The Isles of Scilly

Brain cancer is...

...in the Isles of Scilly.

The Isles of Scilly are an archipelago off the coast of Cornwall, in southern England.  This morning we tromped around St. Mary's, a defensively important island with a garrison to repel the pesky French.  You can see the garrison wall near the sea, above, and here:

This afternoon we head to Tresco to visit their well known Tresco Abbey Garden.

Updated:

The Garden was intriguing, and our feet are tired.  Fun Tresco Abbey Garden facts:

• The Island of Tresco is held--and thus the Garden is maintained--by a single family, who can continue to hold the island as long as they live there.  The trust is passed down to the first son in the family, and the fifth generation currently holds it.  Everyone who works on the island is employed by the family.
• The garden was started in the 1800s by a fervent plant collector.  This island has a mild climate, and the gardener changed the weather conditions for plants by planting screens of pines and hedges.  Talk about humans modifying the environment!  
• It's an exotic garden with plants from places like South Africa, Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand. We found that interesting given the emphasis on native plants back at home.  You can see the surprising variety of plants in the pic, below.  Our ship is in the distance.
• The Isles of Scilly have hundreds of shipwrecks.  The gardener started a (morbid?) collection of the figureheads from many of the wrecks.  
• Even the birds are exotic.  Check out the plumage on the pheasant below.  (See?  We told you think of you daily, Friends!  You've gone too long without a bird pic.)

A few from dozens of figureheads of ships wrecked in the Isles.

A view from the top of the garden to our ship

Chinese or Golden Pheasant

Protea

Come to think of it, it's more than our feet that are tired.  We'll have dinner at 7:00 (the earliest seating) and make it an early night.  On to Wales in the morning.

We are sending many happy thoughts your way.  Hugs!