A Full-time Life

Bowls of Spoonbills

We took a little mid-week getaway trip last week, staying in Titusville on what's known as Florida's Space Coast.  But we went to see the birds, not the rockets.  We spent most of two days walking in the Orlando Wetlands near the strangely named village of Christmas.  

 

 

Making angel wings!

Bowls of Roseate Spoonbills were everywhere.  (That really is the collective noun for groups of Spoonbills.)    I'm happy any time I even glimpse those beautiful pink wings.  On this trip they gave us more than glimpses.  

 

Great Blue Heron and habitat scenery, Orlando Wetlands

"In the midst of chaos, find peace. In the midst of sorrow, find joy. In the midst of loss, find hope.” 

                                                                        Margaret Renkl, “Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss" 

 

Roseate Spoonbill

 

Usually we see spoonbills foraging in shallow water.  They use that bill to sweep the water stirring  little fishes and insects up from the bottom.     So that bill (more spatula-shaped than spoon in my opinion)  is a  necessary survival feature, but it really isn't exactly what makes them so photogenic.  On this day they must have already eaten because all we saw were perched up above the water.  All the better to show off their color and wingspread.

 

 

A whole bowl of Spoonbills

This was an accidental flight-shot, but I'm rather proud of it anyway.  I'm usually too slow on the button to catch that action.

 

Foraging Roseate Spoonbill (from an old post)

 

We saw other birds on our two days of walking the Wetlands and  again on our Merritt Island drive-through  on our way home,  but they need their own future post.  These beauties somehow almost took over this one.

Spending time in nature is a path toward calm and peace.    I'm grateful we were able to go there. 

 

Thanks to everyone for your support.  I'm Linking to the following sharing opportunities, with thanks to the hosts:
 

SATURDAY CRITTERS; NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; WILD BIRD Wednesday;  THANKFUL THURSDAY; and  SKYWATCH FRIDAY   

 

 

 

Coming back to happy

Thank you for the kind thoughts  on my last  post.  They helped and continue to do so.   I wrote that very personal post during the weeks  we were in Oregon and  first  thought I was writing  just for  the two of us and maybe family.    (I don't keep a journal and really the blog has become the only writing format that feels comfortable.)  When we returned to our Canal Cottage, I realized I'd never be able to blog again if I didn't share that post first.   I really  had meant to close off comments, but I forgot to click that button and now I am glad  I did.  Good thoughts and especially the empathy really do help.   

 I am working to collect small moments of joy  -- really  always possible to find  and  becoming easier day by day.    I haven't stopped taking pictures and they remind me of those moments.       I've also been reading and collecting wisdom.  Because my attention span is short these days,  it is mostly in the form of appropriate quotations.   Those help too.

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life:  It goes on.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Robert Frost

 

Grief starts to become indulgent, and it doesn't serve anyone, and it's painful. But if you transform it into remembrance, then you're magnifying the person you lost and also giving something of that person to other people, so they can experience something of that person.                                                                                                                                              Patti Smith                                                                                                                                                                                             

                   

Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.

                                                                                                                                                                                                Joseph Campbell

 

 

We were surprised one morning to see wild turkeys strutting their stuff right in front of our Oregon balcony -- a decidedly non-wild urban area.  They are certainly adaptable birds.  
 

                                    

I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.  For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.                                                                                                                                                 Wendell Berry

The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keep out the joy

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Jim Rohn

 

Thank you for visiting and thank you to the hosts of these sharing opportunities:

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY  and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

Thoughts

Our brave, bright, beautiful daughter died unexpectedly last week.  She was 65.  

 

Her spirit will live on through her loved and loving husband, three children and their spouses, six grandchildren, her brothers, and her parents. 

We are here in Oregon sharing hugs and tears and memories and gratitude with our dear son-in-law and grandchildren.  

As the only daughter in a busy family with four children, Cyndi was a force of nature, seemingly born to manage and mother her brothers, cousins, and often half the neighborhood children.  She was a water baby who loved swimming, enjoyed hiking and skiing, was an honor roll student, and editor of the school yearbook.   She worked several different after-school and summer jobs and her favorite ones somehow always seemed to involve working with small children.  Her decision to study Early Childhood Education after graduation was almost a foregone conclusion.

 

Cyndi met her future husband while working one of those after-school jobs.  She and Jeff were partners in life and often in business as well for over  40 years.  They took classes, worked in their two businesses, raised three amazing, adventurous and resilient children and, in the course of time, were active and loving grandparents.    She was a mother figure to the many toddlers who came to the Day Care that they owned while their own children were young.  They were also dedicated foster parents to a number of children and later Cyndi served for several years as a teaching assistant in the public school system, working closely with special needs children. 

All of these accomplishments and more took place while she also dealt with the devastating up and down nature of MS, the chronic disease with which she lived for over 30 years.  She did not let her illness define her, always bounced back from the down times and lived life with joy.  For much of that time she made it possible for us to forget how hard she worked to stay well.  Only in the last couple of years did pain and exhaustion begin to overcome her resistance. 

She enjoyed the Oregon Coast, walks around the Lake near their home, some travel, even riding a motorcycle in earlier years.   Best of all, she loved her family life and raising her children in the country where she drove a wicked tractor over the back acreage!   She loved “playing” in their yard, was especially fond of spring flowers and wild birds.  

She loved being a grandmother.  She delighted in reading to her grands, teaching, playing, and just watching them grow, especially as they played in their grandma and grandpas big backyard out there in the country.  

Our broken hearts will eventually heal but with lasting scars.  We will keep the good memories and remember that she is now free of pain.  

(this photo by Geoff Rainville, Cyndi's brother)   

We have always loved her and we have always been proud of her and we always will be.   We are blessed to have been her parents.  

It's a Jungle Out There...

Not speaking metaphorically (at least not here on this blog)   -- only about the great outdoors.  Specifically, several of our favorite nearby places to walk. They call them swamps or sloughs or just nature preserves around here, but they are about as close to a jungle as I'll ever get.  

 

 It's beautiful and quiet out there, but it can seem a little closed in -- almost claustrophobic, especially to anyone used to wide open spaces.  

But then you come to a clearing where the beautiful blue sky magically appears.   Bright and clear, even when you look down.

And there are  birds .. everywhere if you pay attention:     

Look up:  

 

 There's a Florida Wood Stork looking like the King of the Hill!

Look Across:

 

 

Spot something bright red through all the greenery ... It's a Red-Bellied Woodpecker finding a meal in an almost fallen tree.

 

Look Down:

A Green Heron patiently waits for dinner to swim by

Once in a great while, I'm even able to identify some of the plant life:

 

These are Resurrection Ferns -- the top row looking their best (from April last year) and in the second row  unresurrected  in February this year.  But they will come back -- fittingly, right around Easter Time.

Yes, our Jungles are full of life and beauty when you look for it.  

Tri-Colored Heron, Six Mile 

 

Anhinga, Loop Road, Big Cypress 

Limpkin, Six Mile

And of course if you're walking in the jungle,  you better be looking down for your own safety, eek: 

 

This is a Cotton Mouth, one of  Florida's poisonous snakes.   (We were actually on a Board Walk well above this sleeping creature. )  Too bad about the branch spoiling a perfect shot, but we certainly weren't about to move it.

One more picture to end on a pretty note.   At first glance, Limpkins are an unassuming brown bird, but this close-up shot I think shows that they're quite handsome with their interesting feather pattern.  

 

 

I'm grateful to have there are quite a few places near us conserving nature and animal life.  I hope the work continues.

 

Linking to the following sharing opportunities, with thanks to the hosts:

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY  and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

Happy Spring!

Ah Spring!  That time of year when it's  apparent we aren't in Oregon any more!    There's really not a lot to mark the change from winter here in the subtropics.   So I'm celebrating  the season with golden memories.  And adding a few photos I managed to recover from the end of our season in Oregon.  Actually that was last December, so I guess every photo in this post is an oldie.... golden or otherwise.  

 

 

Oregon daffodils, 2021

Farmers  grow a lot of grass seed in our part of Oregon.  We don't miss the Spring sneezes and wheezes that come with the start of grass season.  But I do miss my favorite Spring flowers.   We see some beautiful blooms here in Florida of course, but they tend to be more flamboyant and just not quite the same.   

In the following photos we were still in Oregon, but not quite so long ago.   These photos from last December were still on the camera when we downloaded it here last month.  We went on a day-trip to Florence on the Oregon Coast.  About 60 miles from our Oregon home, this charming coastal town is a favorite  getaway.  

 

Siuslaw River Bridge, Florence December 2024

 

It was a gorgeous day -- actually fairly typical of December in our part of Oregon.  We had a few chilly days before we left,  but mostly blue skies and mild weather.  The icy days came in January after we left (not by coincidence).   That actually is typical weather for the region,  although it definitely seems like the January ice and winds have gotten more severe in the last few years.  We count our blessings when we miss out on those days.   

Hooded Merganser, Siuslaw River, Florence Oregon

During this December day trip, we did check to make sure the Pacific Ocean was still there, knowing we wouldn't see it again for a few months.    However, the pictures are from the coastal Siuslaw River where we always stop to walk when we  go to Florence.         

 

It was exciting to see several  Hooded Mergansers enjoying the sunny day.  I've never before seen that many  of them in one place.  They were swimming quite near the shore and were fun to watch.  

 

Oregon family photo, December 2024

These two live with our daughter and son-in-law.   It never fails to amaze me the way their pets always get along so well.  And here's another golden oldie from the same household:

 

 

Literally a 'Golden Oldie' since we always called this tree a Golden Chain and the photo was taken quite a few years ago.  Sadly, it's a memorial picture now because our daughter told us that one of those recent winter windstorms completely uprooted it -- the golden chain is no more.   When I posted this exact picture years ago, I learned from fellow bloggers that the tree's official name is Laburnum.  Blogging is an educational experience -- I  appreciate all the help I can get.   

Just a bit more color for my virtual memory scrapbook:

 

Yellow flowers always seem like little spots of sunshine. 

 

Here's to more golden spring days ahead.  Thank you to all who visit and to the hosts of these sharing opportunities:

 

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY  and SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

    

Back again --

In our real (full-time) life we're back again at the Florida Canal Cottage.  And  back in blogland after too long an unexplained absence.   I've always hated it when bloggers I follow disappear without a trace and I really wish I hadn't done the same exact thing.  This post is my attempt to catch up a little bit.   All pictures the are from the current season here in Florida.  But not all the words. 

I've missed blogging, but it has been hard to get started again.    We've been busy since the last time I posted at the end of October, but honestly the real reason I haven't posted has more to do  with the disastrous result of November's election.  I've always thought of the blog as my "happy place"  -- where good memories are stored.    Although I don't dwell on the state of the world every moment while we're living our lives, whenever I thought about putting a post together for the blog,  it somehow seemed shallow to be chronicling only happy times when our whole country honestly seems to be falling apart. 

Black-Crowned Night Heron at Ding Darling

He looks cranky,  but I think its just because of the photographer and not because of the state of the world 

I hate the feeling that there's really not much we can do.   But wallowing in depression certainly isn't good for me or for anybody else, so I am back to chronicle the good memories and to share them with anybody who happens by.   Even though I'm afraid the nation's problems aren't going away anytime soon, further posts will, I hope, be more about our personal life and less about worry.     

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming:

 

 Looking up  -- at Six Mile Cypress Slough in Florida

 We stayed at home in Oregon longer than usual this time, enjoying lots of happy times with our Oregon families including two of our "kids"* , our grown grandchildren, the five great-grands who live in Oregon, and even our grand-family of three  from Europe who visited for almost a month while we were also in town.   A big bonus was spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas with family, for the first time in quite a while.      

 

Loop Road, Big Cypress

 

Another happy, but harder, kind of busy happened because we moved our Oregon "home-base" to  a newly-opened independent senior community.   We  enjoyed our shiny new "lock and leave" home along with the amenities the community provides and look forward to taking even more advantage of those when we return this summer.     

 

Roseate Spoonbills, White Pelicans  and Night Heron at Ding Darling.  Little Blue Heron at  Six-Mile Cypress  

Although feeling barely settled in our new Oregon digs, in early January we made our semi-annual cross-country migration.   We spent the majority of that month  opening the Canal Cottage and happily getting re-adjusted to the subtropical winter here in southwest Florida.    

 

Green Heron, Big Cypress Refuge

We had a joyful week in February, when we had a visit from all three of our sons.  They came from Colorado, Texas, and Oregon for a brothers' reunion and to see the old folks (and for two of them to visit us here in Florida for the first time.)    We loved showing them around some of our favorite places.   We missed our Oregon daughter and son-in-law and our daughters-in-law, but it was a delight to see our  boys* all together.    Almost all of the family pictures I took, both here and from Oregon are on my phone and somehow those don't seem to want to upload easily to the blog.   

*All four of our children are old enough to be eligible for residence in our senior communities, although none of them are remotely interested in such a thing just yet.  But it's sure a reminder of our own advanced age!

 

Great Egret in front of  everybody's favorite (?)  Florida icon in the background , at Big Cypress

 

It always seems to happen that we see several of one certain species whenever we go to one of our 'nature places.'  The Black- Crowned Night Heron is that  one so far this season, as we've seen at least one on every outing.   Below is just one more picture of this pretty heron.  

 

 Black-Crowned Night Heron.  Big Cypress   

 

 

It's good to be back to blogging again .  Thanks to everyone who reads, visits, comments, and hosts.  

 

SATURDAY CRITTERS;  NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS;   ;  WILD BIRD Wednesday;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  and  SKYWATCH FRIDAY  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October's End

Happy Halloween

And Happy November

These are the kind of October decorations I like... not a fan of the scary graveyard stuff at all.    Easy to guess the age-range where I fall.

 

 

This is the Farmers Market just outside the small town of Peoria (the Oregon one).  It's one of the best Farm Markets we've ever seen -- but sadly at about 50 miles from home, just a little too far for weekly shopping.   

But  what a great stop as long as we were in the neighborhood anyway. 

 

Here's some of the bounty after we unloaded it at home.

Last week we made stuffed green peppers, roasted broccoli, and eggplant pasta sauce.    But first, the day we got home from the "harvest" we dined on the last of the year corn-on-the-cob.  A joy of the season!    We still had enough ears of corn (not shown) for an old favorite  -- Summer Vegetable Chowder. In this home,  that recipe becomes Autumn Chowder because it takes until then for us to want to put fresh corn and tomatoes in the soup pot instead of starring as themselves  on our dinner table.    The chowder recipe we use every Fall is from "Household Searchlight," a good old  depression-era cookbook.  Interestingly, we (informally) inherited copies of this cookbook from both my mother and Bill's grandmother. (But my mom had given me this recipe in person many years before that time.)      Good fresh food and sweet memories -- what could be a better combination..

Almost every October day this year has been beautiful.  I'm sure we need rain, but it has been lovely to feel the Autumn sunshine.  

 

 

Shades of orange and amber aren't  the only colors associated with Autumn here in Eugene.    On nice days, everything seems to be a perfect combination of blue and gold.  Those days make me happy!  And grateful.

We've been very busy doing non-photo-bloggable stuff lately, so most of the photos above  are  from the week before.    The pictures in the mosaic below are from even earlier than that.  I'm including it because I love looking at birds and I think these are photos I didn't use earlier.   

 

 

But I'm also including it   because I'm using a fairly new app for my photo editing and I'm afraid if I don't include a mosaic every week I'll forget what I've learned so far.   Honestly, I am grateful (usually) that I can still learn new things.  

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts.  MOSAIC MONDAY; 

  NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  WILD BIRD Wednesday; SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;   SKYWATCH FRIDAY  and   SATURDAY CRITTERS

October color and a visit to Mary's Peak

 

Mary's Peak in Benton County is the highest peak in the Oregon Coast Range.  It's about 70 miles from home -- well within our range for an  occasional day-trip.   But somehow over all the years we've lived in the Eugene/Springfield area we'd never visited.    We needed to remedy that, so the travel planner made it our destination  last week.     

 

 

It was a beautiful  day for an October drive.  We passed what seemed like an ocean of pumpkins  almost as soon as we got out into the country.   No question about what time of year it is!  

 

 

 

Muted Autumn color and some very interesting skies as we headed west.  

 

 

We found a waterfall!  In fact, there were several lovely tiny falls just  after we turned off the highway onto the road to the Peak.

 

 

And  then there was this  just before the top of the road.   "Layered" hills are my favorite kinds of mountain views.  ("Layered" is my own  totally unscientific term for this effect.)

We were lucky in our timing,   because the skies clouded over rather suddenly while we were still admiring this view.   We jumped back into the car but  by the time we reached the end of the road, it was raining and growing gray (and cold). At 4,100  feet, Mary's Peak certainly  isn't the highest mountain we've ever visited, but it is high enough to make a difference in temperature from the valley floor that we're used to. 

 

 

Views from then on to the top were somewhat limited, so the Peak itself was a bit of an anti-climax.  This is a view of the Valley from the viewpoint at the top of the road.  (This photo is color-enhanced because otherwise it was just uniformly gray beyond the evergreen trees.)   

It was a good day for a drive because of the lovely views and Autumn color.  And Bill got his mountain-driving fix while we saw hardly any other cars at all.  But it would be good to come back during the busier summer, just for a better view from the top and a more comfortable walking temperature,  

 

Here is some more October color from the week:

 

 

 

Pictures 1, 3, and 7 are from our daughter and son-in-laws' garden taken earlier last week. Pictures in the center row are from our day-trip, and the bins of pumpkins and gourds are from a stop at the Peoria (Oregon) Farmers Market, on our way home.

October is such a great month here in western Oregon.  We are grateful  to have the time to enjoy it. 

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts.

MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  and  SKYWATCH FRIDAY   

Ponds of a different color

In past years, I've posted a few pictures taken on walks around Delta Ponds.  We are so fortunate to have this lovely natural area within the city limits of Eugene.  The Ponds are pretty close to where we live here and we pass at least one of them every time we go anywhere at all.     Last month we were surprised  -- and a little worried -- to notice something different about the water. 

 

 

 

A few days after we first noticed the red color we were pleased to read an article in our local daily paper explaining the change.  It said people have called the City Parks Department asking  if it was due to  autumn leaves or paint or dye.  We didn't think it was any of those, but I had wondered if it was an unhealthy algae growth.   It was great to learn that this red growth, called Azolla Fern,  is actually  beneficial to the Ponds and our local ecosystem.  

The plant goes dormant in Winter and needs many sunny days before it blooms again, making it an occasional  seasonal bloom here in Eugene.  

             

 

 

 

Lauri Holts,  the City employee responsible for the Ponds, said that Azolla  actually helps to combat climate change by processing carbon dioxide and providing oxygen and shade for the aquatic life that lives below it.   As Eugene's Ecologist (and who knew our City even had such a thing)  Ms. Holts  is in charge of ensuring that Delta Pond's plants and wildlife thrive  along with human use.     

 

 

Azolla is also known as 'Duck fern' or 'mosquito fern'  and is a genus of plants that can be found worldwide.  Ducks and geese eat it, so that nickname is obvious.   It has potential to reduce mosquito populations, but only if it covers more than 70 percent of the water,  reducing  the surface area in which mosquitos can lay their eggs.   (We didn't measure the percentages, but  can only hope.)

 

Delta ponds is a 150-acre waterway that began as a part of the Willamette River and remained so until the late 1800s.  Human use and urbanization changed the area and today's ponds and islands  were formed by gravel mining  for highway construction that took place in the 1950s and 1960s.   The City of Eugene bought the  Ponds in the 1970s and has constructed pedestrian trails around the ponds.  A new loop trail funded by a city bond is nearly complete.     

 

It's good to live in a City where nature is valued.  We are grateful. 

On my nature walk last week, I was so busy concentrating on the red water in the ponds that I forgot to look up, so here are some blue skies and fluffy clouds left-over from our summer:

 

 

Skies and boats -- a few more of my favorite things.  These pictures are from the working harbor at Coos Bay.

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts:

 

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  WILD BIRD Wednesday;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;   SKYWATCH FRIDAY  and   SATURDAY CRITTERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last of the summer, first of the fall

At home here in Eugene, trees are beginning to turn, skies are blue, leaves are beginning to fall..... 

 

Eugene Oregon, October 5

... and someone has abandoned the rake because there is no foreseeable end to their job anyway.  A walk in the neighborhood reminds me to give thanks that these days we can enjoy the beauty of  Autumn without any of the yard work!

Finishing up our summer camping trip here in blogland today -- we weren't away from home for as long as it has taken me to finish blogging about it.  I take a lot of pictures because Oregon is blessed by so much natural beauty.  

Brookings Oregon

From Arcata in Northern California we headed back toward home, taking our time along the Pacific Coast Highway.  A round-trip is more fun, especially when you can marvel at the redwood forest one way and even more amazing views of the Pacific Ocean the other.   

 

Southern Oregon Coast 

The beautiful Harris State Park is not named for our (hoped for) next President, but after an Oregon pioneer who owned the property at one time.  .....    We could see the Army Corps of Engineers dredge boat at a distance from our camp spot in Brookings and the next  day we  drove around to where we  could  watch it work up closer.     

 

 

The boat was dredging this channel.   If you click to enlarge you can see a very small motor boat between the work boat and the rocky shore.  Too close for comfort in my opinion.  The crew on the workboat really shouldn't have to keep an eye on little boats that  could go  elsewhere to play.

We stayed in Coos Bay on the last night of our trip, spending just a little time the next morning at the working harbor.  It was time to go home --  only a couple of hours away.

People were hard at work pulling up and loading oysters.  It is always interesting to see where our food comes from and how much work it entails.  

 

We couldn't resist this sign.  Fresh tuna is the best.   It is  hard to believe it is the same food you get in a can.  (Even the best variety.) 

 

 

We admired this young man's knife skills as he fileted and wrapped the fish we bought.  He said he has dock duty on  his father's fishing boats right now, but hoped to take his own boat out next season.   The last of the tuna packages we brought home  are still in the freezer.  A taste of summer awaits!  

 

 

We had fun this summer here in Oregon, but every season has its joys.  We look forward to enjoying the rest of Oregon's beautiful Autumn. 

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts:

MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS; SIGNS SIGNS;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY; and  SKYWATCH FRIDAY