Heirloom find and another turtle

Well this will be a short addition to the blog. I enjoy the pleasant surprises of Shore Side Farm. The house is a challenge to say the least, but you never know what living thing is going to show up outside. (..and lets hope never inside!) I was walking the road out front to catch up with a box turtle I saw crawling by. I just had to find out if it was the same one I saw a month ago when my canine guest Layla found one in the tall grass near the shed. It was not the same box turtle. This oone was my old friend box turtle that I have met up with at least two times before in my yard along the cliff that borders the beach.  How can I tell? Well one sure way, this guy has some painful looking damage on his beautiful shell. It looks like somebody ran him over with a lawn mower and nicked up his shell. But even if he did not have that damage, the patterns on their shell seem to be identifiable. The two turtles I have found have each had different markings on their back. Even the texture of the back is different the last one had diamond patterning embossed on its shell. This one did not. I am guessing that I drew my own conclusions too soon and they are two different species.

Both are brown with yellow patterning, but the markings on each were unique to them. The height of their shell was different too. This guy had a highly arched back, the other had a much shallower arch on its shell. Just some observations. When I come upon these visitors it just brings me back into the moment, and the blessing of this habitat. It means a lot to me to be be enveloped in nature like this. Happanstance encounters with critters just mexmerize me. It massages my soul somehow. If anybody knows anything about either of these turtles, I would appreciate some insight.  Comments welcome! Text you type in the comments box below the posting will reach me through cyberspace!

As I was walking to the turtle, I noticed a sprig of pretty pink color tucked behind some leaves in a hedgerow.  As I investigated the pink hiding in the bush I discovered a beautiful miniature rose, a grandiflora rose I think. It has many beautiful blossoms in clusters on each branch, and some distinctive leaves.  Each blossom is very petal rich with many many doubled up petals curled into each other.

The pink is a beautiful rich light pink. Just a beautiful full rose bush, an heirloom rose from another time. Just a delightful plant!