy and not too keen on leaving their travelling case.

The guide placed them delicately on watchers' hands

And sleeves

Where they sat for a while, unsticking their wings, until finally flying off. A butterfly's first flight was a fine thing to see.

To be continued...

Cleveland November Part Two

The Cleveland Botanical Gardens had a fantastical array 

of futuristic-looking wooden tree houses, 

stairs 

 and walkways

 hidden in the autumnal woods

for children to enjoy. As well as a little hutch with books for them to take away and read in the trees, just like storybook children themselves. There were no children around on this November day and there was only one forlorn book left in the hutch

so I had time to study the array of signs

designed just to make sure everyone has a good time

 Swing safety - I don't remember taking a course in that and I'm still alive

and how did we ever survive without this?

Just in case you don't understand this sign

Here's another one

 I expect they're worried about being sued. Happens everywhere these days. But if, heaven forbid,  something untoward should happen,  there's a remedy at hand......

More to follow......

Cleveland November Part One

In Cleveland, Ohio for a couple of days,  we stayed opposite the Botanical Gardens. The buildings looked rather jagged and angular

Kew Gardens it definitely wasn't

And November isn't the best time to visit Botanical Gardens but the sun was shining and I thought I'd give it a try. And was I pleasantly surprised!

They'd done wonders with just a few urban acres, transformed into an autumnal woodland.

It was peaceful, wandering around, almost alone, through the autumn leaves, with flashes of red among the browns and yellows. 

Some intrepid roses

braving the approach of winter

This one had a very British name

I wonder if the average Clevelander knows who Darcey Bussell is?

And here was a neat and tidy herb garden.

And here, at the end of the path, were those archways (see below) a folly perhaps but a very engaging one.

More to follow...

The blog is on its travels again. see you next week!

More Travels

I wonder where this is?
Watch this space.....