A Full-time Life

Saturday Special

 

We took yesterday off -- a rare thing on a weekend.    The weekend part is rare only because we usually choose to go places on weekdays,  leaving Saturday and Sunday for people who work the rest of the week  (as we used to once upon a time).  But the day off part (on any day of the week) is a little more rare this year than usual for reasons I've already mentioned probably too many times.  

 

Ann Olesky Park, Collier County Florida

So of course since this is Southwest Florida during the snowbird season, we were not alone in our getaway plans. September's devastating hurricane didn't seem to stop snowbirds from coming to this area for the warmer Winter.   Although we try to pretend otherwise after all these years of wintering here, we are  included in that number so we can't complain (too much).    Saturday traffic was seriously heavy and the lots at our original destinations, Corkscrew Sanctuary and CREW Environmental Area, were nearly full. 

     

 

We wanted to avoid the crowds, but we didn't give up.  First of all, we found wildlife along the canals on the way to Corkscrew.   After driving along that Canal we headed to Lake Trafford, another place where we always see birds.

 

 

The collage above shows how the area along the Canal near Corkscrew would appear to people in the cars that hurry by intent on getting to the "official" wildlife areas.  There are several spots along the road to pull off and the shoulders along the road are wide.  All it takes is a little time to look and focus and you will see wildlife.    Mostly birds, but also take a closer look at the top left photo above.   Or below:

 

 

Keeping a close eye on the passer-by (me),  our first alligator of this season was about six feet away as I walked along that shoulder.

 

Six feet away and about six feet long.

This is the closest I've ever accidentally come to an alligator (as far as I know anyway).   It was a  good reminder to look down as well as up.

Lake Trafford 

Ann Olesky Park on Lake Trafford was next on our itinerary and it was far less crowded.  The people who were there were mostly families fishing.  It was a beautiful day -- slightly overcast which made it perfect for walking and watching.    It was 70 to 75 degrees F, only a bit cooler than normal this month -- our cold spell seems to be over.  And of course that last sentence goes far to explain  why there are so many people here this time of year. 

  

 

Lake Trafford is more noted as a fishing place than a birding destination and the people we see there always seem to be locals.  And we always see birds.  Not as many this time as we have seen, but enough to make me happy!

 

 

Though we'll try to make the next outing on a less popular day of the week, we were happy with our Saturday.  We saw some good birds (and other interesting creatures).  And we were grateful just to be relaxing outdoors on a beautiful day.   It was a good one.

 

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

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

Rebuilding -- in nature and at home

 

We stayed close to home last week because we're busy rebuilding our own nest.  But one day we  stopped to visit our Eagle neighbors at theirs.  (We were on the way to the big-box home improvement store, as nobody will be surprised to hear.) 

 

Hurricane Ian completely wiped out their nest but the intrepid pair returned safe and sound, rebuilt in the same tree, and continued on with their lives.  A hopeful metaphor for the Fort Myers area, as the billboard above indicates.   Their two chicks hatched the first week of the year, on January 4 and 7 and seem to be  doing well.   

 

The top picture in this mosaic with the black border is this year's nest -- the lower two are from January 2022 -- a year ago and before the hurricane.

It was a lucky break last year to be there when Harriet (or maybe her partner) popped their head out of the nest -- most of the time one parent will be away hunting for the next meal and the other will be tending the hatchlings down in the nest bowl.  

 The new nest is much smaller  -- the pair will continue to add to it when they can this year and hopefully in years following.  The one that blew down was huge, the product of sixteen years of remodeling and adding on.  Harriet and Ozzie, her original partner, built that one in 2006.   

 

 

Here are pictures of the Eagle pasture on a cold but sunny day.   The people (strangers to us) are two of several photographers who spend hours waiting for eagle action and the perfect picture.    Nothing much was visible while we were there  -- and it really was cold (for here, I know).    At this stage of the eagle's lives,  no matter what the temperature is outside, it's really better to watch the action on the Eagle webcams because they can see down into the nest.     (Link)

 

The pasture is home to other creatures as well as the Eagle pair.   The horse greeted that photographer like an old friend, as I'm sure he is by now.  (This is the first time I've seen horses with blankets here in  usually subtropical Southwest Florida.  (Did I mention  cold? ) 

And finally, here are a couple of pictures taken earlier this month from our back porch:

 

 

 January 6 full moon (Wolf Moon)

 

The moon rises early here now -- about 6:30, so even early to bed people can get a few pictures.  I always like how it seems to be peeking through the tropical plants.  The next picture is an absolutely terrible one -- the product of  a shaky-handed photographer in too much of a hurry:

 

 

But as I started to push delete (as I do with about half of the pictures I take) I was struck by the accidental shape. I know people who collect  hearts in nature and I've found rocks and leaves and shells myself without really trying too hard.  But this is the first time I've added a heart-shaped moon.   

Here's wishing everyone a continued joyful New Year full of growth and love.   

Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities, where I'm linking this week:

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

All About the Birds

All about the birds today -- and our get-away to go see them.   We actually took a few days off from our restoration work at the end of last month.    It was a lovely time, made even lovelier because it had turned cold (for here) and heat on chilly mornings comes from the same presently non-existent source as air conditioning on hot days.  (We lost our heat pump/air conditioner and all the duct work as well as under the floor insulation because of  Hurricane Ian. ) 

 

Brown Pelican -- Chokoloskee Bay, Everglades  

 

We went to the Everglades/Big Cypress where it was beautiful and as birdy as ever  ... and the camper van was snug and warm whether we were driving or camping.  It was a wonderful birding trip.    If anything, we spotted even more than usual for this time of year.  Apparently the hurricane didn't  affect the birds much.  (That's an entirely unscientific observation -- I hope it is correct.)

 

Big Cypress National Preserve

The sign is a sign of good things happening.   The National Park Service is currently in the process of restoring many acres of land.    They are turning the Everglades back into the river of grass it is meant to be.  And the wetlands the restoration creates are definitely for the birds.   And birders.   

The other pictures in the mosaic really only go a little way toward showing the sheer number  of birds we could see all at once. 

 

Snowy Egret (yellow slippers)

I tried  several times to count but kept losing track.     It was more fun to try for pictures of the individual birds, although sometimes it was hard to focus because there were so many places to look.

 

?

Everyone will understand why I related to  the following from the National Park Service facebook page:

 

Me: “I’m an expert at identifying birds.”

Friend: “OK, what about those ones flying over there?”

Me: “Yep, they're all birds.

 

Whoever does the NPS page has a great sense of humor, but provides good (serious) information too.   The page is well worth checking out often.   Here's a link:  National Park Service

 

 

So yes, as usual IDs were not easy for me.    But whether I know their names or not, observing the birds is the important thing.  The wildlife, the water, the nature -- that's really why we keep coming to Florida.   

 

Tri-Colored Heron ? Night Heron?

 

 White Ibis

Playing a game of peek-a-boo maybe?

 

Great Blue Heron 

It didn't matter whether you looked in the marshes, in the water, or up in the Cypress trees, birds were everywhere.

 

?

We stayed at Midway Campground in Everglades National Park but most of the birds we saw were on loop roads in Big Cypress National Preserve -- the two Parks adjoin.  

 

Little Blue Heron

We enjoyed our little break from reality.    Our cottage and our snowbird neighborhood are almost back to normal (pre-Ian).  But it's still a bit of a construction zone around here so we are reminded daily of the damages that storm caused.  But it was not nearly as bad for us as for much of the Fort Myers area. 

We drove a different route on our way home coming back along along the recently reopened road through Fort Myers Beach, the area that was most devastated.  So very sad still.   A full three months after the storm there is very little recognizable about this seaside town.    

 

Wood Stork

 

It was quite a contrast -- from the  beauty of the Everglades area which seemed unchanged to the beach which may never be the same.   We were glad to get away from it all but glad to be home too especially with the reminder of how fortunate we really were.  

 

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

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

 

 

Christmas Memories

We're making a different kind of memories this Christmas Season here at the Canal Cottage -- not necessarily photo-worthy ones, but certainly days we will remember!

Meanwhile, here are some memories from the not-too-distant past -- Holiday getaways from other Christmases spent in Florida.

Christmas, at least by our advanced age,  is surely the most nostalgic time of the year.   Our photo albums at home in Oregon are filled with older Christmas memories.  (In the days when snapshots were more carefully rationed because the film had to be developed, family Holidays were when everybody's camera came out.)  Although I never actually get around to it,  every year I think about  scanning those  old pictures and making a real Christmas memory post (it would be very long!).   

 

 

I hope everybody is staying warm, cozy, and well during this crazy winter storm season.   We have had cooler than normal temperatures for here in SW Florida -- and that is actually a very good thing for us.  It's better working weather and perfect without needing an air-conditioner.  

 

 

The Christmas pictures are from  a trip a few years ago to Mt Dora -- a sweet town in Central Florida that really goes all out on decorations.  Pictures in the collage below are from a New Year's Holiday spent at the beach.  Sadly, the resort where we stayed that year is gone because of the hurricane.   Many of our favorite places are reopening though and we hope and expect that we'll get caught up enough to visit some of them later this season.  

 

 

Comments on this post are closed for the Holidays. 

and for catch-up time 

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

 

 

 

Our Canal Cottage update

Just one pretty picture from the road before we get down to business:

 

Most of the time this blog is my happy place and I don't have to work hard at all to find the joy.    There's lots of blog-worthy life going on.  And a review of past posts is always a good reminder to practice gratitude. But of course the blog also serves a second purpose as a journal of our "Full-Time Life."  And today, that journal needs to record more about Hurricane Ian and the effect it had on the RV resort where we have our winter home.  (As a review, the Category 4 hurricane happened here in Florida in late September when we were at home in Oregon.  Water in our Canal surged several feet above the sea-wall and caused much damage.)

The picture above is the view we had from our porch on November 20, the day we arrived back at Upriver.  That's what's left of the two houses directly across the Canal from ours. The yellow one is probably going to be removed also.

So yes, we are in our winter home now and doing fine.  But many of our neighbors along our Canal were not so fortunate.  Almost all the damage in our neighborhood was  from the water surge rather than wind.  Here in Florida, most homes do not carry water damage insurance.  About a third of the homes along the Canal were total losses, including our dear next-door neighbor's home.  

Ruined park model next door to us -- You can see the roof line of ours through the arm of the excavator.

Below is the now-empty lot right next door to us.  The yellow house (next door but one to us)will be renovated but is now completely stripped to the studs because it had water damage inside.  

 

 

Our house sits higher off the ground than either of these did -- we had water damage underneath (in the storage area/crawl space)  but nothing inside.    I wrote last week about all the work our newly-retired son Geoff did for us when he came from Colorado before we were able to get here.  Below is the first picture he sent  when he arrived, only a few days after the mandatory evacuation order had been lifted:  

 

Like most winter-residents, we put  hurricane shutters on all the windows when we leave Florida every year and then take them down when we get here for the season.  They  served their purpose this time.

Most of that debris on our side yard  washed in from elsewhere.  But the surge also soaked our under-the-house  insulation,  ruined a lot of stored items from our own "basement", and (most expensively) ruined the air-conditioner and its duct-work .  Thanks to Geoff all of the debris was gone by the time we got here.  Bill is doing a lot of the work  on  renovation of the damage himself.   He is replacing plumbing drains, fastening water lines and wiring because most were knocked loose, and eventually will need to replace all the skirting.  We will have to have all the insulation replaced as well as the ducting and the air-conditioner itself.  

    (Old snapshots of inside -- all the same today except for no fresh flowers right now)

Because the crawl space got opened up and all of the wet insulation pulled out, there was no damage inside our "Canal Cottage" -- it is the same as ever.  The floors need a good scrubbing by now and the windows need to be washed, but I don't think I can get away with blaming Ian entirely for that.  

Old (better) times on the Canal   (about ten years ago)

So "we" have a lot of work to do, a whole lot to be grateful for, and much to look forward to.    We will return to the usual blog programming soon! 

  #

LINKS:   THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY

 

It's good to be back again ...

.... both  at the Canal Cottage in real life and posting all about it here  in blogland. 

Our calm and peaceful Oregon backyard, early October

(around the time we were learning about the hurricane damage to our winter home in Florida)  

Thank you to everybody who reached out with good wishes as we found out about  the mess that Hurricane Ian left behind here in SW Florida.  The rest of the pictures today are postcards I could have sent  while we were on our  cross-country roadtrip to get here.

Mt. Shasta California 

There were so many trucks on the road -- it is hard to believe there's a shortage of anything anywhere!  

 

Sidewinder Grade -- Just past Oatman Arizona on Route 66

That's our car/camper in the background

Because of the hurricane, we left Oregon about a month before we'd originally planned and we drove and camped across the country in our Roadtrek van.     

 

Oatman Arizona -- wild burros come into town a couple of times a day to be fed and admired.

(Here's one of many reference sites for more information).

It was even more fun to spot the donkeys who chose to stay up in the hills:

We've never enjoyed drive-till-you-drop road trips.  We do enjoy the journey, even when we're anxious to reach our destination.    

Just a few people, some of whom you might recognize, doing what you do in Winslow Arizona.

(More information here  -- and many other places)

We drove 3,775 miles in just over three weeks.  Because there had already been a snowstorm in Colorado, we sadly missed visiting our family there.  We especially missed thanking them in person, because our son was able to spend some time at  the Canal Cottage as soon as people were allowed back into our neighborhood after the mandatory evacuation (well before we even left Oregon).    He did a lot of the necessary cleanup and hard preliminary work  to save our house from most mold and water damage.   We are beyond grateful.  (I'll share some more information and  pictures  in a later post.) 

 

 

Window Shot -- the roads were mostly flat -- the scenery sometimes more interesting.

Instead of  our preferred route through the mountain west, we took the flatter route -- from our Oregon home, we stayed at least overnight in California, Arizona, New Mexico, a small portion of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and home to Florida.   

 

Sunset from our campsite somewhere along the way. 

This is one reason why we like a camping road trip.-- you seldom see sunsets  from a freeway motel room.

We are in our winter home now and doing fine, although it will still take a little while and a lot of work to whip the Canal Cottage back into the shape it was in before the hurricane.   Many people were not as fortunate -- we count our blessings.     

 

Linking (with thanks) to the following:

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

In-between

 

We can't quite decide here in Eugene whether it is Autumn or late Summer.   

 

Stella de Oro Daylily

Colorful flowers are still blooming in the neighborhood ...

 

But the squirrels are busy gathering as many acorns as they can.

 

Skies are smoky some days ...

 

And bright blue on others.

 

 It's a beautiful time to be in Eugene and we're always grateful to be here, and especially this year.   But we are personally feeling very in-between seasons too.  It's hard to enjoy beautiful Eugene when we're worried about our winter home in storm-damaged Fort Myers.

So we're thinking we'll spend a shorter time here this year than we'd originally planned.  We know there will  be  lots of work to do at the Canal Cottage.   And oh so much in the area that we will miss.  The pictures in the Mosaic below are memories of   happier years at Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island and  Six Mile Cypress Slough.  Both are among the many nature areas that are closed because of hurricane damage.    

 We remain hopeful -- and, no matter what,  grateful for the memories.

 

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

 

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

 

 

  

Meanwhile in Oregon ...

Here at home in Oregon, the sun is shining, temperatures are still late summer-like and flowers are still blooming.  

But my head has been in Florida thinking about the after-effects of Hurricane Ian.    

So many people in the Fort Myers area where our winter home is lost everything.   We are incredibly fortunate that our winter home is still standing and did not sustain wind or water damage inside. 

We know this now because our son, who lives in Colorado, was able to drive to Fort Myers to assess the damage, take pictures,  and do the awful job of outside cleanup.   We are so grateful.   

 

So Geoff is camping out in our Florida house -- there is no electricity but the water has been turned back on (with boil drinking water warnings).   No air conditioner either and in Florida this time of year that really is a necessity.   I am sure  he is not sleeping very well.

The hurricane left all manner of debris  around the cottage (and the whole neighborhood).   Some of that is from the storage area under the house (basement crawl space) but much of it is from other places  -- it could have blown in from other houses in the resort or the Canal could have washed it in from who knows where.  It's very sad -- and a lot of cleanup work.    

 

Nobody who lives in our resort was injured, not  even the people who are permanent residents. But there was a lot of damage from the terrible winds and from water surge from the Canal and River.  Our next door neighbor's home was just about totaled,  They will not be returning and we will miss them.     We do still plan to return later -- but it won't be the same.     

 

 

Meanwhile though, as we plan for our return to a changed Florida, we continue to enjoy this  beautiful Pacific Northwest Autumn.  And we never forget to be grateful.

 

 

The Dahlias are from a garden at our Lane County (Oregon) Fairgrounds.   When we stopped to take pictures I talked to a garden-club volunteer who was cutting flowers.  She told me that September was their prime blooming month and that I should put the Club's annual Dahlia Show on my calendar for next year.  I will try to remember.

Blue Sky - Oregon October

 

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

 NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and FRIDAY  BLISS 

What happened last month?

Happy October!

Oregon October 2022

 What in the world happened to September?      I missed a couple of weeks here in blog land for no particular reason --  we were busy with appointments and family.  And we read books and watched TV and ate good meals and went for walks in places that I've already blogged about a million times.   So not-exactly-boring....just nothing much that seemed blog worthy.  And then of course there was this past week ...

Please note:  (This may be a confusing post because the pictures are all from last week here in Oregon, even though all the rest of the words are about Florida.)  

Oregon -- October 2022

We spent a lot of time last week watching Hurricane Ian destroy much of the area where our winter home is located.    I prefer not-exactly-boring any time.    Our winter home is all the way across the country but we mostly watched local Fort Myers TV while sitting here in our Oregon living room.  It gave us a slightly better picture than national news.

 

McDowell Park, Linn County Oregon October 1,  2022

We have been notified that our Florida Canal Cottage is still standing, but don't really have detailed news about its condition yet.  The problem will probably be  storm surge damage (water, mold etc.).   There is still no electricity or water for the houses along the canal.  Neighbors who live in our resort year-round were under evacuation orders and have been told not to return yet.  (The majority of the residents are snow-birds like us.)  

 

Majestic Falls, McDowell Park

No matter what we learn, we are  fortunate to be where we are (and to have another place  -- out of  the hurricane zone -- to call home).  As everyone knows by now, many people in the Fort Myers area were not so lucky.   

Majestic Falls

Many homes and businesses in Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach were destroyed.   The beach front as we knew it   is pretty much gone.  Two of our favorite places to visit when we're living in Florida, Sanibel Island and Matlacha on Pine Island, have also suffered devastating damage.  From what we've seen, it is hard to imagine  exactly how they will ever be the same. 

McDowell Park

So right now it's a waiting game.  Waiting to hear from Florida, waiting to see when we will go back to Florida, waiting to see what the damages are, waiting to see what we can or should do about it all.  But while we're waiting we are here and safe and Autumn is a beautiful season here in Oregon.  

 

 

 

 

End of September Eugene Oregon 2022  

 However, right now at the beginning of October it still feels like late summer here in Eugene.  It hasn't been cold enough to add much color and in fact most trees in our neighborhood are still fully-leaved and green.   No doubt  we'll  still be here to get pictures when they turn.  

 

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

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and FRIDAY  BLISS   

Ankeny Wildlife Refuge

We have been under a smoke advisory  here in our part of the Valley and by Friday I had reached the point where I just needed to get outside.    The smoky  conditions here are because of the Cedar Creek wildfire which is burning east of us.  Oakridge, a town in our county about 45 miles away has been evacuated and the highway to it is closed.   

Hoping to get out from under the smoke, we headed to the Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge around 55 miles   North of us.  

 

     

We are not in  danger here in Eugene and staying indoors because of the smoke drift is a small sacrifice, but it did  really feel  good to see some blue sky.

 

Pintail Marsh

And seeing wildlife is always a bonus.     We stopped to walk around at the  Pintail Marsh Trail and overlook.  

 

There were lots of birds, but they were pretty far away from shore.   It was also hot and quite windy.  It's not good to even think about wind during fire season.   

 

 

In fact, there were windy conditions here at home also and the day after our drive, utility companies in our county shut down power in rural areas as a safety precaution.  

 

 When we left the wildlife refuge, we drove to the village of Buena Vista where we took this small ferry a distance of 720 feet across the Willamette River.    Ferry service has existed here since 1852.  Back then this connection provided  settlers a much easier way to cross the river.    Nowadays, there are other ways to get from Marion to Polk County, with not too much more effort.  But for the $3.00 crossing fee, this electrically-operated modern version was much more fun than driving.  

 

We watched this Osprey nest while we waited for the ferry to cross back to where we were the first (and only) car in line to board.  Actually, I barely had time to get out of the car and snap a couple of pictures.   

 

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to the hosts:

THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  and SATURDAY CRITTERS    

 

September Days

 Country Road - Benton County Oregon

We took a backroad drive one day last week with no particular destination.  We're still having hot summer days and  walks have been limited  so it was good to get outside.   There's some smoke in our valley from fires in the hills up the Willamette River  (not dangerously close to us).  Summer means fire season here in the west -- more than ever nowadays.

 

 Pied-Billed Grebe

Like magic, our unplanned destination turned out to be the Finley Wildlife Refuge.  (But really because the person driving the car knew where he was going all along.)   We arrived in early afternoon, not the optimal time for birding, but we saw a few in the Marsh.  

 

 Great Egret

That's a fish at the Egret's feet.   He must have already eaten his fill.

 

 

 It's good to see green especially at the end of  a summer that's been hot and dry in most of our area.  

September is my month to feel nostalgic.   Probably because our life revolved around the school year for so long, it really seems more like a New Year to me this month than does January.   So with nostalgia in mind, this week's collage is  a look-back at early September days from a few past years:  

 

 

The top two photos are from roadtrips in 2019 -- Fall color in Portland Oregon and the hawk at Arcata Marsh California.   2021 and 22 were the Covid years -- we did some self-isolated camping  during that time, but we were home in Oregon in September of both years.  I photographed the bushtits in our daughter's yard  in 2020; it  was a new bird for me (I had ID help from  wonderful  bloggers  when I first posted about them).  The other two photos in the bottom row are from our grandson's backyard at a family gathering last year. The center photo is California Redwoods in the mist -- another road trip to the state south of us in September 2018.

And back to the present (well, last week anyway):

 

Just a beautiful blue sky with  a few fluffy clouds for interest -- on the way home from our  weekday drive  last week.   September really does start a new year for our older great-grands and their parents (several of the grandchildren teach as well as parenting)  and for our daughter and son-in-law who are helping out with their not-old-enough-for-school grandbabies.   For us, there's really no regular schedule to keep, but it still feels like new.  

September mornings still can make me feel this way!

Links this week with thanks:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;   SATURDAY CRITTERS   and RATHER B' BIRDING 

More from the South (Oregon) Coast

Same ocean, same trip as last week.... but we didn't spend quite all the weekend gazing at the beautiful Pacific.

 

 

 (A lot of it though -- and who could blame us?)

 

Shore Acres State Park is where I took most of the ocean view pictures last week (and the one above).  We also walked through the acres of gardens at this park.  We were kind of between seasons for flowers, but there were still a few perfect ones (either early Fall blooms or late summer ones still hanging on.) 

 

 

This is one of our favorite places to visit on the Coast and I've written about it before.  (You can Click right here for a link to a post I wrote a few years ago that gives more information on the history of this park.  

 

 

Just a couple more from the Gardens.  

 

 

And next for a complete change of pace, the more industrial side of Coos Bay, the seaside town where we stayed:  

 

 

 The ship is in port to load wood chips that will probably go to Japan.   Coos Bay used to be strictly a lumber and shipping town.  It still has those things,  but tourism is probably catching up as a major source of income for the area.   When we first moved to Oregon, there were really no places in the city to enjoy nature.  It was always interesting to see the action at a busy working port.   But since people go to the Coast to walk along the beach or gaze at the Ocean,  Coos Bay was just a drive-through place.  They've been working on it lately and there are many more places now to do the things most tourists want to do.

Everybody also wants to eat, drink and shop of course and the area has added  several of those places:

 

This is not the fancy birthday dinner.

 We had a lovely dinner in a  "fine restaurant" the first night -- the above pictures are not from that night. 

I don't usually take pictures of what we eat, but couldn't resist this interesting ambience.  And the food was delicious too.  The pictures are from Claussen's, a commercial  Oyster Farm.  It  has a small deli serving the crop they grow, plus a small menu selection.  We shared a plate of oysters on the half-shell,  along with Caesar Salads and Oregon wine.  All while sitting outside, practically on the piles of discarded oyster shells.  Our meal couldn't have tasted better.   

 

A view of one of the Coastal Lakes -- along the  Highway as we drove home.   Beginning to end, it was a beautiful blue-sky weekend.  

 

LINKS this week -- thank you to the hosts:

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It's Been Verified

Yes it is absolutely true -- the Pacific Ocean is still there.  We can personally verify it since we just returned from a lovely weekend getaway  to Oregon's South Coast.  There was sunshine!  

We stayed in Coos Bay -- at a Hotel!  The first hotel stay in how ever many centuries it has been since Covid restrictions began.  Really, we visited the ocean several times during those years, because we could use our camper trailer and not worry about other people.  

 

 

I love camping, but of course it is a treat not to have to pack food or make up our bed.  This was a birthday trip -- we are both August Leos.  But thanks to the Travel Planner the trip happened on my actual B-Day.   I'm lucky.  And grateful.

 

The Oregon Coast is special because of the way trees and greenery grow right down to the sand.   The above pictures are from Shore Acres State Park.

 

 

Weird and wonderful rock formations on the beach at Shore Acres.  They look like a giant's playground.

 

Driving from Shore Acres to Simpson Reef.  The fawn crossed  in front of us -- his mother followed .

 

Simpson Reef is home to about a thousand sea lions -- give or take a few hundred.  That dark line at the edge of the sand is solid sea lions.  Sadly, my good camera ran out of juice before I got pictures.  They were too far away for my little one.  (But I certainly was glad to have it.)  The next picture is from an earlier trip (and the bigger camera).  But it is from the same place.

 

Shore Acres and Simpson Reef are two of our favorite spots on the Oregon Coast.  Although I really can't think of any place along "our" Coast  that does not meet that qualification!  

 

Linking this week to the following.  Thanks to the hosts:

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River Walk, August

What is as rare as a perfect day ... in August!  

 

 

We had a couple of 75 degree afternoons last week.  Even a walk along a city sidewalk looked good.   But it's even better when that street leads to the River Path . 

 

 

 It's hard to realize walking along the river that I'm actually only a few blocks away from home.    We've been busy with appointments and routine so I feel lucky to be close to this nearby-nature getaway.  Especially on a perfect August day.  

 

 I'm seeing more dragonflies than birds these days.  Guess I need to work on my identification skills.

 

 

 Here are a few more.  They love the River too.

 

Perfection found in a tiny wildflower.

 

Linking to the following with thanks to the hosts.

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Day trip to Florence

Last week we drove to the Coast,  just for a day trip.  It's only about 60 miles from home to Florence and from there just a few miles either North or South until you (usually) get a good view of the Pacific.   Here's the bridge over the Siuslaw River at Florence.  

 

Our plan was to get a coffee in Old Town Florence and then drive North until we  made sure the Ocean was still there.  

   

 

The coffee shop has a lovely little patio and  a great view of the Bridge. Then just a few steps away, there's a viewpoint where we watched some harbor seals but didn't get a good picture.  We checked out the Purple Martin apartment complex and that population seemed to be thriving.    Can you see two  of them in the picture? 

 

 

Next we drove North and almost as soon as we left the city limits of Florence we hit fairly heavy fog!  We were almost disappointed in our quest to actually see the Pacific for the first time this year.  (The umpteen-millionth in our lifetime but it never gets old).  I've never seen the turnouts along this stretch as empty.  No  cars and no photographers.  We  did get a  glimpse or two of the ocean, but always on a curve where it was impossible to pull over.   The picture below is one from last year -- same stretch of the highway, better viewing day.

 

 

But after all these years and in spite of  our annual "checking out the Ocean"  tradition, we actually know that it will still be there when we come back -- sooner this time!  

 

 

The fog was really a surprise because  it was a beautiful day in Florence.  Lovely walking weather (cooler than at home in Eugene, which was a good thing.)    When we could turn around we headed back to the blue sky and spent some time walking around Old Town Florence.   There are fun little shops and windows to browse and summer flowers always seem to bloom more brightly in the cooler coastal weather.   

 

 

Great restaurants too, but I didn't get a picture of the delicious early dinner we enjoyed .  We didn't have to look as hard for ours as this pretty Great Egret did.  

 

 

It was a good day.  There's never a bad one on a visit to the Oregon Coast.   

 

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xx

We're having a heat wave

We have been living under a heat dome lately.  So hot!   But it is supposed to be moderating a bit this week.   I took the screen shot below from Thursday's local paper:

The line under the icons reads:   Thursday Sunny and Hot;  Friday Very Hot; Saturday Very Hot; Sunday Colder; Monday a shower......

Temperatures over 100 are definitely not summer normal here in western Oregon (or at least they haven't been up until the last couple of years. ) But I laughed at the five-day outlook when I noticed that under the icon for Sunday it says "Colder" (with a temperature range of 89/62).   I don't think that's quite the right way to describe a day where the high is expected to be 89!  (I'm writing this on Sunday morning and it is more pleasant outside than it has been, but I'm not wearing winter clothes just yet thank you.)

Because of the heat, we didn't get outside to play much at all last week.   We've spent some quality time with our Oregon family and loved it, but somehow the camera never remembers to come out of hiding on those days. 

 

Geoff's picture from their Colorado backyard

So this week I'm blogging a a few Oregon pictures from earlier this month and interspersing those with some lovely (and cooling) pictures from our Colorado family.  Colorado is our "third State."    

 

Lisa's picture from Colorado

Above is Lisa's picture of Geoff with Max the big white dog on an early summer hike.  Morning or evening, Colorado skies are beautiful.   

The pictures in the next mosaic are mine from a week ago Saturday before it got so hot here:

 

 

Just some random people showing some of the ways to enjoy the beautiful South Willamette River Trail   (and on that river as viewed from the trail).  Walking, kayaking, bicycling, walking with the dogs, tending plots in the two community gardens along the path, fishing, and just chilling in the park and along the water's edge.  The trail offers something for everyone on a perfect summer's day.   I'm pretty sure we'll have more good days before summer's end.     

 

Green Heron

This is also my picture but from three years ago.  A couple of weeks ago  I showed a distant shot of another green heron and then I remembered this old picture.  It's the best one I think I've ever taken of this particular species of heron even though we see them often both here and in Florida.  Like the more recent picture, this one was also seen at the Delta Ponds and also in July.  

 

 

We've been watching this big apartment complex going up along one of the streets on our way to the River paths.   It's interesting to watch the progress.   At this stage, the buildings didn't look like they were ever going to be finished, but now they look more like people will be able to live in them someday soon.   The already finished building is, I think, going to be the office.

And here's one more Colorado picture:

Geoff's picture

And it's another one taken from their deck.  They have magical views from their new home.  

 

 Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities where I'm linking this week:

   NATURE NOTES;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  and SATURDAY CRITTERS    

 

ROSES, 2022

 

 

We should have visited the Owen Rose Garden last month because June is the height of the season for these beautiful flowers.   But even in mid-July  and with all the hot days we've had, there were still some perfect blossoms on view last week.

 

The gardens are well cared for and beautifully designed -- a peaceful place.  It's not  far from where we live here in Eugene.  Just  a tiny bit out of hot-day walking range to get there.

 

So I drove a couple of miles to park at Valley River Center, our area's primary shopping mall.  From there it's a short  walk across a pedestrian bridge  to the South Bank Trail (on the Willamette River).

 

 Then the walk to the Gardens is less than a mile along the trail.  The pictures in the collage above were taken from the bridge.        

 

Eugene has a great trail system.   Most of my walks along the river are from our house -- no driving.    I love  being able to "go outside to play" with no driving (or very little) even though we live in a metropolitan area.  

 

The Cherry Tree in the mosaic below has been growing in this spot from  the mid-1800s.  It's on the edge of the rose gardens.   Because it lies within the original land claim of Eugene Skinner, the founder of our fair city,  it is believed that it was planted by Skinner himself. 

 

Whoever dug the hole, the tree is beautiful and I'm thankful for the arborists  and volunteers who work hard  to keep this living bit of history in prime condition.

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities:  Thanks to the hosts.

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Delta Ponds, Goodpasture

 

The (best) walk of the week started at the Goodpasture Island Road entrance to Eugene's Delta Ponds.  Great walk for photos, not for exercise -- I stop a lot!  

 

Great Blue Heron

That's OK  though because I'd rather take pictures.   It was cooler than it has been since we got home and slightly overcast.  I haven't yet been able to motivate myself  to walk early in the morning.  On hotter days, by the time I get  out there the birds are wisely hiding out.   

 

Pied Billed Grebe

So this day was pretty much perfect because the birds were happy with the cooler weather too.   

 

 Green Heron

Guessing on the photo above, but I think it's a green heron.  Too far away for a better ID   (highly cropped obviously).

 

Scrub Jay

The 2022 World Track Championships are currently taking place here in Eugene. an estimated  60,000 to 100,000 visitors are here watching these world-class athletes -- and spending time and money.  It's  a big deal for our small city!   No coverage on this blog because we aren't really track fans and we are still trying to stay away from crowds.  But it's impossible not to be interested and we are following coverage on-line and in our local newspaper (which is also on-line these days of course.)    

 

Real Oregon Ducks

 

We are on the other side of town from the University and Stadium area so haven't noticed much increase in traffic.  The area's largest shopping mall is within walking distance and it is being used as a park and ride shuttle for ticket holders.  Like most malls these days though there's tons of extra parking, so I don't think even shoppers will be inconvenienced.

 

They're everywhere!  Canada Geese.

All said and done, I'd much rather  watch birds than sit in a crowded arena watching people, no matter how talented they are.   But there is something for everyone here in Eugene this week -- and that's a good thing!  

 

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

NATURE NOTES;  TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; THROUGH MY LENS; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  WILD BIRD Wednesday;   SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;  SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING

 

Home Again

It's been five weeks since my last blog post and it's good to be back.

 

Morning Sky on our last day at the Canal Cottage

 One busy week  to close up the Canal Cottage and prep for our cross-country trip.

The  Mississippi looking not so mighty from our RV Parked on the River

Two weeks of travel with the tiny trailer   -- 3500 miles (a night or two in ten different states). 

 

Oregon summer flowers 

And now it's almost two weeks since we arrived  here in Eugene.   It's just beginning to feel like we're home!  Seems like it takes a little longer to get "Oregon-ized" than it used to.  I might be getting older.  

 

The "street" in an RV Park where we stayed somewhere in Missouri or Kansas.     No storms while we were there thankfully.

What with the price of gasoline these days, we could have flown home  for less money, but we already had the tiny trailer  in Florida.   And of course there are problems with air travel these days too.  So it was the best choice this time.   

Rawlins Wyoming -- a rainy day

I didn't take  many more pictures on this trip than I would have if we had flown.  We did only incidental sight-seeing as we drove or in the RV Parks where we stayed... no  touristy stuff this time.  We wanted to be home by the first week in July.  

Glenn's Ferry Idaho

Fortunately we like road trips -- it's fun to think about what's different and what's the same in the different places we pass through. 

Terrible "through the window" shot,  but I always like to document the first mountains we see as we travel west from the flatlands.  

We always get away later than we plan to, so the first night we stayed in Ocala Florida.  Then somewhere in Georgia (lost the name of the town); Montgomery Alabama; West Memphis Arkansas; Cuba Missouri (in the Meremac Valley); Marshall Missouri; Salina Kansas; Oberlin  Kansas; Kimball Nebraska; Cheyenne Wyoming; Rawlins Wyoming; Brigham City Utah; Burns Oregon; and Blue River Oregon. 

 

The McKenzie River -- just a couple of hours from home

 

For people who drive more than five or six hours a day, both the last two places are within a day's drive of home.  But we have always preferred to take our time.   The last day of the trip we stayed in Blue River, less than two hours from home.   Both because we enjoy being on the beautiful River in this sweet little park AND because we don't like getting home when we're tired from traveling all day. 

 

It's good to be home again.   

 

 

Linking to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to the hosts:

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Winding Down and Wrapping Up

Our season in Florida is drawing to a close.  This week we'll be getting ready to close up the house and getting the car and tiny trailer ready to head for Oregon -- and then we'll be doing exactly that.  

 

 

I didn't even get to take advantage of the last normal week at the Canal Cottage  photographically because our weather didn't cooperate.  We had a lot of rain.  And gray skies.  But we're grateful that we missed the terrible rains that hit further South.   Our area just caught the tail end of the Florida monsoon that hit last week.    

 

Red shouldered hawks, Eagles, Osprey

So none of the pictures in this post are new.   They are all from this Season however.  Even though we were busy doing a lot of non-blogging work on the Canal Cottage and didn't do nearly as much Florida exploring as we have in the past, there were still many photo opportunities.    All of these birds of prey were seen in our own neighborhood. 

 

Ibis, Little Blue Heron (immature), Tri-Color Heron, Northern Shrike, Ducks, Kildeer, Blue Jay, Red-Bellied Woodpecker,  Snowy Egret

All pictures in the collage above were taken right here on the grounds in the resort where we live or at neighborhood parks or ponds.   All were accidental sightings -- none were from special birding trips.  You never want to go anywhere here without a camera.    Normal activities like morning walks or short errand runs  frequently turn into great birding opportunities.

 

 These are frequently seen roadside birds.   Almost every time we drive anywhere we  see Egrets on the ground or in trees,  Wood storks in roadside wetlands or even in water-filled ditches,  vultures doing what vultures do, and Ibis  everywhere.    

 

Grateful for our season in the sun.  For the views, the warm winter weather, and the many accidental birding opportunities right here at home.  (But not-so-secretly hoping we'll have time for a little more Florida exploring in another season.)  

 

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

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Venice Audubon Rookery

 

May really is a pretty month here.  The moods of the sky are fascinating and every morning walk is different.   

 

Last week's morning walks at home

We stay busy indoors during the hot (and sometimes rainy) part of the day, but sometimes you've just got to get away in spite of the heat. 

So one day last week we drove about an hour North of us to visit the Venice Audubon Bird Rookery.  From their website: 

"The Rookery island’s deep lake is small enough so that from the shaded pavilion benches you hardly need binoculars for a clear view of the birds. Tangled invasive plants have been replaced by Florida-friendly vegetation so you can easily walk around the edge of the lake and watch bird activity on all sides of the island." 

 

Green Heron

May is the end of the nesting season, so there wasn't too much activity in the rookery itself.   But there were some very nice birds around the edges of that small Lake.  One of my favorites, the Green Heron was the first bird I spotted on that walk.  

 

Great Egrets and Great Blue Heron

 

 At the nests, which are on a bird island in the center of the Lake, we caught glimpses of a few big babies poking up their heads to be fed, but I think most of the nestlings had left home already.  The ones we saw (I didn't get pictures) were as big as the parents. 

There were a couple pairs of Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks on the opposite side of the Lake from the parking area.   

 

Whistling Duck

There's just something about these guys that makes me smile.  Maybe it's the pink legs?  

 

Or the Mohawk Hair cut?

 

Black-Bellied Whistling Ducks

Or their pretty eyes?  Or what seems like their curious nature.  Whatever it is, they are a joy to watch.  We've seen these ducks before, but not this close to home.

We spotted this high-density neighborhood on the edge of the Lake:

 

Purple Martin Condominium

 

And a condo tenant (Purple Martin)

 

He looks a little cranky.   Most of the residents didn't want their picture taken at all.  (The picture is highly zoomed.  I really don't think he even saw me.)

 

 Here's some more Spring color from walks in our own neighborhood:

 

More Florida Spring Flowers

 

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

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Total eclipse of the moon --

 -- and other news from last week. 

The bird of the week at the neighborhood pond was this Little Blue Heron.  Early in the week when it hadn't rained for a few days, the pond was almost completely dry, but then we had a few rainstorms.   It would be interesting to follow the birds to see where they go when their feeding spot dries up!   They always seem glad to be back. 

 

 

One of those storms, I think on  Wednesday,  was a literal eye-opener.  Rainstorms are common in late afternoon this time of year, but that one woke us up before dawn  with loud claps of thunder and lightning briefly turning our bedroom into broad daylight.  There's nothing like starting the day off with a bang! 

Earlier last week though the weather was good.  And on Sunday (a week ago) we were blessed with a beautiful day and  evening without a cloud in the sky.  So we stayed up late for the total lunar eclipse.   We couldn't have had better seats for the show than we did from the dock area in back of the  Canal Cottage.  

 

Lunar Eclipse, May 15, 2022

During a full eclipse, the moon passes through the darkest part of the Earth's shadow (the umbra).   According to NASA, the reddish hue happens because orange and red colors remain visible while blue and green light get scattered by dust particles in the atmosphere.  Because of the color, lunar eclipses are sometimes called Blood Moons.

Tuesday, May 17

I hardly ever stay up that late these days, so that long night meant no early morning walk happening on Monday.  But the next morning, the  moon was visible on the street side of our house -- and it still looked full.  Although certainly not as dramatic, especially with the point-and-shoot camera which is all  I carry on my normal walks. 

 

 

 

Great Egrets are common around here -- this one was standing perfectly still on a corner island in the middle of the supermarket parking lot.  For a minute, I thought the store had installed a statue.    But he was there hunting for food (just like all the rest of us).

 

In other news of the week for which I'm exceedingly grateful, we were both able to get our second COVID booster shot.  We're still masking up in public places, but the booster provides a nice margin of safety. 

 

And also (TA-DA) the bathroom project which has kept us (uh, half of us) busy all season is finished and it is beautiful.  We (both halves of us, for sure) are delighted with the way it turned out.     I'm   amazed that Bill's talented design and skill  incorporated a roomy walk-in shower, corner sink cabinet with storage,  a wall-hung toilet, and space to maneuver in an area only 7 by 8.     

 

 

 

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

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Good Starts

We didn't cover a lot of distance last week but there still a lot of pictures.  All taken last week on early morning walks right here in the neighborhood.   May mornings are lovely but the days heat up rapidly here in subtropical Southwest Florida.  It's good to get outside early and work on  indoor projects during the heat of the day.

 

 

It looked like an approaching storm as the sun rose, but it didn't materialize in our neighborhood anyway.   

 

 

These flowering branches look prettier in pictures than they do in real life.    The Royal Poinciana tree across the front street from our house has been neglected for a long time.  The flowering branches are up so high that most people wouldn't even notice them.    The lady who lived in that house when we first lived here was a dedicated gardener, so we know the tree is there and we look for it every year around this time.  All of the pictures were snapped within about six seconds -- it's interesting to see how the sky was changing at that hour of the morning.

 

 

It doesn't take a whole lot of water to attract wildlife  around here.  This retention pond is part of a relatively new addition to the  neighborhood.   I've enjoyed keeping an eye on it all season, but it is even more active this time of year -- partly because of the season and partly because so many human residents have already gone back to their homes "up North"  for the summer.   

 

 

I'm pretty sure these are Red-Shouldered Hawks and I'm also pretty sure there must be a nest in one of the larger trees near here, since this is the second week in a row I've spotted at least one on my morning walks.   I swear I saw this one turn its head in a complete circle.  Can that be possible?  

 

 

Back at the pond on another morning -- and I think this is an immature Little Blue Heron.  

 

 

Not a lot of water, but enough to share.

 

 

This is a different hawk -- and I know this because I could see this one and the one above at the same time.  They were perched across the street from each other.  They both look young to me and that's why I think there must be a nest somewhere nearby.  I'll keep watching (through my lens from an appropriate distance).

 

 Grateful for good starts.  

  

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At home with camera ...

 

.. and a computer on which to download its contents. Life is good.

 

This morning  ... looking East from the back-porch: 

 

SUNRISE:  Like sunset in reverse, but without the wine.

 

 Osprey seen on a hot day's drive in the Babcock-Webb wildlife area.

 

Red shouldered Hawk seen on a crack-of-dawn walk here in our neighborhood.   I guess he'd already had breakfast because he made no move  toward those little birds perched right below.   I walked around the block and hawk and (I think) mockingbirds were still perched in exactly the same place when I got back to this point. 

 

The Kildeer skittered around  leading me away from its ground nest even before I even got anywhere close.   I always wish I could tell them that I wouldn't dream of hurting their babies.

 

The bunny's defensive strategy, on the other hand, was to freeze in place also before I got anywhere close.  There is a reason why rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain.  But I always like spotting them.  This grassy area borders the wildlife walk next door to our resort and I've probably taken pretty much the exact same picture every season we've stayed here. Except of course this bunny is at least the 12th or 13th generation of wild rabbits over that number of years.    

 

Florida Spring flowers are anything but subtle.   

 

The rainy season arrived early this year.    That's good for flora and fauna.   Here in subtropical Florida, the mornings are almost always sunny --   the rains come later in the day.  They move in  fast and furious and then are completely gone for the day, with not a drizzle left.   We need more  English words for rain, because it's very different here than in our home state of Oregon.  

 

Great Blue Heron (leftover from beach trip posted last week)

It was an ordinary week and in our family we have always been grateful for ordinary days.   But when I think about how nice it is to sit at my nice new speedy computer to write these words, I can't help but think about how different an ordinary week is nowadays.    I'm glad for that because I like this way of saving our memories.   

 

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

Happy to be here

 

Happy to be back from an unintended vacation from blogging.  We have been busy and well -- the time away was caused by computer failure.  My poor PC gave up the ghost!   After several trips to the "not-quite-as-Best-as-it-used-to-be" store, my new machine is finally here.  And installed and ready to go,  thanks to the in-house computer person (the one in our household who is not me).

 

 

And now all I have to do is remember how to use it.   I'm thankful to be back and to have new pictures to share.  And very grateful that my old ones were safely restored.  

 

Ruddy Turnstone

 

Except for the memory collage a little way below, the pictures in today's post were taken on Captiva Island last week.   It was our first real boating excursion in over two seasons.   

 

 

We stayed two nights (aboard our boat) at the historic Tween Waters Inn.  It is located on Captiva Island be'tween' Pine Island Sound and the Gulf of Mexico.       Click on the sign to read some of its history.  

 

 

It was kind of a bitter-sweet time because we went with good friends who have sold their winter home on the Canal and will not be back next season.  They are the ones who really helped us get to know the good places to boat here in SW Florida.  

 

Brown Pelican

 

We have had so much fun together, boating and ashore, during our twelve seasons here.  We will miss them.   

 

 

 This collage is not from last week, but is just a few memories from past boat trips with these (and other) friends.  

 

 

We didn't let the bitter over-rule the sweet on this trip and we had fun together.   By this time in our lives, we all know that change happens.   

 

Ospreys on historic Tween Waters cottage

Here's to happy times:  Past, present, and to come!

 

More  Sunset from Tween Waters Beach, Captiva Island (Pine Island Sound)

 

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Catching up

 

It has been a quiet week at the Canal Cottage.   But the weather here has been good, we have things to do,  and I am always grateful for ordinary days. One evening, we had a little  wander around at the nature area down the street from home.   It used to be the nature area next door because we could walk there along  a short path from where we live to the center of the park. 

 

 

The nature area hasn't moved and neither has the Canal Cottage, but  now there's a gate that prevents residents of our snowbird resort from using that path.   (We think it was a management decision due to insurance or legal concerns.)    It isn't safe to walk along the shoulder-less highway to the public entrance, so  now we have to drive there.  Which means we don't go as often.   It's never been the best nature park for seeing birds and animals, so if I have to get in the car anyway, it feels like we might as well go somewhere else.    

That's about it for pictures from the week, so this is a good time to serve up some planned-overs.  (Not left-0vers, because I have always meant to use these before the end of the season.)  Most of them are from our Autumn stay in Colorado, which was so picture-worthy that it is no wonder I'm still blogging about it.

 

 

On one of our mountain drives with our son, we stopped in downtown Ouray.  There is a beautiful koi pond (actually kind of a man-made canal and pond) at the town park.   It was a fun place for a rest-stop.

 

 

Ouray is a charming mountain town that looks like a toy village from the viewpoint above.  The town nestles at the foot of the San Juan Mountains, not too far away from where our son and daughter-in-law live.   

On another day we visited a city park  on land that was donated to the town of Ridgway by the family of Dennis Weaver (Chester in the long-running western series "Gunsmoke" for those old enough to remember.)  The Weaver family had a home in the area.

 

I believe the sculpture below was meant as a memorial to Dennis Weaver.   As the sign says it is a bronze sculpture of the American Bald Eagle.  

 

The Mountain and the sky are real.  But the Eagle is NOT the real thing!  

It really is quite a nice depiction of a soaring Eagle.  And I think the pictures look like it could be a real bird taken with a good zoom lens!  It would be a sub-adult because in the bright Colorado afternoon light, the white head didn't show up well.  If  I were at all inclined to cheat, it sure would be tempting to say I'd finally taken some good flight pictures!!    (But I wouldn't do that. )    By contrast, below are the best flight shots I've ever gotten of the real thing:   

 

 These were from "our" Eagle nest (the one here in Fort Myers Florida) in 2018, the year I stopped by the nest on the very day that one of the Eaglets of that season took its final flight away from the nest.  

 

And finally, one more picture which has nothing to do with anything at all that I've blogged about recently, but that I saved just because:

 

This handsome fellow belongs to a man who helps out at the property where we store our boat while we're away.  He was keeping a close eye on us when we went to bring the boat home last Winter.     Isn't that mask great?  Unsurprisingly, his owner called him "Bandit."  Definitely one of the most interesting random cats I've ever seen!  

 

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An Eagle Adventure

 

The supermarket across the street from the Eagle Pasture isn't my favorite one, but sometimes I do our shopping there there just to have an excuse to check up on the Eagle family first.     Last week, I  stumbled on a bit of unexpected action  when I stopped by.    The picture just below, though, is actually the end of the story.
 

 

But it's a clearer picture than the action shots are, so it gets pride of place.  This is Harriet, who along with her partner has almost completed raising two eaglets this season.  The "babies" are now almost as big as their parents.  They are their 19th and 20th offspring since the SW Florida Eagle WebCam has been in place.  

 It had been a couple of weeks at least  since I'd stopped by,  so when I saw a young eagle  perched up above the nest, I  thought it was one of the two.   

(All pictures can be enlarged by double clicking on them.) 

I wasn't too surprised, because I knew from the WebCam that they had started to make short hop flights out of their nest.  

 

 

But then as I focused on the nest, I saw two heads peeking up.  What???   In the picture above are both E-19 and E-20 in the nest and the one who does not belong  perched up above.  A lady who is almost always at the nest taking pictures told me that the sub-adult visitor had flown in a little earlier.  She thought it was probably hoping to cadge something to eat when the parent eagles returned to the nest with food.  

 

 

Suddenly as I focused on the nest, one of "our" nestlings flew straight up to the branch where the visitor was perched.  There were lots of peeps from both and from the baby still in the nest!   (And some low worried murmurs  from the humans watching from below.

 

 

In the picture above you can see a little of the confrontation while the second eaglet watches from a safe spot in the nest.    The  other people there thought the brave Eaglet was E-20, the youngest of our two.   Although I have no idea how anyone could tell them apart.

  I pretty much lost the thread with the camera at that point.  

 

 

 

Actually, I am surprised I got as much of the action as I did, because usually when anything like that happens, I get excited and forget  that I'm taking pictures.   This time, it was only a few minutes and there was no violence, just a lot of noise and flapping.   The visitor apparently decided he wasn't wanted and he flew away.   E-20 flew back to the nest branch.  Job well done!

 

 

(S)he sat on the nest looking proud -- and that was when Harriet (Mom) flew in from across the pasture to land on the branch above.   I wonder if she had been keeping an eye on things from wherever she was, just to see if her youngsters could figure out how to handle an intruder by themselves.  

She did not bring any food or reward at all!  

It won't be much longer until the Eagle Pair are literally empty-nesters!

I'm pretty sure everyone  can be divided in two about my little adventure story.  Half (at least) will say "Oh, lady, get a life."  The other people will say "I probably would have enjoyed seeing that."   No doubt about it for me -- I thoroughly enjoyed my hour or so with the Eagles  and went on across the street to the supermarket feeling like it had been a very good start to the day. 

 

Sky-shots taken right here at home. 

So many reasons to be grateful.

 

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IT'S SPRING

 

Today it  is officially Spring!

 

Here in SW Florida, we don't  see the usual flowers that early Spring brings to much of this hemisphere.  Our Spring gold is not fields of daffodils but this flowering tree that blossoms beautifully for at least a few days this time of year.  (As with the flowering cherry trees elsewhere in the country, even a light wind can strip the beautiful flowers pretty quickly.)  

 

 

So far, most of the blossoms are still on the branches!  

 

Ibis in Spring breeding colors stroll around the lawn here at the Park.  I counted at least 20 on this particular evening walk.  

 

It's called either a yellow Jacaranda tree or a  yellow trumpet tree , depending on which Google Image site you believe.   

 

 

This guy stopped to stare at me on his way up the tree trunk.  

As the World Turns! 

Thursday evening I took pictures of the almost full moon from our back porch looking East across the Canal   -- the next day, early morning moonlight shining right through the window  blind woke us up.  (Our bedroom is on the West side of the house.)    We never know what will await us in the morning here.  Mocking birds, fish-crows,  mourning doves, woodpeckers, or (now) morning moonlight have all served as our alarm clock.  All of them start the day off with a smile.    So much better than the kind of alarm you have to set the night before.   

Here's a golden memory from last March, when we were in Oregon:

 

Thankful for Spring, wherever we are.  

 

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EXTRAS from the archives

We stayed at home all week  mostly working on our home improvement project (or watching others work).  The room conversion is progressing well.  On Saturday we waited through a storm warning that happily didn't amount to much at all.   The wind blew all morning  and it rained hard for a couple of hours.   Wouldn't have wanted to be out in a boat or walking in the swamp, but not a problem snuggled in the house.    Temperatures dropped last night to the mid-30s, the coldest it's been here all season.    What a strange day  -- we had the A/C on in the morning  and  heat in the evening.   All that in addition to  the time change this morning and I am no longer  even sure what day, what time, or what season it is.   

The pictures are from the archives.  Mostly last week's walk at the Bird Rookery.   I found a picture that definitely identified the Egrets we saw in the trees:

  

 

 I overlooked this picture  when I put last week's post together.  The yellow feet and yellow around the eye both show up well here.  Both are definite ID markers for the Snowy Egret.  

 

 

We spent some time trying to imagine which bird could have built this odd looking nest.  Then we  walked just a few yards further and  found a sign explaining it  was something else entirely:

 

 

Click to enlarge for the fuller explanation, but it is called a "Witches Broom" and is a tree mutation usually carried by sap-sucking insects.  

 

 

This grove had good examples of pink and white lichen.    I used to worry when I saw these spots on tree trunks, since they look like  patches of paint on the trunks.  But they are lichens -- a combination of an algae which produces food and a fungus which provides physical support.   Mostly we see white, but they can also be green, gray or pink.    They do not harm their tree and are actually an indication of a healthy forest.

 

 

Another Tri-Colored Heron at the foot of some nice old cypress trees and newer cypress knees.    Since we mostly stayed home this past week, I'm especially grateful for all the picture opportunities from our hike the week before.  You've gotta' love a walk like this one that gives you enough nature to last at least a couple of weeks for blog photos (and even longer in memories).    

Sunflowers have been much in the news lately.  Here is a bouquet from our archives:   

  HOPE

 

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Bird Rookery Swamp

We drove to the CREW Bird Rookery on a beautiful blue-sky day last week. 

 

 

We couldn't have had a better day for a nature walk.  Perfect walking temperature, not too hot, not too bright .... and lots and lots of birds.   There can never be too many birds.

 

?

There were birds in trees.  

(I would have guessed this was a snowy egret but I couldn't see the yellow feet.  So maybe an immature great blue heron?  Or ???)

 

Cormorant, snowy egret .... 

Different species shared the same branches.  I always like to see this.

 

Wood Stork

Storks shared the same trees, but the other birds gave them more room.  They're pretty big compared to everybody else.  

And then there were birds in the water:

 

Snowy Egret (I think) and Immature Ibis

 

 

And there were Great Egrets everywhere. 

Including the one in the center photo who owned that path and was not afraid to let everyone know it.  He walked back and forth several times while the humans who were using his path waited patiently on both sides.   That beautiful green color around the eye is part of the bird's  breeding plumage.

 

 Tri-colored Heron

And  there were other birds in the wetlands.   

We used to see Great Blue Herons all the time but the Tri-Colored seems to be more common this season.  I think I've seen at least one on every nature walk we've taken.    

And then there were the other guys -- more than a few sightings of wingless wildlife:  

 

Hard-shelled turtle, soft-shelled turtle, and  ... Ta-Da:

Our first Alligator of the season  (you know I have to do it!).  Doesn't he look happy?

We are grateful to CREW (Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed) Land and Water Trust for what they do to save  some spaces in our State for earth and wildlife --  and for making parts of it available for the rest of us to visit.   Click to enlarge the informational poster below:

 

 

... and then look at that map on the right.   So many places to explore.  Thank you CREW!  

 

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In the Jungle

 

In the jungle, the urban jungle ...

 

  the monster sleeps tonight 

 

 

You never know what you might find in the jungle.  But things aren't always what they seem, especially when seen through a zoom lens.  Here's the way the monster (an anole lizard) looked with the naked eye.

 

 

 Points if you can identify the acrobatic bird in the first picture (or if you can even tell it IS a bird).  More points if you even see the bird in the center picture.  (Against the jungle background, the anhinga's wings look disembodied.)  

                  
                         

 The same heron as in the collage above -- in a more normal (and more attractive) pose.

 

 

Waterways wind through the jungle.

 

Common Galllinule (Moorhen)

There were several moorhens, but they all refused to turn around for me.   I did like this picture because it shows its weird feet.  I've heard a lot of people call this bird a "duck", but  those feet prove otherwise.      Yes, it's a swimming bird.   But not a duck!   Things are not always what they seem.

 

 

And this whole post is really not what it seems ... this jungle is really part of a County Park, within the city limits of Fort Myers.  And within sight of these condo towers.  All pictures were taken on a walk at Lakes Park -- another  nature fix on a run-of-the-mill errand day.  

 

 

Ending with another beautiful SW Florida sunrise (from our backdoor).  Grateful for the daily reminder that every day is a new beginning.

 

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Nearby Nature

 

 

 

It's a pretty sure bet that everyone who sees this post already believes, as I do,  that spending time in nature pays huge benefits.   But it's always nice to know that the experts agree with us!  So I loved seeing this beautiful BBC Earth video and wanted to share it.   Even better,  studies show that just watching nature on a screen will significantly boost your happiness.  Here's the link to our happy place video:

"Appreciate the outdoors!  Studies show that spending time in nature--or even just watching it on a screen -- will significantly boost your happiness. (Click here to learn more)"

Watching it on a screen might be the only option for those of you "up North" as we Floridians say.       Our weather is of course Florida good, but for other reasons we haven't gotten too far away from home lately.  It is OK though, because we are lucky to be able to spend time in real-life nature right here in our neighborhood and we're grateful.  (But I still enjoyed that video!)

 

 

Above is from my latest grocery-trip stop at the Eagle pasture.  The two eaglets have reached the awkward pre-teen sort of phrase -- they are getting big (and, to be honest, are no longer baby cute).  Harriet and her partner continue to teach them the many skills they will need.  I caught one of  the "babies"  peeking over the edge of the nest, perhaps thinking about the big wide world out there beyond home.    (The more you watch this family, the more difficult it becomes not to anthropomorphize.)

One day last week I walked a path  behind our Library and a County recreation center, not too far down the street from where the eagles live.    There's a small retention pond -- very small compared to all the watery places in this area -- but big enough for this Tri-Colored Heron:

 

 At least that is what I think hope am fairly sure that this  is.   But more than willing to learn differently if I'm wrong.  

 

 

The pond is just sitting there behind a Frisbee Golf Course and near the tennis and pickleball court.   The Rec Center doesn't even advertise nature walking, my favorite leisure activity.  But the possibilities are there anyway.

 

I  stood there for quite a while waiting to see if any other birds would appear.  They didn't, but this one kept busy and on the move.  

 

 

There were several very large turtles on the other side of the pond.  Something apparently scared them and they all slid into the water at once.   (Or maybe it was just bath time.)  

 

Most of them climbed back out while I was still watching.

Last Sunday morning, we drove a few miles up the highway for a friend's birthday luncheon.  We were too early, so we went a ways further -- that particular stretch of the highway is one where we always see birds and on this day we even found a couple of safe places to pull off.   

 

Wood Storks

It's not a very scenic place to hang out, but these Wood Storks didn't seem to mind.  I couldn't see it, but there must have been some water in that ditch.  It worries me a little that the birds  would choose a place like this when there are better spots to live.  But who knows how storks think?  (There were about ten storks hanging out in the general area.)  We must also have seen at least a hundred cattle egrets in the pastures as we drove.  Then, a little further up the road, we spotted the large clean-up crew seen below.  These guys do a good job of what they are supposed to do, so I took a picture or two, even though they are even less beautiful than the storks: 

 

Black Vultures

I don't really want to know what else was down there in that part of the roadside ditch.  That's really all I have for this post, but I can't end on this note, so here is  a little more natural beauty taken from the end of our canal (right here at home): 

 

Grateful for ordinary days!

 

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Beautiful Beginning

 

Here's a look at last week's sunrise  from our dock:

 

 We had a couple weeks of "Winter weather" in Florida, but it seems to be over for now.    Days are warm and sunny.

 

 

On the same morning, just a few steps away from the Cottage, this red-bellied woodpecker was doing his best to make sure the neighborhood was awake.    Next is a picture of what's keeping us close to home these days.

 

The multi-talented travel planner in the family is wearing another hat these days as he adds a new bathroom to a corner of the Cottage.  Photographs are to show him where the infrastructure is located when he needs to know after the walls are finished.  I'm including just this one picture for our own memories.   The rest of these pictures are follow-up from a nature walk the week before last.

 Hickey Creek Park is a mitigation park originally established to protect the endangered Florida Gopher Tortoise.   

 

 

Environmental mitigation is an attempt to offset the detrimental impacts of development on native plants and animals.  The land for this park was purchased through a conservation trust.  Usually, a walk in this park  is a serene almost jungle-like experience (but with established trails).  And indeed, most of the time last week it was exactly that.   Except for a while during the first portion.

 

I knew there had been a prescribed burn early in November.  This sign at the entrance explained the benefits of the burn.  One section says that the burn reduces overgrown vegetation, resulting in a more open landscape, including for keystone species like the gopher tortoise.  It says the burn will increase soil fertility and vegetation re-growth.    Controlled burns also reduce wildfire danger by reducing overgrown vegetation.  Controlled burns mimic the natural process that existed  before population growth required them to be suppressed.    I understand all this and I'm glad it happened.  But even so  ...

 

 

 

 ...   I almost turned around and gave up on my walk before it really even started, because this is what it still looked like almost three months after the burn.   I was glad to read that the fire had been monitored closely by trained burn professionals, because it is scary to think of it being out of control.    

It seemed like longer than it was as I walked past the burned area before again seeing the beautiful woodsy landscapes that I remembered from other years.

 

Here's one more beautiful morning from our dock:  

 Winter morning, Florida style.   

Thankful for good weather and beautiful views, even when we don't really go anywhere.

#

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An Errand Day walkabout

 I  headed off for the Farmer's Market one day last week because I was missing a couple of ingredients for a recipe.

 

 

It was  sunny but not too hot.  A good day for a walk-about and it was early enough.   So I drove right past the Farmer's Market and  on to Hickey Creek  Park. 

 

 

This county park has over 800 acres of preserved land and includes pine and scrub flatwoods, marshes, swamps, and  palm and oak forests.   Even staying on the walking paths, it feels like hiking in a jungle.   Hickey Creek Park is less well-known and much quieter than some of the other nature parks in this area.  I like it that way.     I walked an hour or so.

 

 

As I turned the car around I realized that while I'd enjoyed the quiet jungle, I hadn't been able to photograph any birds.  So I decided to stop at Franklin Locks Park, where I'd be sure to see at least the usual suspects.   And that was all I did get pictures of -- nothing special, but fun to watch on an ordinary errand day.    Next stop finally was the Farmer's Market -- the  real reason I was out and about.

 

There's an enclosure for a few farm animals.   There to entertain children and photographers.  What is it about goats?   Especially miniature ones.   I can't walk past them without taking a few pictures.   This mama didn't look old enough for all that responsibility.   

 

 

 

 The Market sells a few starters and potted plants -- almost as good as visiting a nursery for photo ops.   And then it was inside the barn-like structure for the whole reason I was out and about on that lovely day:**

 

 

On that day, I really wanted to make a watermelon/cherry tomato salad.  Both of those major ingredients are in season here right  now.   I swear we go through a ton of these little beauties a week.      

The walk was great, I got some pictures, dinner was delicious.  We are grateful.  

 

**  These pictures were all taken  Wednesday.  Friday and Saturday nights our temperatures dipped into the mid-30s, so I have to hope that flowers and fruit (and birds and beasts) all survived the Florida winter weather.  (Which I don't even like to complain about, because it's so much better than so many places.  And the sun is still shining.)

 

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CYPRESS DOME TRAIL

 

 

 

Real  moon and fake stars (fairy lights) from our screen porch

(Last Sunday)

It was cooler last week with some rainy days, but no more bad storms.   There are home improvement projects going on here so the rain is OK and so is the cooler (for here) weather.

But we chose a sunny day on Friday for a short hike  on the Cypress Dome Trail, part of the CREW Watershed.   It's a few miles from home, well out of my comfort zone for driving through city traffic, so I was happy that Bill (who is  the one actually doing the home-improving)  was willing to take the time.

 

 

The particular trail we walked was part of the CREW Caracara Preserve.    It was an interesting area --   a mixture of palms, palmettos, and hardwoods surrounding prairie-type lands.  

 

 

 

It was a perfect day for being outside. We saw a couple of woodpeckers and  spent a few minutes watching a murder of crows chasing a couple of much larger hawks, but no Caracaras.    So no good sightings of the bird the preserve is named for,  but also no sightings of the Florida Panthers or bears for which this is also a habitat.          

 

 

 

We did see panther tracks though!!  You could see where the big cat had been bounding along the trail we were on.   I would really love to see a panther in the wild, but would just as soon be in a car or shelter of some kind when I do.   

 

 

CREW stands for Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed  and the CREW Land and Water Trust is a private non-profit conservation organization dedicated to preserving wildlife as well as the watershed.   The organization maintains public trails and some camp spots in several different areas in Collier County.   We hope to visit more of them this season.

Although we didn't see Caracaras on this day, we have seen them a few times in other places in Florida.  Here is one of my archived photos:

 

The Crested Caracara is Mexico's national bird.  (Some people call it the Mexican Eagle.)  It is a raptor with a face that looks like a parrot.  In the USA it is seen only near the Mexican border and in Florida. 

 

Grateful for the work of CREW and happy that they open the trails to the public.    

 

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Winter in the (not always) sun

 

Sunny Saturday -- 75 degrees F in the neighborhood and hardly a cloud in the blue sky.    But then  on Sunday ....  We were actually under a tornado alert for a couple of hours.  The picture on the right was taken this morning from our covered porch after it was safe to go outside.     Our phones buzzed the warning at 8 a.m. and continued every half hour until 9:30.    We had no damages in our immediate neighborhood  -- just a dark morning with lots of wind and hard rain.   Other parts of our area were not as lucky, but as of right now I don't believe there were any fatalities or serious injuries.

 

Harriet guarding her home

 

I stopped by the Eagle Pasture on Saturday.    Our neighborhood pair are raising two eaglets this season.   As always,  the very popular SW Florida Eagles nest cams shows way more than any picture from the ground can.    But I like to stop by a few times during the season just for fun and maybe for bragging rights.   The pasture is really close to our Cottage and just off the main road we travel for everyday errands.   It's fun to know that people from all over the world are watching the nest and we can easily be there in person.     I just checked the webcam and Harriet is feeding her babies.  The rain and wind obviously didn't bother them a bit.  And besides that the sun is shining again now.  Weather is changeable here.

 

This is one of the other residents of the Eagle Pasture -- one that you won't see on the Eagle Cam.   There are always at least half a dozen horses within camera range and they are often followed around by  cattle egrets. 

 

 

I always like to include an un-zoomed picture of the Eagle tree,  just to show how far away the fence is.  The eagle family is safe. 

  

Here is a link to the webcam.  You have to put up with some ads but after clicking on the video they go away.

 

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

NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS;   SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B'BIRDING.

 

 

 

Winter in the Sun

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Counting our blessings as we enjoy Winter in the sunshine.

 

 White Pelicans, Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel

Unlike these pelicans, we're still trying to maintain some social distancing, which is a little harder to do here than at home in Oregon.  But fortunately the real Florida -- the natural places -- are easy to access and they feel safe.    These pictures are from some we've visited over the past couple of weeks.

 

Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Ding Darling 

Sanibel is a little bit of a distance from the Canal Cottage, but it's a lovely island and the Wildlife Refuge alone is well worth it.   There is a one-way wildlife drive with places to park and some walking paths.  We also saw a lot of birds we didn't get pictures of  including Roseate Spoonbills, shorebirds, ospreys, and the usual egrets and herons.   

 

Ibis under Cypress Tree, Franklin Locks Park

Franklin Locks is an easy neighborhood drive.  The park is well-maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers  with paths and views of the Caloosahatchie River and boat lock.  It's less "wild" than some of the other places I like to walk,  but the ease of access makes it worthwhile.    Traffic in this area this time of year is very heavy and access to Franklin Locks is along  familiar and relatively lightly traveled streets, so it is a comfortable fit.

 

Sky Reflections (Six Mile Cypress and Manatee Park)

Watching the sky by looking down is almost a Zen thing for me.   But you can do that just about anywhere around here.  You only need  water, blue sky and fluffy clouds --   all are in good supply.

 

Florida Snow (Richardia grandiflora) seen everywhere here 

This feels a bit like rubbing it in while everybody everywhere else is dealing with the real white stuff.  But that really is what this tiny little wildflower/weed  is called.  It blooms here in late Fall and early winter and blankets just about every grassy area.  (I think it's probably called a weed by anyone who wants a perfect lawn, but a pretty little wildflower by the rest of us.)  

 

Manatee Park, Fort Myers (with an old photo at the lower right)

 

Manatee Park is another neighborhood destination.  As  the name implies it is a hangout for these awe-inspiring water-dwelling mammals.   When the water in the Gulf is too cold, they hang out here because the water is warmed by a nearby power plant.   Their closest living relative is the elephant and they can get just about as big as one.  But it is very hard to get a good picture because they only surface for a few seconds every five or six minutes.  And of course when one does surface it will be nowhere near where it was first spotted.    So I threw in the bottom right photo from a long time ago (and from a different place in SW Florida) because it is the only one I've ever taken that actually shows its face.

 

Babcock Ranch  

 

Grateful for wildlife, sky, water,  winter color -- and warm toes.

 

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

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

Bonus Week

 

The days between Christmas and New Year's have always seemed like a bonus at the end of the year.    And especially so when that week starts on a Sunday. 

 

 

So I'll be using the bonus either to catch up or to relax completely -- one or the other.  Haven't decided which.  Back next year! 

Comments for this post are closed.

Welcome Back to the Slough

 I missed visiting Six-Mile Cypress Slough last year.  It's one of my favorite natural places.  Follow along on my first walk of this season.  

 

 

Sometimes I wish this sign were portable so that I could take it with me wherever I go.   Not always -- but sometimes.

 

 

It's the end of the rainy season here and there was still water in the slough.  And beautiful greens as a result.    

 

 

Dozens of songbirds flitted around on one branch of the trail -- they were loving the berries or seed pods on these trees  in particular.   I sat on a bench for a while and watched the feeding frenzy.  Most of my pictures are of places where the birds used to be. But there's a glimpse or two of a downy woodpecker.   

 

 

I don't know what this little one is, but it did stop long enough to show a  face.    (The photo is highly cropped -- I really wasn't close at all.)  Addendum:  My knowledgeable blog friend Sondra (her blog is here) identified my bird:  It is a female Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher.  Thank you Sondra. 

 

 

Cypress trees love the water -- they literally grow in it.   Hard to tell which are the trees and which are the reflections.

 

 

Creatures of the slough.  (Cypress knees.)

 

 

Six-Mile is a good place to sky watch --  looking down or up.

 

 

 

Grateful for beautiful walks....   

 

and for the magic of the rainy season.

 

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

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

 

CROSS-COUNTRY ROADTRIP, part 2

 

Going back in time today (not even quite two months, but it seems longer).  Here's a collage to set the mood:

 

ROAD-TRIP!!

Yes, finishing up our cross-country road-trip from Oregon to Florida.        The pictures above are all from the car window shots  (some are from the first part of the trip, before our stop in Colorado.)    The one at the top left was on the back of a  truck that we had to follow for miles  in spite of the instruction not to do so!   It doesn't take a lot to make me laugh when we're road-tripping, but I thought that was funny.     We were waiting for a pilot car to take us through a construction zone convoy and this truck was right in front of us the whole time, while we waited and while we drove the gauntlet.       

You can scroll back  a few posts to see more about the first part of our journey and about our stay in Colorado, where we spent the most time with the nicest people and where we saw the best Fall scenery.  The collage below  shows the difference in terrain between Colorado and neighboring New Mexico.   

 

 

We like to stay off the freeways as much as possible and for almost the entire trip we were able to do that.  We like to think about the people who live in the small  towns we pass through and wonder what their lives are like.   The terrain and landscapes along the way are different and every town is unique in some way -- not at all like off-the-freeway stops which are the same everywhere.  

Once out of Colorado we spent a couple of nights in western New Mexico without unhooking the tiny trailer -- The first night we stayed in Bloomfield New Mexico which is near or perhaps on the Apache Reservation.   We have explored this history-rich area on previous trips.   

 

Then we spent a few days near Socorro NM, hoping to see the Autumn flyover of snow geese and cranes.    We have been there to see this twice in previous years but sadly this time we were too early and barely saw a bird.      

 

 

There was good sky-watching and good eating.  Even though we cooked almost all of our meals in the trailer, we did venture out to a nearby restaurant that is famous for its green chile burgers, because it wouldn't be a visit to the area without that.  

  Without the birds  though there really isn't a whole lot to see  so we moved on down the road.   

  

 

But we took a little New Mexico with us!   Green Chile sauce was the most common condiment in grocery stores here.   I include this unpaid advertising because it shows how much you can learn about an area by shopping for groceries.  For us that's one of the fun parts of RV travel.   

Mostly as a memory aid for myself, I am including the names of all of the places where we spent a night on this trip.   We spent two more nights in New Mexico after leaving Socorro.  We travel in a leisurely fashion!  In New Mexico, we stayed in Bloomfield, Pie Town, Socorro, Fort Sumnter, and Clovis.  

 

We drove right through Texas (well this part of it anyway ) with our only stop being to grab a few pictures  of this small town's signs which I loved.   We were driving through cotton country.   This was the only state we drove in without spending at least one night (and without spending any money at all).   We were in Oklahoma by our first night after New Mexico. 

 

By the Lake RV Park Ardmore Oklahoma 

We stopped for groceries  at  the Choctaw Country Market in Clayton Oklahoma.    We had been driving through the Choctaw Reservation which we found so interesting.   At the top the receipt from the store says "Halito ((Hi).  I'm Ashley" ... and at the bottom "Yakoke (Thank you) for Shopping With Us."    So now we know two words in the Choctaw language.     Tribal Nations are sovereign governments, so as we traveled without leaving the United States, we had actually also been in a couple of different Nations within the last few days.   (The Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma and Apache Nation in New Mexico).  

In Oklahoma, we stayed in Altus, Ardmore, and Clayton.

 

Eastern Bluebird

We spent a couple of nights in Arkansas and I finally got a picture of a bird!    I really took very few pictures on this whole part of the trip -- partly because we were still on a scenery high from our Colorado Autumn (and nothing is as picture-worthy) and partly because after Socorro we didn't spend a lot of time exploring outside of the RV Parks where we stayed.  

In Arkansas, we stayed at Mena and Lake Village. 

Mena Arkansas

 I'm not sure what  the RV Park manager meant to convey with the Truth sign on this decorated pickup but by this point in the trip, our truth was that we were eager to get back to the Canal Cottage.  We had three more days on the road after Arkansas, but we arrived home with four more days of October to spare.     

We stayed in Marion Mississippi, Dothan Alabama, and Alachua near the center of Florida

 

It was good to be home.

We are thankful that we both enjoy traveling by RV and that we have the time to travel in a leisurely fashion.  We were happy to find good RV Parks all along the way (no bad experiences at all), and grateful that people we saw in those parks and almost everywhere we stopped to buy food and fuel were following Covid-safe common-sense precautions.    (And grateful that the same thing is true here at home in Florida).  

 

Thank you to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

 

 

 

 

GETTING AROUND at the Canal Cottage ... and elsewhere

 

This one is elsewhere -- seen on one of the Colorado backroads we recently explored with our kids:

 

 

I can get lost in a large closet, so I love my GPS.  But I  would know better than to use it on a backroad.  And better yet, I know smart people who do have a good sense of direction who are happy to take me along when they drive them!   

Here are a couple of places where even I don't need a GPS:

 

Morning on the Canal

 

Rise and Shine

Both the above pictures were taken  across the Canal from the Cottage on my morning walk.   I've taken similar pictures for years, but this great start to the day never gets old.

And below, a little further away from home, are pictures from  Franklin Locks Park  where I walked one day last week.    This park is just a bit past our current favorite Farmer's Market,  so the car pretty much knows the way all by itself!

 

 

Ibis along the edge of the river, taken from the pedestrian bridge at the Lock.  And below is my Bird of the Week, the Northern Shrike,  perched on a fence at the edge of the Park:  

 

 

At least that's what I hope it is as it seems to match the description in my books.   Even if I'm wrong he is still my bird of the week just because he posed so politely for me.    

 

Grateful for ordinary days!  

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

LAST WEEK AROUND THE CANAL COTTAGE ...

 

 

Florida Blues (in late November!) including my nemesis bird, the Kingfisher.  We see these birds fairly often, but  they usually  fly away as soon as I even think "camera".   So I'll take their picture any way I can, even this one, a too-far away shot through the car window.  

 

 The only other living creature I got a picture of last week.  (Well, two pictures -- one after he had enough posing).  We stopped in the road to let this guy cross to a runoff canal beside the road.  

Here are some of my better efforts:  

 We made a photo gallery wall in the Canal Cottage from pictures I've taken over several years.    The idea was Geoff's and the framed pictures were a gift from him and Lisa.

Bill hung them (I told him we should never move, because this wall is perfect.)   It's really just one long wall with the burrowing owl in the center.   I couldn't get back far enough to get the whole wall in one shot.  

 

If they look the least bit crooked, it is because of the pictures I took of the wall.  They really do look perfect in real life.

 

Grateful for the memories and hopeful (almost certain) that we will get some more good birding opportunities this season.

 

Thank you to the hosts of these sharing opportunities:

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

FLOR-ORADO - two favorite places

Here's the nature walk of the week here in Florida.   These pictures are from Ann Olesky Park on Lake Trafford,  in the Northeast corner of Collier County.     We  had some rain last week, but on this day, the sky was blue and it was shirt-sleeve weather.

 

Lake Trafford

Lake Trafford is about a 45 minute drive from home and we had to drive about half that distance in order to return a couple of  packages.  When we got to the UPS facility, we found that the Internet in that part of Fort Myers was down and  we were unable to make our returns that day.  So we did some accidental birding -- something that's not at all hard to do around here.    Little Blue Herons and Ibis are both fairly ordinary birds here, but these are the first ones of the season.  Actually of two seasons, since we weren't here last year  and neither of these guys hang out in the Pacific Northwest.                                                     

Like its title, this post is a mashup of two of our favorite scenic states.  The following pictures are from last month's visit to Colorado.

 

 

Aspen trees make wonderful photo ops, whether a picture is a golden stand in the distance or a close-up showing the thin white outer bark, so different from other deciduous trees.   And they are a fascinating tree.     "One aspen tree is actually only a small part of a larger organism.   A stand or group of aspen trees is considered a singular organism with the main life force underground in the extensive root system."  This Source article is well worth reading :  National Forest Service Tree Profile.

 

Debbie's Meadow and Chimney Rock

We went along for Max's walk at Debbie's Meadow one day.   We had a good view of Chimney Rock.  Scenes from the original "True Grit'" movie were filmed here.  And  although I'm not much of a John Wayne fan, of course now I want to watch the movie again because I don't remember any of this. 

  

 

On another day Geoff drove us over a Jeep trail to the ski resort city of Telluride.  It was a beautiful drive and not anywhere near as scary as the sign makes it sound.   We trusted our driver!   It was on this drive where I took many of the scenic pictures from the past couple of posts.  We  enjoyed a good lunch and a walk around Telluride, which wasn't too busy during this off-season time of the year.  (I don't imagine we would have been driving that back road if it had been ski season.)

 

It was almost impossible to stop taking pictures of Colorado gold!   We were so lucky to be there at just the right time.   But November is a pretty nice time to be in Florida and we're glad to be home.   The picture below was taken a couple nights ago from our back porch. It's not the best moon shot ever, not even the best one I've ever taken.  But like the birds in the top photo, it's the first one of the season.  And we don't have  good moon views from our porch in Oregon.

 

                    

We are grateful.

 

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

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  WANDERING CAMERA ; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS

THE ROADTRIP, Part 1

People often ask how long it takes us to drive across the country and it's  hard to answer.  We tend to wander and stop whenever we feel like it.  This time, we covered 4,680 miles and the trip took us almost exactly a month.  About one fourth of that mileage was "side-trips" when the trailer was unhooked and parked in an RV Park.  But we didn't do as much of that as we used to.  Almost all of our day-trip explorations were while we stayed in Colorado -- and we didn't use our car there one single time because our hosts drove everywhere.  

We left our Oregon home the last week in September.   The pictures in the mosaic below are from the week or two before we left.  The top row pictures are from a walk we took along the middle fork of the Willamette River.  That  Juvenile Robin  looks more like Spring than it does the end of September.

 

 

 

The weather was still like summer even though our favorite farm market was displaying the requisite Autumn pumpkins.   And the blue sky was taken in back of our daughter's a few days before we left -- we were packing up the trailer getting ready to go.  (Well, somebody was.  I was taking pictures obviously).     October's usually beautiful in our part of Oregon too and so part of me felt like it was kind of early to leave.   But of course on the day we were actually ready to  hook that trailer up and hit the road it began to rain, and it didn't stop all morning.

 

It was too wet to take pictures, but here's a quick one that encompasses both the sad and happy reasons to head South.   Our daughter and her youngest grand-child (and our youngest great-grand) braved the rain to run out to the barn for one last good-bye.  (Miss Harper was unimpressed with us, but apparently happy to be warm and dry inside Grandma's barn-coat.)  Harper's older brother, who is two, cried when we said goodbye earlier.  All summer, he had enjoyed watching  his Great-Grandpa work  whenever they happened to be at Cyndi and Jeff's house at the same time.    We will miss everyone ..  that is the downside to our love of travel.  

But rain or shine and after all the goodbyes, we did finally get on the road again.  

 

 

It's a long lonesome road to Burns in Eastern Oregon  -- way out yonder pardner.  Those signs are from the RV Park where we stayed .  It took us a couple of days to get out of our home State -- we don't rush things.

More of the same on the next couple of days as we traveled through Nevada --  except not even any interesting RV Park pictures.  We stayed in Winnemucca and Ely.    But the scenery definitely improved soon after we crossed the Stateline into Utah.

  

On the first of October, we spent the night in Green River State Park .  The picture above and in the collage below are from that day's drive.  It was a stunning scenic tour of a day.

 

 

We were getting anxious to get to Colorado to see our family there and so we didn't spend as much time in the Green River area as it deserved.  But there were quite a few quick photo-stops. 

We already knew we'd have beautiful scenery in the next State too, plus good company!    We were both so happy to get to  Ridgway the next day.    Below is a picture of our Colorado family (although it was taken days later, not the minute we arrived):

 

 

And another shot  in (or near) their new "backyard":

 

 

 Colorado wasn't actually halfway on our roadtrip -- it was only the end of the shorter half!  But it was our first and only planned stop.  As we'd hoped, we arrived  at exactly the right time for its famous Autumn color.    Beautiful Fall and no snow yet.  That's perfection.   

More beautiful Colorado scenery and the longer half of the roadtrip still to come along with some getting reaquainted with Florida shots.

Thankful for family and safe and scenic travels.

LINKING this week to the following, with thanks to all of the hosts:

 MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WE ARE STILL HERE!

In Blogland, we've been away for awhile  ...

 

 

 but in real life we're still here on earth.  

Happily, we're now at home, getting re-acquainted with our little corner of the world here on the Caloosahatchie River in Florida.    But that's  not where I took the above photo.  I did the familiar "stop,  gotta get a picture" yell as we passed through Earth, Texas -- really just a rather run-down wide spot in the road  -- on the second leg of our cross-country trip.  (The sign was the only photo-worthy part of the town.)    

All of the rest of the pictures in today's post are from Colorado -- our favorite stop on our trip.   

 

The Autumn color was a feast for the eyes and the company was wonderful as always in beautiful Colorado.  We visited our son and daughter-in-law in a  part of the state that was new to us -- Lisa and Geoff  had moved into a brand-new home, on the Western side of the Rockies, just a couple of months earlier.     We really enjoyed our stay -- we always have such a good visit and it was fun to explore new territory.     The gorgeous scenery was a huge bonus -- the State really lives up to the motto "colorful Colorado" this time of year.  

 

 

I'm not ready to post about the whole trip in any kind of chronological order yet  (pictures to label and sort and real-life getting organized still going on here).  Above are some more Colorado pictures featuring blue skies and more golden Aspens.  (And our youngest son getting very close to the edge of a cliff.)  By this time in my life, he didn't even scare me too much.     

 

Gunnison Sage Grouse

 

 An "accidental  sighting " on one of our exploring days.   I wasn't even looking for birds, but this one practically asked me to take its picture.

 

Ouray County, Colorado

More to come from Oregon, Colorado, Florida and points in between.   

 

 

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

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

 

 

OLD FAVORITES

It's kind of in-between seasons here in the Eugene area.  Too late for summer and too early for Fall color.  And no wildlife sightings.  I took not a single outdoor picture last week.   In fact, I took no pictures at all anywhere.   That really doesn't happen too often in our world!  But thankfully there are memories to share as we get ready to make some new ones.

 

Autumn Flyover - Snow Geese and Sandhill Cranes  - New Mexico, 2006

This was our second visit to the amazing Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge.

 

Last week,  I didn't have any pictures to link to Skywatch Friday nor anything to link to Saturday Critters,  so this post is definitely trying to make up for those omissions.   As always I appreciate the hosts of all the sharing opportunities.

 

Immature Little Blue Heron and Roseate Spoonbill

Corkscrew Audubon Wildlife Refuge, Florida

Corkscrew is just enough out-of-the-way from our Florida Canal Cottage that we don't go there regularly, but it is always a joy when we do.    It's definitely on the list for next time.

 

Colorado

Feeding Moose, Mountain Goat, and Elk in or near Rocky Mountain National Park

Pictures are from three different visits.  Our Colorado family has moved to another area of that beautiful state and we are excited to see them and learn more about the new area.    I'm sure the camera will come out of hiding there if not before!  

So yes, we are  planning to hitch up soon and head off for a (still) socially-distanced and masked road-trip.   We always enjoy the journey but  also look forward to visits with other people we know are vaccinated.     I'll be taking a break from posting for a little while.  But I will be reading and catching up with other blogger's adventures as we travel.    When the tiny trailer is parked for the night and it's too  early to go to bed, our IPads are the source of the evening's entertainment.  Your posts are far more entertaining than the TV set that we took out of the trailer so that we'd have more storage space.  I haven't missed it at all.

 

Grateful for everyone who visits and comments here at Full-Time Life.  Thanks for  your interesting posts and a special thank you to those who host the sharing opportunities where I link.  This week, these:  

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS

Last of the Summer Color

 

These pictures are from yesterday afternoon's get-together at the home of our grandson and granddaughter-in-law.     Even now, at the end of the season, their backyard is colorful and comfortable.   

 

Somehow, when each of our children bought their first home and made it their own, it didn't surprise me.  I was (and am) proud of them, but buying a house and settling in was just the normal progression in life. But it utterly  amazes me that our grandchildren could have, somehow, reached that stage of life.  How on earth could we be old enough for that to happen?  (Rhetorical question -- I do know the answer!)   

 

 

There were familiar plants in their garden and a couple that were new to me.   Top left is an elderberry (our granddaughter-in-law made jelly from it earlier).  The one at the lower right corner is a ground cherry which I don't remember ever seeing before.  We ate a handful and they are quite interesting .  I thought they had a nut-like taste, but nobody else came up with the same description.  Our 18 month old great-grandson loved them!   (More familiar ones are  scarlet runner beans and a tomato -- and the non-food-item hen and chicks in the center.

As usual, I didn't take people pictures this time, but I did find a few from family gathering earlier this summer .

 

The great-grandson whose home we visited yesterday is on the left and that's his older cousin on the right.   Both of them have grown a lot in the last couple of months, as people do at those ages!  

 

It was really sweet watching the cousins playing together as the two-year old showed the "baby" how his firetruck worked.

 

Lesson learned.   

Fun for them, built-in-entertainment for the rest of us.   

Thankful that the smoke cleared out yesterday and it wasn't too hot outside.  And especially grateful  that  family  older than these two are vaccinated so that we can happily and safely enjoy time together.  

 

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

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; 

WILD MEMORIES

 

Sticking close to home this week  doing some fun stuff that I don't document well with photographs.   You know, like cooking, eating, reading, walking, visiting with local family.   Of course I do take pictures sometimes when I do the latter two things, but photo-worthy nature subjects are hard to find around here on hot, dry August days.    I might have to teach myself to take decent pictures of food and people at least during the height of summer.   

 We are also hopefully planning some not-too-distant travel (and I think everyone knows by now what I mean by "we"  in this context.)   I am grateful to the Travel Planner.     I am also glad our weather here in Oregon seems to be cooling down some and I look forward to a few more good photo walks here.     Meanwhile, while the other half of us is planning for the future, I'm collecting memories from the past.    Obviously, I've also been trying to sort through a million or so digital photos.  

 I do better making family portraits of birds and animals than I do of human ones.  Here are a few:   

 

Top row:  hungry baby Great Blue Heron and mom - Wakodahatchee Nature Center Florida;  Pie-Billed Grebe family, Fern Ridge Lake Oregon; Swan Family, Germany River Cruise

Middle:  Sandhill crane family, Upriver RV Resort Florida; Wood stork with baby in nest, Wakodahatchee; Whistling Ducks,     Florida.  

Bottom row:  Burrowing Owl family, Cape Coral Florida;  Stork Family, Wakodahatchee; Ospreys, Florida Keys

 

Pronghorn Antelope, Hart Mountain Refuge Oregon

The above is not my best or favorite animal picture by far but it is from the one and only place I didn't post about after our July trip to Eastern Oregon so it gets a separate picture.      Below are some pictures  that really are candidates for favorite animals  -- and favorite places visited.    

 

Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado; Bison, British Columbia; Brown Bears, Alaska; 

Moose, Rocky Mountain NP; Mountain Sheep, Colorado;   Musk Ox, Prudhoe Bay Alaska

Mother and Baby Moose, Cook Inlet Alaska; Stone Sheep, British Columbia;  Caribou, Alaska 

 

Virtual nature viewing  is almost as much fun as the real thing!  I love the way digital cameras make it possible to capture all these memories.    Here's a fly-in memory shot from another trip:  

 

 

Happy September everyone.

 

Don't forget to say Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit on Wednesday.

Addendum from Wikipedia:  "Rabbit rabbit rabbit" is a superstition found in Britain and North America wherein a person says or repeats the words "rabbit", "rabbits" and/or "white rabbits" aloud upon waking on the first day of a month, to ensure good luck for the rest of it.  The origin of the superstition is unknown.

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

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  WANDERING CAMERA; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS; 

GOING COASTAL

We enjoyed a lovely three-day getaway to the beautiful Oregon Coast last week.    

 

 

It is always a joy to be at the ocean and I never tire of the Pacific coast.   An added benefit this time was getting out of the heat  in our valley.  

 

 

These pictures are all from Yachats State Park, one of the best places to view this wild coast.   We had a  a perfect day for it.

 

 

 

 This is such a good place to play outside!   There is a walking trail  and when the tide is right those rocks are great for climbing and exploring.  (Although we don't do as much of that as we used to!)    There was one thing marring the day's perfection.    We spotted a  fin, which could have been a joyful occurrence,  but instead turned out to be very sad. 

 

 

This poor baby Blue whale died and washed up in this cove.   Every year, thousands of whales migrate along our coast and sometimes they don't make it.  The baby may have been killed by an orca or died of natural causes.  It is all a part of nature, but for whatever reason whales are one of those  animals with which we bond  emotionally, so it was sad to see. 

  

 

We joke sometimes that over the years we've stayed in every hotel,  vacation rental, and campground along the Oregon coast.   That's not quite true, but  the above rental duplex just across the street from the beach above is one where we have stayed a few times in the past. Not this time though -- instead, we took the tiny trailer and we were camped about 45 minutes south of Yachats at one of the coastal lakes between Florence and Reedsport.

 

Woahink Lake

This lake access  across the highway from the RV Park where we stayed was a nice place for an evening walk.

 

Beaver, Egrets, and ducks on Siltcoos Lake.  

We drove around the lake one day taking a long detour as we  headed further south to explore Coos Bay.   Somehow, I forgot to take any more pictures but it was a very pleasant day with different  views and some positive changes to this familiar coastal town that were fun to see.   We ate a delicious seafood dinner at a new restaurant with a lovely bay view  (and  Covid-protocol observing staff and patrons).  Eating out is certainly a far rarer occurrence for us these days than it used to be!   On the way back to Eugene the next day, we stopped at Winchester Bay and brought home oysters which Bill grilled.     And that meal was even better.  

 

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

MOSAIC MONDAY;  NATURE NOTES;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY;   MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;   THANKFUL THURSDAY;  WANDERING CAMERA; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  FRIDAY  BLISS; and  SATURDAY CRITTERS 

New Pine Creek memories

This is a mostly a repeat memory post with some added thoughts and all new pictures.  On our summer camping trip in June we drove through New Pine Creek, the tiny (not-quite-a) town that straddles the Oregon-California border.    We lived  in that out-of-the-way place for two years very early in our life together.   

 

Goose Lake State Park, Oregon

That was in the early 1960s.  Back then, Goose Lake wasn't yet a State Park but it was a 20+ mile long shallow Lake.   Now it is a large field of grass.  Not a drop of water.  

 

We'd last driven through this area  twelve years ago during a cross-country RV trip.     I posted then  about the memories the town evoked, but because even that visit was so long ago, I thought the post was worth a repeat.    (Thoughts I added this time are in bold.)

 

MEMORIES IN A TUMBLE-DOWN TOWN

We've been married just about forever (I wrote that twelve years ago and we're still here!) and sometime back at the dawning of civilization*, we lived for a couple of years in New Pine Creek.  We went to see it last week when we were in Southeast Oregon.  It's a blink-and-you-miss-it kind of place that straddles the Oregon-California border on Highway 395. 

(Definitely not the prettiest entry-way into California)

This little farm community is twenty miles south of Lakeview Oregon and 50 miles north of Alturas California, with nothing much else in between.  It's the outback of the outback.  Back then (*it really was 1959 through 1961), we thought we were so lucky to get to move there.  Bill had just graduated from a two-year program at a Teacher's College in  Lewiston Idaho (across the Snake River from our home town of Clarkston Washington).  He got a position as teacher/principal (and janitor) at New Pine Creek Elementary, a one-room school on the California side of the border.  California!  It paid more than Idaho, where most of his fellow graduates went.  I think he made about $4,500 that year.   

We had a one-year old son and a baby on the way.  (Our daughter was born in Lakeview in February 1960. The Dr. and hospital were 20 miles away from home.)  This is the house where we lived -- as you can see, it is  about a foot from the highway.  The house actually looks better now than it did then; we didn't have siding or a fence. (Ugh, it's a junk shop now -- so this time, it looked even worse than it did in 1960.)   It snowed a lot in the Winters we were there. The snowplow would come past several times a day and plow the snow into drifts that blocked the house in.  Those winter days were long!

This is the  old school building where Bill taught.  Someone was living in it last time we were here, but It looked completely abandoned now -- the school closed years ago.    It was about the length of two blocks straight up the highway from our house.  It is funny to realize that the eighth-graders Bill taught were actually only six or seven years younger than he was then.    

It was a very small village even when we lived there.  But there were a couple of grocery stores, a good butcher, a barbershop, a service station right next door owned by the sweet couple who were our landlords,  and a Grange Hall that had an active social schedule. Now the buildings all look like something straight out of a ghost story. (Even worse this time.)    Junk shops are the last dying gasps of a small town. 

After our two years there, we moved back to Eastern Washington.  Living there again, we had two more sons, bought our first house, worked a bunch of various jobs between us, and, eventually, Bill went back to college and completed his degrees.   It remains my fond hope that someday I will get around to scanning some old pictures and writing some memory posts about those years!  In 1971, we moved to Lane County, Oregon -- the opposite side of the State of Oregon from NPC, in every possible definition.

 

Random Roadside pictures as we drove around Oregon's outback in 2021 

(altered with Picasa to look like a 1960s scrapbook page.)

We've long since lost track of the people we knew during the short time we lived in New Pine Creek.     But we'll always remember our two years there -- we did a lot of growing up and had a lot of fun too.  (Looking back from over half a century later my mind is boggled thinking about how young we were then .) I wonder if there will be anything left of the town if we ever drive through again.   (So obviously we did drive through again and found the town in even worse condition.  I don't think we'll do that again!    But we treasure our memories and are  thankful that we've survived all the ensuing years in slightly better shape ourselves.  

 

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

 

MOSAIC MONDAY;  THROUGH MY LENS;   TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;  OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; TUESDAY TREASURES;  MY CORNER OF THE WORLD;  SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY;  and SKYWATCH FRIDAY