Solar Eclipse?

No, just one of the sunflowers in the garden.  Here's another.

Lots of bees, but not many butterflies.

Some hummingbirds, too.  The place is a bird paradise.
Recently, folks have stopped by and been amazed by how beautiful the place looks.  Months, now years, of back breaking work and my zen nature... and of course, my neuroses.

Gardening here is a learning experience.  Here we have six months with barely a drop of rain and then torrential downpours almost daily.  Well, that is how it has been recently.  The ground is super-saturated.  And then there is the variety and quality of soils.  I have serious clay here and the water does not drain. And the place is large.  I have put in beds or gardens everywhere.  I have gone crazy adding sand and compost, mulching everything and then letting nature take its course.  It is working.

This area was the site of a huge pile of brush which had been amassed over the last three years.  It was one huge fire and the entire area was pure ash.  I dug the ashes in and added sand and covered it with many inches of mulch.  I had chopped up thousand of pieces of corriso, the bamboo like stuff, so I had tons of mulch.  I have been amazed that things are growing in it, but the zinnias are tall and beautiful.  Some of the sunflowers are three meters tall!