Spend the Day at Belle Isle

These flowers were on display on Easter Weekend when we came to visit the Conservatory at Belle Isle. If you love to see flowers all year round, then this is the place for you.

Each season, the Conservatory showed case different flowers that are in season. This is a place where I love to be around, and trying to preserve its existence. Facing financial difficulties, the Conservatory almost has to close many times in the past.

It is sad to see it disappear so I'd like to get as many people to visit it as often as they can. The Belle Isle Conservatory is one of the best landmarks in Detroit.

Giant Red Lily


I could not believe my eyes when I see this giant red lily in the garden. It was so huge, and beautiful but very difficult for me to photograph since it was set way in the back by the wall.

Closer Please


This was as far as can zoom in to have a closer look! The color had a deeper shade of orange in this photo, though I remembered it in red! My camera had a hard time capturing red and purple colors though.

Pink and White Lily


Can you see the size of these lilies? Giant, huge, and humongous are the words I had to use to describe these oversize flowers.

Beautiful Pink Lily


I like the white strips on the petals of this pink lily! I didn't do justice in taking these pictures though.

Next time, I am going to take Betchai with me! She is my woman hero, and she can hike through this jungle!

Red Giant


If you want to stretch your money, Belle Isle is really a nice place to spend the day. There are many things to do there for free or at a very reasonable price.

• Fishing off shore

• Enjoy following the trail

• Have a picnic along the shoreline of the river

• Play pick-up basketball games

• Visit the zoo

• Rent a canoe to flow down the river for an affordable price

• Golfing

• Swimming

• Watch wild life in the woods

• Enjoy the thrill on the Giant Slide

• Watch the lights changes at water fountain at night

I am planning to return to Belle Isle many more times this summer to take advantage of the many things this island has to offer.

Science and Poetry Sites for Kids

Science Website to Explore

Are you fascinated about space, plants, climate, innovation, oceans, earth, human world, bizarre, innovation, animals, and photos? I am and Earth Sky is a wonderful website to explore all of these areas.

This website is designed for kids, and it offers in podcasts which you can listen to a short reading by scientists. There are many areas to choose from. In the Science News section, you can find answer to questions such as “If the sun refused to shine, would you mind”, or “Is yawning contagious”, or “Does it look like the moon is following you?”
If you have children at home, who are curious about everything on earth, this is a good website to introduce them to. It will satisfy their curiosity, and get answer to questions that they may have.

Poetry Site for Kids

While doing research for my new article on writing story and poetry sites for children, I run across this website Kristine O’Connel George after the article was published.



You will find exercises to help your budding poets, as they explore their own writing and learning to compose verses. Though this site is designed for children, I love it just as well. You can find tips for the poets, or listen to poems read aloud by the author, or read her books.

The idea of putting these websites together in an article came from my son, who loves to dictate stories to me before bedtime. I want to keep his imagination vivid and rich, but sometimes, it is not possible. These websites come in handy for him to either write a story or a poem, or make a photo slide show.

Check out Four Websites for Children to Have Fun Exploring, because you will find them very enjoyable also, I promise..

Fruit Trees at the Conservatory

I took my son to Belle Isle Conservatory after Sunday mass last week. I was in need for some quiet time with nature, and JoJo wanted to fish. I told him that he would have to put the worm on the hook for himself since I am terrified of this creature because of a really bad experience!

We agreed to go to the Conservatory first for the lighting was great in the mid-afternoon there, and his fishing excursion would follow after that.

We both had our own cameras, and off to adventure my son went! No, he was not allowed to wander off farther than my eyes can see. He was within distance of my reach!

Banana Tree


Look at this heavy branch of bananas! They almost touch the floor and still are so green. My son asked if we could eat something that grows in the flower greenhouse, and I said yes, though I had never tried before.

Half-Way Ripe


If you follow the beginning of that ripe banana at the branch from the top down, it looked like a half circle, and then ended with three orchids at the bottom. This banana branch was surrounded by orchids.

They Look Delicious


These bananas are ripe enough to eat. They are short and fat! I love these pictures of bananas JoJo took. They are refreshing to see!

Baby Pineapple


This baby pineapple tucked under a huge tree, and grew straight upward. I didn't see the crowd of this pineapple, and its top seemed to spread apart! This is a very strange one indeed!

Crowd of Pineapple


Now, this is what I am used to see how the pineapple looked like. It was fun to see fruit trees scattered around the greenhouse that mainly are flowers.

Full Grown


This full grown pineapple attracted many visitors. I couldn't even get near it to see for myself. JoJo, being small, weaved himself right into the front row for a close up.

Orange on the Ground


This orange was JoJo's excitement for the day! He ran back and forth to tell me there was an orange on the floor, and asked if he could take it home? Well, at the end he left it where it was and just took a picture of it instead.

Cherries?


I don't know what these berries are, but they look interesting. Some of the berries were also red, which could mean that they are cherries? When asking JoJo if he knows, he said "some kind of berries!" What a great help!

Many people I know thought that I'm crazy for taking my son to Detroit, and proudly told me that they would not venture there. I, on the hand, see no reasons why I should be afraid or stay away!

Life is full of surprises! If anything bad is going to happen, it could happen anywhere!

Practice Compassion Over Judgement

I’ve just read a poem on a very controversial issue of suicidal. The poem describes the feelings, questions, and tormenting thoughts of the after effect. It is a beautiful tribute, but the comments on it left me uneasy.

Photo Credit

Many people jump in and call the dead person “coward, selfish, and so on..” Well, the person is dead! How did he/she get there? Can we put ourselves in his/her shoes to try to understand what it must have been for him/her? He/she must had gone through the most horrific feelings to end his/her own beating heart!

Maybe all the accusations are correct. Maybe we should just try to understand and deal with our own devastation. In this society, there are many illnesses, and suicidal is one of them. It is a mental disease. Some people are stronger to deal with life, while others can only take so much.

To me, when a person committed suicide, he/she must have come to a dead end with their own feelings, situation and couldn’t handle it anymore! It takes courage and gut to go through this deed, not coward! It is his/her own life, not selfish! I have heard the saying “live your life”, not “live your life for others.” However, when someone exercises his/her rights, they are to blame even after their death.

Yes, it hurts the people who are left behind to deal with this loss, but this is suicidal, not overdosed to be called self-indulgent! I think, as a society, we have more sympathy for celebrities overdosed and mourn their deaths, than we have for a normal person who took his/her life when it is overwhelmed!

If you never have entertaining the thought of suicidal, count your blessings! If you have faced this thought in your darkest moments, and come out on top, congratulation! Let’s not judge other people’s weakness or call them names, but have compassion and understanding. Pray for them!

Get Your Google Analytics Codes

What is Google Analytics Codes, and do you have any ideas what they are? I hear about it! I see it on the internet, but clueless about their functionality. It seems that there are hundred of new things we must learn everyday to keep our blogs/websites running smoothly.

Life has just getting a little bit more complicated than I really can participate right now! So research, read, and read I did!

Photo Credit

I came across an article on eblog templates , where you can get not only templates for free, but I also found many helpful and informative articles. In this one: How to Install Google Analytics Codes on Blogger , I actually understood what I have to do to install the codes to my blog.

It is easy to follow step-by-step direction, and straight to the point of what you need to do! So if you haven’t sign up for a Google Analytics account yet, click on the link, and apply the direction.

This is what Google Analytics looks like:

Photo Credit

Once you have the codes installed on your blog, you can monitor your traffic, find out which post is most popular, and where they come from.

Even if you do not want to install Google Analytics Codes, it is good to be aware that it is out there, its functions, and have some ideas when you hear about it.

Love Birds

Dove is said to represent love, and peace! They are beautiful and gracious birds to look at. My son and I got side track when we saw this pair of Diamond Dove at the pet shop. We watched them for a very long time, and without a care in the world, he took these pictures below.


He managed to zoom in on this bird, and capture the beautiful color of its feathers, and the orange colored ring around its eye!


I was waiting for the store owner to kick us out, and smiling the whole time as customers passed by us. They probably thought that we were crazy taking pictures of birds behind the glass cage, but my son has a mind of his own.


Enjoy the pictures and have a peaceful day!

Special Day

To all women around the world
Today is your day, enjoy and celebrate!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Pet Shop Discovery

Continuing on our little adventure in a local pet shop, my son found a Yellow Canary, a parakeet, and an iguana! He was thrilled that no one have stopped him from snapping these pictures.

This yellow canary is priced at one hundred dollars, and just so beautiful to watch! We never have a bird as pet, and at this price, I don’t think we will either.

This parakeet is so colorful, and is housed in a largest cage with many other parakeets. The price for this parakeet is much more affordable, but my heart would not be happy to watch the bird in a cage every day!



Last but not least on my son’s camera is this iguana! Iguana is a fascinating creature to watch, but to have it as a pet; I would not know how to handle it.



Though we spent more time in the pet shop than originally planned, I welcomed the little off track that my son seemed to provide every time we go somewhere. It is the break that I often needed to rejuvenate.

Colorful Sun Conure

Living right in the middle of the city didn’t give us much to look at. To enjoy nature, we have to drive a distance. Around us are just houses and buildings, but I have learned to find beauty in what I see at the moment.

My son shares most of my interests! We suppose to buy a bag of food for his bunny, but we couldn’t stay on track when we see the birds’ cages. JoJo takes this series of pictures.

Sun Conure

This colorful bird can live up to 25 years. It’s very social and friendly. As soon as it sees the camera, it came closer for a look.

Who, Me?

This beautiful bird is for sale at $650. It gave us a curious look as we tried to talk to it. I have not seen such a colorful bird so up close.

Who Are You?

He came and hung side way on the metal bar to look at us. We were surprise to see how friendly this bird was to us.

Have a Look

Then he decided to just allow us to talk to him, took pictures and hung around on the metal bars. My son had a great time with this bird.

Just Curious

The look on his face said it all! He was curiously checking us out, monitor our behaviors, and watching us intensely.

We ended up spending hours at the pet shop, but in the end we didn’t forget a bag of pellets for Albert. It was one of those days when going off track was really good for my soul.

(Note: This was originally posted on Today's blog, but after I wrote a post to tell my readers that I won't be posting there regularly anymore, that very same night, they removed that post, my portfolio link, and sent me an email saying that they "decide to close your account for you", I have to move it here. These are my son's photos, and they can't have them!)

Prickly Bush

Below are flowers from the bushes that divide our house from the next house. I have lived here for more than six years, but had never come close to these bushes.

These bushes seem to catch lot of garbage throughout the year. So while I remove the plastic pieces off them, I come in contact with the thorns and flowers.

A Branch of Flowers

To my surprise, I saw these tiny little yellow flowers with pinkish veins on their petals. They are absolutely gorgeous.

A Cluster of Three

The flowers are very small that I have to zoom all in for a close up. I even find the leaves very interesting, and have a deep dark purple color to them.

All Open

These bushes have many different colors on their leaves. Some are dark purple, some are red, and some are green, depending on how much sun they are exposing to.

Pretty Flowers

I just love how these tiny flowers look! The amazing thing is: even a thorny bush, produces the most beautiful and fantastic flowers.

A Tall Branch

You can see the back of these flowers with their reddish color! This branch is the tallest and reaches far into the sky.

Green and Yellow

I am now moving along this bush since the green color calling out for attention. You can see in this picture how tiny these flowers are.

At the Tip

If I didn't get poke by the thorns, I wouldn't have notice these yellow flowers. Sometimes, beautiful things are right under our noses and we didn't know it.

Flower and Buds

This picture is similar to the "All Open" above, but the leaves are green in this one. There is one opened flower, one bud, and one is about to open.

Bathe in Sun Light

I like the light behind the yellow flower on the left, since you can see that reddish color on the back, while the other two flowers show them.

A Green Branch

This branch of flowers is just like the one in the first photo, only it shows the greener leaves. Probably many people have seen these prickly flowers before, but for me, it was a great new discovery.

If you love to take pictures, make sure you look around. You never know what you will see or uncover.