Mediterranean Respite from the Cold

While I am still preparing the many pictures I took on my recent trip to Cyprus and Egypt for a slide show, I have not had time to take more recent photos of the garden.  Not that there is much to see in the freezing weather.

So here are a couple pictures from the Agios Neofytos Monastery, about 10 kilometers Northwest of Paphos, on the western end of the island of Cyprus.

I will admit I don't know the name of either of the two flowers in these pictures, but that doesn't mean they aren't wonderful.  Coming from a frigid winter, and being able to have temperatures that were only as low at 55 degrees at night, warming up to the upper 70's one afternoon, it was a delight!

There are more pictures of flowers that will be in the slide show, including one of a pink bougainvillea vine growing alongside the old chapel at the Convent of Seven Sisters, on the Sinai peninsula. 

There was also a picture that wasn't-to-be.  Just as I was taking a second picture of that bougainvillea, sprawling up the white painted wall and topping out close to the cross on the roof with a deep blue sky behind, my battery died.  I tried to borrow a battery from the other photographer on the trip with the same camera, but he was not carrying his spare.  When I tried to switch to the Canon, those batteries died! 

So, I stopped, tried to memorize as best I could what I was seeing, taking it as a sign that this was not something to be captured, just enjoyed in the present moment.  I cannot show you the picture in my mind, but it is spectacular!