Wellington in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Hi fellow Girl Scouts.

I'm sorry it took me so long to write, but I wanted to make sure I included pictures.

I am in a horse town called Wellington.  It is a suburb of West Palm Beach, Florida.

My host mom picked me up after work on Saturday, April 7th.  She apologized for being so late but made up for it by presenting me with a cupcake.

I had my own room with my own bed in my own room.

After settling in we went for a walk with the dog.  It is so hot and humid here even though the sun has gone down.  It is still over 70 degrees and my hair is so curly.  My house mom has a funny part to her hair that she calls her cow lick.  She says it acts up all the time.  On our walk we saw several toads.

My host parents tell me that these are exotic or non-native toads and are a pest.  It is hard to believe that something so cute could be such a problem.  I guess they are toxic and can kill your cats and dogs if they lick one or pick one up.  On our walk we saw quite a few exotic house geckos as well.

They are pretty cute too and not harmful.  I guess in some cultures it is considered to be good luck if a gecko enters your house.

After our walk I was pretty tired so I went off to bed.

The next day was Easter Sunday.  It was a nice relaxing day. We went out to get some bait for fishing.  Almost everything was closed.  The grocery store and even Target was closed.  We picked up some bread for fishing at the dollar store and some earthworms at PetSmart and headed home for some fishing.  They had enough fishing poles that I could have my own.

Can you see my yellow bobber in the water?

I didn't catch anything that day.  My house parents said that the fishing is usually better during the evening.  We did see some really big fish swim by though.

I was still pretty tuckered out from a day in the sun so I headed off to bed after our walk with the dog and guess what?  There was a gecko in my room!  I took a picture of him. 

He is starting to re-grow his tail.

Monday the 9th I spent the day bird watching.   This is what it looks like in my host parents' backyard.

Don't let the grass fool you.  It is very crunchy feeling on your feet.  I guess there is so much sand in the soil that the grass absorbs some of it.  My host dad was kind enough to pick me up for a picture.

Here are a few of the birds we saw.  A whistling duck:

A funny looking bird called an ibis (they have blue eyes):

This one is a juvenile. You can tell by his coloration.

A long-tailed grackle:

And a bunch of exotic Muschovy ducks.  My house parents named one of the Muscovies "Sneezy" because he sounds like he sneezes every now and then.  He came right up to me.

The evenings are pretty much all the same.  Walk the dog and in for the night.

On Tuesday we went for a bike ride and lizard watching.  Check out the pictures of the exotic lizards they have right in their neighborhood. This guy is called a curly tail.  When he runs he curls up his tail.

This guy is called a brown anole. 

I guess they also have green anoles here but the exotic brown anoles are taking over and chase the green ones high up into the trees.

Speaking of trees.  Check out this awesome picture I took of a pine tree.

Check out the other plants growing on the tree and the flowers.  My host parents told me that the flowers bloom here year round.  I also took a picture of a bromeliad that was growing on another pine tree.

Tuesday we all headed off to bed early.  My host mom said that she had to get up early to send me off to my next host.  She wanted to take me to the zoo where she volunteers on Wednesdays, but she said I was on a tight schedule.  I need to visit two places a week if I am going to make my 100 places in a years time.  She wanted to keep me longer and take me with her to Peru this summer.  She promised that she would keep up with my travels on the blog and maybe even send something back from Peru.  She said that I am now heading north.  She wouldn't tell me all the details but said that there might even me snow where I am headed. 

St.Louis, Missouri

Juliette Started her Tour of St. Louis, Missouri on the Train at the  St. Louis Zoo, which is one of very few FREE to the pubilic Zoo's in the country

The meerkats.

— at The St. Louis Children's Zoo

                                                          The chimps.

                                                                 The Penguins!

 The Naked Mole Rats in the Children's Zoo.

Cast of what a gorilla hand would look like at the Zoo. We think Juliette looks like Fay Ray.

                                                 .Cheetah. Waaaaay in the back.

Some sort of lemur

 The hitch visited Grant's Farm on opening weekend!— at Grant's Farm.

Goats!!— at Grant's Farm.

 The zoo's goats are bigger. And they like to eat paper. Run Juliette, run!

 Flat Juliette wanted to see what it's like to freelance for a newspaper, so she came with me to a city hall meeting.— in Valley Park, Missouri.

Jackson, Ohio

hill top view of Jackson, Ohio

Main street - Jackson, Ohio

First Presbyterian Church of Jackson

I started my Jackson journey by arriving Saturday afternoon of April 14th.  My host family mother was busy at a rain barrel workshop at the church. We attended church the next morning at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, located next to the apple painted water tower.  (Jackson County use to be home to many apple orchards, the county still holds an Apple Festival the third full week of September.)

Rain Barrel Workshop

The Apple painted water tower

Me at the organ 

I was also able to sit behind the organist bench.  This is one of the oldest organs in the town.  Behind the choir is the pipe box which holds all sizes of pipes.

Can you see me in the middle?

Trillium recurvatum

Geranium maculatum

Trillium grandiflorum

I learned that the official state wildflower for Ohio is the White Trillium (the carnation is the state flower). I have several photos with wildflowers.  The white trillium, the toad trillium, and wild geranium.  The toad trillium's petals do not open all of the way and they curve inward.  Hence the scientific name, recuratum.  All three of these flowers bloom in the forests of Ohio, Michigan, WVa. and other similar ecosystems.  Here in Ohio you can find them in the month of April.
Notice we included the scientific name of each.  That is because my host family mother is a biologist, teaching high school students in a near by town.

We visited the Markay Cultural Arts Center.  Years ago it was a theater with live performances, then a movie theater.  It is now in the process of a renovation.  There is a photo of me sitting on the stage with three of the six bas reliefs in the background.  These are the originals that have been restored.  The depicted life in Jackson county in the 1940's.

the stage floor is being installed soon

at the Markay

me on the left, coal miner on the right

apple girl carrying basket and me

Later in the day we went to the parents of my host mother to put some compost on bales of straw where she is growing strawberries.  I guess strawberries love compost.  I didn't get too dirty. 

This area was settled many years ago by people from Wales.  The country side reminded them of home, plus coal mining that was taking place in SE Ohio was something they did in Wales so there was plenty of opportunities for these Welsh coal miners.