I, like most millennials during the pandemic, love houseplants. To be fair, I loved houseplants before the pandemic, but there are a lot more people now who got into the houseplant game. Pictured above is my angel wings, proudly sporting a new leaf (this was very much not there yesterday before I watered it unless I was not paying attention). Something funny about that angel wings plant, I did not plant it. It shares a pot with some begonias that were transplanted from my front garden (that originally started as three tiny leaves). The angel wings were not in my front garden, nor did my neighbors have angel wings, that I could tell. They just, showed up one day and have been growing ever since. Truly a spectacular sight and I’m even more in love with them because I love elephant ears and I have never seen any that look like these. Fun fact about this plant, it is actually poisonous to both humans and animals alike and should not be confused with the state fair food of the same name. (A side note to this fun fact, elephant ear is grown as a food crop in Hawaii (and in southeast Asia) and poi is made from the tubers – it just needs to be cooked first!)

Apparently, I am not the only one who enjoys the plant as I came outside to find a friend. This is not the first anole to pop up outside my door. In our previous residence, there were two different anoles that liked to hang out in between the front door and screen door (and even my wreaths much to my surprise). You probably want to know how I could tell it was two different Anoles and that is because one of them had two tails!
Anoles, part of the suborder Iguania and family Dactyloidae, are actually native to the Americas with more than 425 species! They are really cool because they change color like most lizards depending on if they are cold or hot and can voluntarily break off their tail to escape predators.
*A funny story: there is a small running joke between our group of friends that Draco is the fearless lizard leader and the reason why we keep finding Anoles around the outside of the house is that they know we have their leader inside.*

I hope you’ve had a wonderful Friday and a great start to the long weekend (for those that get Labor Day off in the US).

Hasta Manana, Iguana!