Violet in Arcadia

Following my last two posts- about Arcadia Woodlands- the title of this one might be misleading: I am not referring to the lost Woodlands, but to Arcadia's Los Angeles Arboretum & Botanic Garden.

First, I need to tell you that I am now back in the UK for the Summer. I am shocked to see that my last post was written on February 18th, and March is a blank. So now, before writing about my recent UK experiences, I am going to catch up on some of the events of my last weeks in Los Angeles.

I am starting with my Granddaughter Violet's first visit- with my daughter and me- to one of my favourite places, the Arcadia Arboretum.

Apart from the fact that I wanted to go there, I was longing to show her the Peacocks displaying their miraculous tails. Unfortunately, as typical "mad dogs", we arrived in the hot midday sun and the peacocks were preferring to lie in the shade of trees- either below them or in their branches:





Since Violet was a few months old I have been encouraging her to feel the bark on trees, so of course I then led her to a tree very special to me- a Silk Floss tree with its extraordinary, prehistoric bark. As you can see, Violet found this interesting:






Hot, we then went into the cool of the Prehistoric Forest, resting beside the Baldwin Lake:





Exploring, Violet discovered an interesting cast-off palm part:



And there were all sorts of other fascinating bits of bark and stuff:


Including a root:


But then, if you are a City Girl, what can beat a mechanical thing like a Water Sprocket?


Or, better still, a water Man-Hole?