Oh, then you should see the Cali kings we get up here. So dark brown it's almost black & white striped. Dave found one crossing the road a couple of months ago on our way home. It did NOT want to be handled or picked up. Was very strikey and actually 'rattled' its tail, something I've only ever seen in rattlers and gopher snakes.
No pix of my mom's lizards, maybe during the Thanksgiving trip to SoCal I can get some pix of her male.
Kolah, I am so sorry to read about your brother, that had to be absolutely devastating.
In the meantime, kolah's been sharing some amazing way-back-machine pix and that's inspired me to share what one of my sisters has been doing with home movies my dad found. They've been working on digitizing the movies and she's started uploading them to YouTube. So I'd like to share some home movies from the mid-to-late 60s. First two are in a little area in southwest Puerto Rico called La Parguera (it's where they have the monkeys on that island). The third Puerto Rican video was taken on the highway, through the central part of the island. All circa 1965-66 (she's got them marked two different ways, and gauging by how old I think I was in the movies and how old she appears to be, I'm thinking late '65). Various family members are seen in the videos, and the plaza at La Parguera is completely unrecognizable now.
I'm the toddler in the blue pants and white shirt wandering around the dock and the boathouse (and the earrings I'm wearing in the movie were among the items stolen). My middle sister is the chubby one in the pink ruffled outfit. Youngest sister wasn't even a glint in my father's eye, let alone a twinkle.
This third one shows the roof of the family home in San German (very close to
Porta Coeli, the oldest church in the entire western hemisphere) that will now be sold. The kitchen and dining room were up there (are, I guess, unless a hurricane and weather have taken them out now), and that was the play area and patio for family and friends.
<sigh> It's all gone now.
This last one was taken in La Mesa, near Mt. Helix (which I thought was an ancient Spanish bullfighting arena!) back in 1969, and I remember it all
so well. The woman is my mother, and yes, she was one hot mama back in the day (still is!). It's all built UP now. I wonder if my sister's footprints are still in the concrete. She wasn't supposed to walk on it, but she forgot and did.
Next up? If she uploads the movie where I'm pitching a FIT I'll add that one here, too. I was
horrible when I was a kid!