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These next two are of a statue symbolizing the "First Family" to settle in Fairbanks. It is a fountain featuring both parents, two children, an infant and a husky. The copper plates around the fountain list the names of the first one hundred families to settle in Fairbanks.
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Shirley, nice photos of the pool and relaxing kitties!

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Beautiful columbine, Patricia!  I had those colors but only have the pinkish/rose color and one white one.  My neighbor had a bright red one show up one year, got lots of photos of it, but it disappeared.  Great photos you have.  I think that is a shasta daisy, I have some blooming right now.  They grow in spite of me.  Interesting statue, always wondered what my cousin's truck line was named, he is dead so will never know.  Think he ran it shortly after WWII.  Always fascinated me that he did those drives to Fairbanks.... back when it was the only way to get supplies & the roads were not the best.  Two of my brothers spent time in Alaska, one military & the other doing ecology studies of the pipeline.  I would still love to spend months roaming your state but doubt that will happen.  Always enjoy your photos and not willing to settle for a tour, want to experience the vastness.  Think dreaming of what it would be like is more satisfying than going and being disappointed at only seeing the tourist sights.  That isn't coming out right, I know I'd enjoy a tour but I will never be satisfied that my dream of roaming Alaska is just a dream.  Probably is, since I was in elementary school when the dream started, when life really was a lot wilder.  I can keep the dream as long as I believe, huh? Nothing stays the same, right?  Thanks for the comment about my kids...

Mary Ann, Tom is so lovable, Cas used to laugh how he'd rub his shoes... would talk to him about "shining his shoes".  Wonder if male cats are basically more cuddly, the girls like to be loved but on their terms. 

Thank you, Jack... and no, like I said, it's for looks.  I don't go roll in the grass just because it's pretty (not now)... so don't need to get in the pool just because it's full.   

Shirley, Kendrick is not cuddly.  His "mother" (Annie) can pick him up but if she tries to cuddle him, he squirms out of her arms.  He weighs 15 pounds and I would not attempt to pick him up.  He is nearly four years old and comes in my bedroom nightly to check on me, then leaves.  He may come in two or three times, but seldom stays.  He surprises me sometimes when he jumps on my bed and I don't feel it and I wake to find a cat beside me.  I think he kind of likes me!  Ha!

Mary Ann

Tom rubs and loves to be brushed but he squirms away if I hug or try to hold him.  Got to be HIS terms!  He likes to lay against my leg in the RV but Lauren & Tiger prefer up by my head or put their head on my arm.  Lauren is so tiny compared with Tom & Tiger, but she is boss.  Tom & Lauren were always Cas' cats but Tiger was mine from the start.  For the first time tonight I insisted Tom "sit" while I dished him up some Friskies can food.... and he sat, like a dog.  Never thought about training them like I've always done with dogs.  My sister had cats, I had dogs & birds & chickens, and they minded me. 

I can't get to sleep, kicking myself because I didn't call the vet today to see if they have something I can give Tom for his anxiety/throwing up.  Will do that in the morning.  The little chew things I got from the pet store didn't work, was supposed to mix with the dry food.... he just spit it out.  Got to have something to put in a wad of hamburger, he swallows that without chewing!  He eats anything/everything and starved all the time.  I need to weigh him again tomorrow, to be able to tell the vet exactly how much he does weigh.  At one time he was about 18 pounds, all muscle.  I really don't think his problem is motion sickness, more anxiety.

Better get back to bed, got lots to do tomorrow & I don't do well in the heat.  EDIT: I see my time is an hour off, those little imps are working over time in my computers! 

Oh Shirley, can I come and jump in? I'd love a leisured swim without bumping into others!

Patricia, lovely flowers.  I never saw a real columbine yet - only on pictures.

Buds,  still closed, then open.

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Wild Tulip

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Bubble, such lovely flowers! And how nice that you have them in the wild! I wonder what the tiny yellow flowers could be? Netanya has given you so many gifts, sea, and flowers, and more! Here you see wildflowers in the refuge, out along the rivers or in some vacant lots but often people get rid of them in favor of tidy lawns or regimented flower beds of purchased flowers.

I wonder what the pink bush is? We have one here but it seems to be purposely planted. I don't know what it is.

No idea what that little bush is.  The tiny yellow ones are just 'weeds'

These flowers are growing  mainly in the Southern Galilee.

Fascinating flowers, Bubble.  I would love to see your land and the whole area.  Blows my mind that the flowers we work so hard to grow are wild there.  Thanks for sharing the pics.  Afraid Kansas doesn't have a lot of beautiful flowers, plenty of sunflowers.  Some years ago one of the joining states objected to our sunflower "weeds"..... on the radio, so some disc jockeys in KS thought it would be a good idea to spread our seeds along the highways & by-ways in that state.  Eventually the joke wore off but made a memory for me.

Since I didn't go to sleep until after 4:00 am, I think I will curl up & let TV put me into la-la land.  Shirley

Bubble - The iris are beautiful! Hard to imagine them growing in the wild. We don't have iris in Florida. I used to grow them when I lived in Vermont.  Those others are unusual (except for the tulips!)

Shirley - If I had that pool I would be very tempted to jump in on hot days! Love the pictures of your "relaxed" cats!

Angel - Interesting pictures of Alaska. I love columbine, especially the blue ones.

Shirley, here florists sell "miniature sunflowers" bouquet and they keep a very long time in vases. My daughter sometimes bring that when she visits on Shabbat .  It makes the room so cheerful, I love it.

Do you eat the seeds of those flowers?  Here there is a huge market for that and many families cannot have their week ends without cracking those roasted seeds (and pumpkin seeds) for hours!

Here are the last photos of the wild flowers.
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Bubble, your first picture, new batch, reminded me of my Grandmothers flowers, she was a farm lady and had a sandy (peanut and corn) farm and she would simply scatter seeds in her from yard and let nature take it's course.  She would have flowers everywhere and some of the most beautiful butteries you can imagine.  Some I never see anymore.

Anyhow, your pictures are beautiful and thank you for posting them and bringing back some great memories.

Bubble, beautiful flowers!

BUBBLE

Enjoyed seeing those beautiful wildflowers you have in your country.  Such good photography too. 

Bubble.  The wild flowers are just beautiful, yet the ground looks so dry. Dirt looks more like sand. More like dessert. Sort of like Arizona here. Now   Here people would be digging them up and planting in their yards.

The ground is mostly sand.  These flowers are protected and thus cannot be picked or uprooted.  There is a hefty fine if one is caught doing that.  With everyone having a cam on their cellphone, the risk is high to be caught!

Bubble...
...your laws are the same as ours, our wildflowers - plant species are protected...we can not pick, nor uproot them...

...your burgundy with white dot centres are unusual...looks like snow has settled in the centre...

Here there is a sort of "John Wayne" mentality. If it is hard to get support for animal life, you can imagine the sentiment for plant life. And not to mention the antipathy about the somewhat deserved reputation the federal government has here. We had a hard sell effort to save some important buildings a few years back that were linked to our and also Native heritage. We lost the effort and they were sold off piecemeal and or bulldozed.

Bubble, thank you very much for your beautiful flowers!

I'm so sorry I'm silent for a long time!

I'm walking, fall down and have broken the left arm to go to my hotel in Yokohama in April.
I perform an operation and return to Fukuyama with a condition of a cast and an X-ray at Yokohama hospital which is close and looks good, and I'm undergoing rehabilitation at a hospital near my introduced home at Fukuyama community hospital.
I still have a disability with my left hand a little, but all fingers move.
I'm thankful for the one a PC can also use in this way.