Fooling Around With Camera While Waiting For The Gang At The Marina On Sanibel Island

Have you ever, ever, ever

In Your Long Legged Life

Seen A Long Legged Sailor

And His Long Legged Wife?

No I never, never, never

In My Long Legged Life

Seen A Long Legged Sailor

And His Long Legged Wife!

Week At The Beach (Not Birds)

We got out of our car on the Ding Darling Wildlife Drive because a man and a woman were standing there looking down at something.  We thought it was a bird.  And the couple admitted they got out of the car to look at a bird but instead found a couple of horse shoe crabs mating.  Look away, this is private.

We saw an ALLIGATOR! That was exciting.  This gator was watching a pair of pied billed grebes frolicking in the water.

And at a stream down from a power plant we saw manatees frolicking in the water.  One Momma Manatee (Momatee?) had a baby on her back.  When she came up for a sip of air, the baby came up on her back.  The males can weigh 1000 pounds and the females can weigh 3000 pounds.  Manatees like water warmer than 68 degrees and the power plant discharges warm water.  So the manatees hang out there just like the Minnesotans hang around the fire in the fireplace.

Funny story. Tonight I treated myself to a pedicure. I stopped at a neighborhood place and paid for a woman who spoke English and Vietnamese to take care of me.  She scrubbed the bottoms of my feet and asked, "Why so soft?  Why you feet like a baby butt?"  I laughed.  I said I had walked for a week on a sandy beach and had them naturally pumiced.  She had the other nail technician admire my tootsies too.  It was hilarious.  I was happy that any part of this old body is comparable to any part of a baby's body.  And guess what color nail polish I chose?  Can you guess?  Yep!  That's right.  I chose a popsicle orange.  Any time in the next few weeks if I feel sorry for myself I can look down at my feet and be of good cheer.

A Week At The Beach IV

I almost forgot the black skimmer we saw on the beach in front of our condo.  This is a rare bird in America because the lower bill is longer than the upper bill.  The skimmer flies with the lower bill in the water. When it feels a fish touch the lower bill it snaps the upper bill down.  Talk about fast food!  We were thrilled to see the skimmer skimming by.  And when the skimmer went back and forth in front of us five consecutive times we knew we were being treated to a special show.  Maybe the skimmer kept coming by until it was sure I got a good shot of it with the camera.  I'm so glad we chose to go on a final walk on the beach instead of staying inside the condo talking or packing.

While on Sanibel some of us chose to rent bicycles.  Our bikes were the one speed, coaster brake variety that I grew up on.  I loved biking. For the first two days I kept grabbing for imaginary hand brakes but I got used to it by the third day.  Sanibel has only four inches of elevation so biking was incredibly easy and a ton of fun.  The entire island is bike friendly.  We had smooth bike paths to use.  Automobiles yielded to us.  Stores and restaurants had bike racks available.  My bike had a basket but no bell.  I probably would have used the bell too much so maybe it was better I didn't have one.  If I passed anyone I did say, "On your left.  Three more coming behind me."  We biked to the grocery store.  We biked to the marina.  We biked to the light house.  We biked through the nature paths.  I was able to see things that I would have missed without the bike.  The paths through the nature preserves were part hard sand, part shell, part grass, and in a few spots, part mud.  My arthritis makes it hard for me to walk nature paths but I can bike them just fine.  My entire vacation was enhanced with the renting of my bright yellow boss bicycle.  I even, for just a few seconds, rode with no hands!  Lots of people bike on Sanibel.  I saw people riding bikes who I swear were in their eighth decade of life.  I hope I can still balance a bike when I'm 80.

A Week At The Beach Part III (For The Birds)

The birds down here let me get close enough to get good photos with my inexpensive camera.  Here are 3 white ibis searching for food in the surf.

Here is a pair of willets. The one on the right has some food in it's beak.

Like I said, you can get really close to these birds down here.

Here is a photo of a brown pelican foot.  Note the pretty pattern in the feathers.

This cattle egret poses for my camera displaying it's beautiful s curved neck.

A great blue heron (right) and blue heron (left) in the same picture!  I took this shot from the front seat of a double kayak while my brother-in-law did all the work paddling.

This anhinga spread his shiny black wings in the sun to dry.

This is my best shot.  A yellow crowned night heron stood so still I got close enough to capture the glint in it's eye.

A Week At The Beach Part II

A week at the beach was made wonderful by the company I kept.  When I can lay down in bed at the end of a long day outside, in the fresh Florida air, and listen to the same voices talking that I heard when I was 8 years old, well, it just gives me a warm feeling inside; sort of like a campfire in the chest cavity type of feeling. When five people can go out to a restaurant and order five entrees and three desserts and pass those desserts around the table so that I get a spoonful of pistachio ice cream followed by a bite of coconut cream cake followed by a bite of tiramisu, well that is a good evening.  When five people agree, after living together for 7 days, they want to do it again, that is the very definition of a great vacation.  A vacation is partly about the time and the place and the experiences and the service but it is also about the company you keep.  Good times. Good times.

A Week At The Beach

I spent a week of my time on Sanibel Island in southwest Florida.  We enjoyed a condo on the sea, the deep blue sea.  Here is a photo from our window.  The beauty of the sea is incredible and relaxing and stimulating and mesmerizing.  I could watch the waves roll in for hours much like watching a campfire.

There is so much life in the sea.  The water covers most of it but once in a wonderful while, the life shows itself in joyful ways.

Wading in the surf wearing my quick-dry skirt is a favorite activity of mine.  The sand and the shells pumice my tootsies like an expensive pedicure.

This is a photo of a manatee taken from a distance.  Since the sea is cooling down to 68 degrees and this is the lowest temperatures a manatee can tolerate, they migrate up an offshoot of the Calahousahatchee River where the discharge from the light and power plant warm the water a few degrees warmer.

Since Sanibel Island has an east west orientation, it collects the shells more than other islands.  There are so many shells that you can't possibly walk without stepping on them.  People get up early in the morning to collect the best shells.  The action of bending over and picking up shells is so frequent it has been named "The Sanibel Stoop."

Not only shells but sea pork washes up on shore.  Sea pork is a collection of organisms called tunicates.  Walking on the beach always brings surprises.  So when I go to the sea, I soak in all the experience and treasure it because I know I don't get there very often.

Temporary

We announce a temporary interruption to this blog to enjoy a trip where it is SO EASY to forget that this is the month of December.  Wish you were here.