This year has not been the best year for me. From February until now each month seems to have brought it’s own series of personal drama and stress, directly related to immediate family. July was almost over and I thought we had dodged the bullet and I was ready to celebrate a change in fortunes, and whalla, I am not feeling well. Seriously, I have spent the last 15 months working from home, avoiding people, staying home particularly this year and now I am sick.

Florida, probably one of the most relaxed states in as far as Covid is concerned, has practically done away with all protective mandates, and is ready to be back to business as usual. For some that may be fine, for others not so much. Richard is high risk, and for the most part I am not willing to risk his life, so we have been doing things cautiously and avoiding close contact with unknown situations.

We have been away twice but in both situations we controlled as much of the trip as we could, making sure that he was adequately protected. But you become complacent and in the one place that I thought it would be okay, I did not wear a mask, and despite being vaccinated, 2 days later I found myself dealing with symptoms of Covid. I put it down to generally being run down physically, close proximity in a closed office for about 2 hours and no mask. I am at Day 5, under quarantine, and have a blog to put together.

Fortunately I had walked in the wetlands this month. Ironically as I was walking through I thought to myself that it was time I actually showcased some of the beautiful flowers that I see there. Typically you go to see the birds, sometimes a gator, or a hawk or owl. But I don’t actively go looking for flowers. This particular day they stood out to me.

So since I am homebound, unenthused, and sleeping a good part of my afternoon away, I figured I would pull up the flowers from my walk and share them for this theme – {Floral}

We have always been outdoorsy people. We have lived to be in nature. I love to walk in the wetlands on a regular basis. I try to remember sunscreen, but honestly I prepack my camera the night before and roll out of bed with very little thought to putting sunscreen on or picking up a hat. Added to that I tend to walk at the hotter part of the day, because I know there will be less people there. Now I am second guessing myself. I have a hat in the back of my car and I put sunscreen by my bag. The summer sun is super hot right now.

Life and death, has suddenly become very relevant in our lives right now as we focus on Richard’s health. If you are a sunseeker like we have been, please consider using sunscreen that provides a significant cover, watch out for odd looking moles, and educate yourself. Australia, Florida, California are listed as the top 3 places for melanoma. I am going to add South Africa to that listed because where we grew up the climate is exactly the same. See a dermatologist and get yourself checked out. Melanoma is one of the deadliest forms of cancer and we are dealing with this right now. Each day has become a memory making day.

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented ladies in the group. The sneak peaks are stunning and I cannot wait to see the rest. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly artistic friend Elizabeth from It’s Still Life Photography by Elizabeth Willson is up next is up next. I can wait to see what she has to share as I have seen some of her work recently and love it. I would encourage to have a look at what she has to offer. You can see more of her work by clicking on her Facebook page or Instagram page.

Come and share your images  Facebook and Instagram tagging #sharesix_summersun.

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