Kiki Nakita: Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens

The sun was shining brightly this past week in the Carolinas. It has been the perfect weather to hold on to the remaining days of summer. The children in our county are back in school, and leaves have just begun to fall off the trees as we drift into Autumn.

Let me recap my weekend for you, how about some calming music in the background? The music is a good reflection of this weekend. Calm, peaceful and especially relaxing surrounded by floral splendor. Firstly, Thursday my hubby bought me these pretty flowers, which I arranged with some greenery from our garden.

Secondly, my hubby started his first week at insp, the family network last week. I talked a little about the calamities that happened to us unexpectedly the week before he started, but with fortunate grace everything somehow worked itself out.

Then on Saturday, we went for a drive to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. It was a nice drive, with views of Lake Wylie and country roads. When we arrived we slowed down, opened our windows and took in this breath of fresh air.

The tickets are $12 per adult, but while checking online for the opening and closing time I just so happened upon Groupon tickets for the two of us for just $14.

One of the first gardens along our walk reminded me of our time in England earlier this year. I grew up in the English countryside surrounded by manicured lawns, cottage gardens and lot's of secret gates like this one...

The first movie I ever went to see at the movies as a child was The Secret Garden. We watched the movie a few weeks ago, after I gasped when my hubby said he'd never seen it before. He ended up watching the whole movie and I ended up in tatters, embarrassing I know, but the ending gets me every time.

We walked past the main building again and saw a bride dressed up with a photographer, I can see why, it's a lovely setting for a wedding or for a bridal portrait.

We walked along this water feature browsing all the statues carved out of various stones from sculptors from Zimbabwe. The exhibition is called ZimSculpt, and a good reflection of the culture, wildlife and human forms of those native to the country. My parents grew up in Zimbabwe, spent there honeymoon there at Victoria Falls and I also spent my first Christmas there at my grandparents. So I related to them, and it brought back those vivid memories.

There were so many there, but which out of these is your favorite?

I think the elephant is my favorite.

Here's an overall look of the sculptures leading to the water fountain. Feels like your standing there, doesn't it?

But by this point we were ~~sweating~~ glistening as it was one of the hottest days of our summer. We admit we ran through and splashed in some of the water, you know...to refresh ourselves.

Beautiful butterflies surrounded us.

Hubby was happy to greet the birds in the aviary, I just hope they were cool enough in this heat.

Painted by the lovely Susan Branch

Let's go inside...

Yes, that's a banana tree!

O, Flower! by Sarthi

O flower! Attired in pure natural innocence,
Thou are ignorant of thy enchanting aroma,
Unaware of thy Charm,
Dances freely with flirtious breeze,
Hardly cares about world's joy and sorrow,
Thou are neither selfish nor altruistic
Full of Self yet so Selfless!

I am fascinated by your tranquil disposition,
At dawn thou bath in sun's rays,
Flirt with colorful butterfly,
Fall a deep sleep in afternoon warmth.
Enjoy melodious sound of chirping birds

Thou lover, up there - the sky,
Gazes you with intense admiration,
He kisses you tenderly through his winds,
Thou spread thy fragrances in his arms,
He grows enamored of thy presence,
What a beautiful bond!

Thy fall comes - autumn arrives,
Still thou remain full of life as ever before,
Not worried; not shaken a bit
Simply falls, without uttering a
Single word to your lover to save you
from getting withered.

Thou unconditional acceptance is captivating,
O soft hearted beauty, thy passive life is
Exquisite treasure of green emotions.

The beautiful waterfall and archway.

After we browsed the garden shop, we meandered back home along the country roads to our home sweet home for a picnic beside our pool. We had Santa Fe rice, cheddar broccoli, Asian noodles, taco salad, salmon, sushi and fresh fruit. Simply put together so we could spend our afternoon lounging in the pool.