Iris Festival ***updated***

photo by Joan

Today was the last day of the Iris Festival. Tom and I spent the afternoon walking through Swan Lake and Iris Gardens, feeding birds and turtles, looking at different displays of art, sundries, plants and food and trying to stay out of the direct sun -- it was hot! To the left is a sample of just one of the species of iris in the park. When we first arrived, we took a pontoon boat ride across the lake. It was nice. The boat moved slowly, there was a slight breeze and we could see lots of different birds on the water. Then we walked through the festival grounds, enjoying the different stalls and displays. When we reached the far end of the park, we climbed the stairs to cross the covered bridge than spans the road and visited the other side of the park, where they had plant sales. There were lots of pretty things to see, but we decided on THIS:

photo by Tom

It is a 'Purple Mayan' and those peppers are edible. The red ones are ripe and we are told that the plant will continue to produce peppers as long as the red ones are removed now and again. Isn't it cool? It reminds me of CandyLand! Don't the peppers look like gumdrops? The information we have says the peppers are hot, so we won't eat them like candy...well, maybe Tom will!

***update***

Tom had some of the peppers on his salad...and he said they were 'very hot.' Yeah. That means I won't be having any. Maybe we'll bring some along for Family Vacation...

Before we went back to the main part of the festival, we walked along the boardwalk in the swampy areas of the park. It was quiet and cooler than across the road, and we got to see beautiful birds and lots of turtles. When we left the boardwalk and followed the flower path, we were behind a young family. When the mother said to the toddler boy 'Stop and smell the irises, honey,' we stopped so she could get a good picture without us getting in the frame. After she had the little guy smell the iris several times so she could get a good shot, Tom leans over to me and whispers 'Now stick out your tongue and tell me what it tastes like.' I'm embarrassed to say I giggled. My husband. He is such a guy. Way far in the back of the park there was an interesting fountain. I can't help but think very few people see it because it is so far out of the way. More pictures tomorrow--blogger seems to be done uploading my photos properly tonight!