A Full-time Life

Category: Florida

  • REFLECTIONS AND SHADOWS, LOVER’S KEY BEACH

    Go see beautiful reflective pictures from all over the world at WEEKEND REFLECTIONS hosted by James;  and more shadowy images at Hey Harriet's SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY

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    Pier lover's key 9 Lover's Key is just one of dozens of natural areas that are an easy day trip from Upriver.   

    It's a Florida State Park on Black Island, one of a string of barrier islands that used to be accessible only by boat.  The story is that the Key was named because, back when it was more remote, only lovers had the incentive to boat out to this solitary beach.

    It's a lot easier to get to now — just a few miles down the Fort Myers Beach road.  And there are amenities that make it easily usable — maybe not so romantic for young lovers, but easier for the rest of us. 

    The boardwalk above leads to a two-mile long beach.   There are also over five miles of walking trails on the Island.

    Disclaimer:  This visit to Lover's Key was last season and I posted some of this then.  But that was before I did memes, so most of you won't have seen it. It's such a pretty place that I wanted to share it again.   

      


     

     

     

  • LAZY BIRDWATCHING

    WATERY WEDNESDAY .   Jump in by clicking any of the watery links there!

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    The conventional wisdom for birders is that it is best to get out there with your binoculars and camera early in the morning or at dusk, because that's when they're most active. 

    But we stumbled on this Ibis family yesterday at mid-day, on a trip to the supermarket.  There's water everywhere around here.  This little pond is just next to the store parking lot.

    The Ibis is still an exotic bird to us.  Nobody else in the lot was al all excited.

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  • LUBBERS

    (Not-so) MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY IS HERE.  CLICK FOR MORE YELLOW PICTURES

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    Here's another recent visitor to our deck.  This is a Lubber Grasshopper or Locust.   Apparently they usually show up around this time of year and are very destructive to trees and crops.  These guys are big bugs (about 3-6 inches long) — and they can walk on water.  I shoved one into the Canal the other day because I didn't want the smash mess and he just skimmed right across.  (I guess really  it was swimming.)   I watched him cross, climb up on the dock across from us and walk off to see what he could eat over there.  

    We do have a variety of insects in Florida.  But we had them in Oregon too (maybe not this big).  I think it's part of living near the water.  The only place we've ever stayed where we never saw an insect was in Tucson AZ.  I think it's too hot and dry for them.    We enjoyed our stays in Arizona, but it was too dry there for us too.  So it looks like for us water-"lubbers", putting up with the bugs is just a part of life. 

  • MOOD OF THE SKY

    A full day's worth of Southwest Florida skies.  For  SKYWATCH FRIDAY

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    The promise of sunrise.

     

    Midmorning Beautiful blue by mid-morning, with gentle clouds.

      

    Storm

    Clouds begin to darken by mid-afternoon   .. and there's a full-blown thundershower around 5 or 5:30.

    Sunset

    Just before dark.  Not much of a sunset, but the rain has stopped.  Until tomorrow evening! 

      

     

     


     

  • BOAT RIDE TO CAPE CORAL

    More WATERY WEDNESDAY  posts are here.

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    You have to study the mood of the sky as well as the water this time of year in Southwest Florida.   It was warm and both sky and river were blue and calm when we started out on a short boat trip Monday.  We boated past Fort Myers Harbor.

    042 The City of Palms is lovely to look at from the water. 

    This is the Captain JP, an excursion boat we sometimes see when it is on the water showing the River off to tourists, but on this Monday morning, no tourists (and few recreational boaters) were to be seen.

    It is the quiet season around here now. 

    028 We boated to the Cape Coral Yacht Basin, about 15 nautical miles.  It's a City Park, not a private Yacht Club.  It had a lot of tie-up places, a small lunch grill, and pretty, well-kept  park areas to walk around. 

    There was a City swimming pool, and some rental facilities — a hall and pavilion.

    We do a lot of our shopping in the City of Cape Coral, but we've never boated there before.

    The City is full of canals off of the River.  If you do a Google map search, the city  looks like a big maze.

      The The best part of the Park was watching the wild parrots flitting around in the palm trees.

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    We knew we couldn't stay away too long, because the rainstorms move in almost every afternoon this time of year.  We didn't want to be out in that kind of weather. 

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    Our timing was good.   We were almost back into the canal when the skies began to darken.

    We got the boat all tied up and were in the house before the rains hit.  

    A normal Summer Day in Fort Myers, Florida!

  • ALLIGATOR FLAGS

    This post is linked to SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY over at the Blog called Hey Harriet.  Click on the blue and then on the posts listed in Mr Linky.  Feast your eyes –  add your own shady pictures.

    Adding this post to WEEKEND NATURE  at Gemma's Grayscale Blog. 

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    The plants casting the shadows are called Alligator Flags.  A sign at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary said to look for them if you're lost, because they grow where there's fresh water.  Just one more piece of knowledge that we never want to put to good use.

    056-1When I wrote about Corkscrew earlier, a couple of people asked if we ever came across any scary creatures when we were out in our Florida swamps.

    We did spot this guy on that walk.  He was so little, he almost looked like a toy alligator.

    But we are safe from creatures (except perhaps for the occasional biting insect).  As the picture below illustrates, this walk is soft adventure.

    Safe for all ages.   Unless you accidentally run into that tree in the middle of the boardwalk!

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  • STORM WATCH

    SKY WATCHING AS A LATE AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORM MOVES IN.  Click here FOR MORE SKIES:   SKYWATCH FRIDAY.


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    It's the rainy season here in Southwest Florida, but so far here at Upriver, we have had only brief afternoon storms (it actually rained more back in February, when it was still supposed to be the dry season). 

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    The storms now are brief but furious.  Although we could hear thunder when we took these pictures yesterday, the storm never did hit us, but caused  lightening damage in a nearby area.   

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    Lightening, thunder, wind and rain are a reminder that hurricane season has actually begun.  Forecasters think this may be a very active one.  We will definitely make sure to batten down the hatches when we go traveling. 

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    Here is a link to the NOAA Hurricane Watch Page, which I am going to put on my sidebar.  Not surprisingly,  Atlantic hurricanes are of more than a passing interest to us now that we have family in Texas and South Carolina as well as our canal cottage here in Fort Myers. 

    HURRICANE WATCH 2010

  • WATERFRONT REAL ESTATE

    WATERY WEDNESDAY FOR June 16.  Dive in!   

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    CALOOSAHATCHIE RIVER, FROM THE EDISON ESTATE.  (There's a bigger house just a little further back from the River.)    

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    The Edisons enjoyed bird watching and picnicking on the river.  They had a dock that (in their day) went halfway out into the River.  Supply boats tied up to it when their Winter home was being built. 

      
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  • SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS FROM OUR JUNGLE

    This post is linked to both SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY   AND WEEKEND REFLECTIONS  ….

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    …. because when we went for a walk this morning at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, the jungle-like shadows and reflections were just too perfect for both of these lovely collections. 

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  • SUMMER MORNING

    This post is linked at SKYWATCH FRIDAY  .  Click for beautiful skies from everywhere. 

    Pictures from a quick walk around around Upriver RV Resort on a warm summer morning.  (And it IS summer, even if it doesn't officially start for a couple of weeks.)  

    The East Canal is the best place to watch the sun come up:

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    Half an hour later, over on the West Canal (where our cottage is),  the moon is still up:

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    Wp004 While over on South street, I am afraid that this woodpecker is already suffering from too much heat. 

    He pecked away at the metal lightpost while I took several pictures and showed no signs of stopping any time soon.    

    It was a lot of noise.  I hope he doesn't move over to our street.  I'll take our mockingbird alarm clock any day.

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