Splendid photos, Anne!! What vibrant colors!

Good to know you arrived safely and are sorting through the endless paperwork.

It doesn't rain on the coast? I don't understand that. Here, the coasts get almost daily rains, more than inland areas of our state.

It's ironic that you wrote before that you'd soon be sharing a climate similar to mine. Well, we are preparing for our first freeze today!

It's been extremely warm. Only a few chilly mornings requiring jackets. Around 5:30 am, a storm plowed through. Long and narrow, the storm was intense but short in duration. We were without power for 30 minutes or so.

Tree debris and a few branches litter the neighborhood but no real damage that I can see.

The temperature was 66F (19c) when I left on my morning walk at 7 am. Now, at 9 am, it is

62F (17c) and the degrees with decrease about two an hour for the remainder of the day until we bottom out at 35F (2c) tonight. By far, our coldest night this year. Tomorrow will be colder at 31F (-.05c). Winter finally arrived.

But, after 3 nights in the 30s, we'll get warmer for a while. Unfortunately, most of the flowers will be gone. And, I have a tropical tree called a starburst clerodendrum (actually have 4 of them) that loses every leaf after just one freeze. Such a shame because the leaves of stunning.

I look forward to more photos from Africa.