Florida painter, Everglades, Marco Island, artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

12/15/10

Snake in the House, Back Fence daily painting by Everglades artist Jo-Ann Sanborn

Back Fence
acrylic on board, 5x7

These flowers have are hanging on an old fence just outside my window and seem to be braving the extreme cold.  The container was a gift from a friend, a pretty, basket bringing me much pleasure. While I'm not always the best gardener, I love having fresh flowers in the house, and I love puttering around with the fabulous tropicals we have here. 

I've collected a few orchids, and they were looking good and starting to put out new growth after the extreme cold last year.  This year the cold is already giving them stress, and in order to save them I've had to relent on my "no outside pots in the house" rule to keep them from damage.


Why such a rule?  As some of you know, I used to do outdoor art shows almost every weekend in season.  Getting ready to go early one cold morning several years ago I was groggily making morning coffee when I noticed that one of the orchids I had brought in from the cold didn't quite look the same.  In the dim light, I put on my glasses for a closer look and came face to face with a rather large garden snake half in and half out of the pot. 

I might enjoy seeing a snake outside, and know their value in our environment, but seeing one unexpectedly and IN THE HOUSE was a whole different matter!  Screaming, went for husband,  just as groggy and not at all delighted to be dragged from the warmth of the shower. 

Luckily for us, the house was cold and the snake not yet in full panic mode, dear husband calmly picked up the pot from the hanging hook and put it outside in the garden.  Yes, I was just a little embarrassed at my reaction, but eternally grateful to him!

Since that time I've never taken the orchids in from the cold.   I examined this group carefully before bringing them in and look every morning for signs of some unexpected denizen, but so far, it's a quiet group .  Let's hope it will pay off when Spring comes! 

On another matter, it seems that I've fixed the link and have my google group back.  Welcome!  Thank you so much for your patience, and for the supportive comments as I struggled once again with technology advancements.  I'm so glad to have you with me again.  If you have missed some entries and would like to view them, you can click on this link, and at the end of each post click on "newer post" until you're back here.

2 comments:

Judie said...

Snakes alive, girl! The last thing I want to see near me is a snake! One dropped into my pool chair a couple of summers ago and I walked on the water to get away!
The filligree on my post was done by Diane. She has several books that she has done, all with her wonderful writing in them.
Thanks for the nice comment on my post. If she gets me into more mischief, I will give you a call!

Jo-Ann Sanborn said...

I can picture you walking on water now--I had a similar incident. One of the challeges of living in the south is the number of snakes! Love the filligree!

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