Yes, indeed, last week we ventured out to our favorite place: St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. It was a beautiful day, and the moon again made an appearance. You might have to squint to see it in the below photo, but it’s there.
View of the moon (that dot almost dead-center of the photo) from one of our favorite rest stops.
While out and about, we met an interesting guy who was hiking the Florida Trail. I wrote about the experience for Crow’s Feet, a Medium publication. You can read it here: Compelled by Grief, Compelled by Love. I’m not enamored of the title and wish I had spent more time tweaking it, but it does sum up what drives this particular person to hike hundreds of miles.
What I like best about biking in the afternoon is the light. The sun casts a golden glow along the treetops as we ride back toward the car.
The road frequently traveled.
I’m still going on my morning walks although I missed two mornings in a row this week: one because I went instead to a yoga class, and the other because I needed to pick up a CD of my MRI images. It was one of those little tasks peculiar to the medical-industrial complex that annoy me until I can complete it. The orthopedist that I’m scheduled to see in March wants it. Goodness. I am not sure why these facilities cannot share images as well as reports, but apparently, it’s still 1999 around here.
This morning I really had to drag myself outdoors, but once out there, I kept walking. I saw two red-shouldered hawks initiate a mating dance, but then they saw me. I can only imagine what curses flew through their raptor brains. They flew off separately, but in the same direction. Probably to find a more private tree.
Next, I saw a bluebird. Not a rare sighting around here, but this lovely guy hung out on a power line, giving me a few minutes to admire his orange and white breast, and then the breathtaking brilliant blue of his back and wings as he turned and flew off. No photos of hawks or bluebirds because I was too busy living in the moment.
I had lunch with a former coworker the other day. I hadn’t seen her face to face in almost two years. We were in that enviable group of 60-pluses and sent home to work early in the pandemic. I retired last March and hadn’t seen her at all since then. She still works with my former employer, and she filled me in on all the drama. Fortunately, she’s a person with a lot of interests so we also talked about knitting, cooking, traveling, gardening, and bicycling, in no particular order. She let me know–a few times–that they (the office) have money and, if I’m casting about for something to do, they’d love to hire me back on contract.
It’s a lovely boost to the ego to still be wanted, to know that a special group of people would want to work with me again.
My response, after ignoring the first couple of offers: “I know I’m retired, but I feel like there are not enough hours in the day to do all that I want to do.” That’s it. I’m not casting about for something to do. I’m casting about but for how to do what I want to do and still get enough sleep. To that end, I signed up for a free Bullet Journal Workshop at my local independent bookstore. I’m not sure if I really want to take the workshop, or if I just want an excuse to purchase one of the bundles being offered for use at the workshop: a Leuchtturm Journal (style of your choice), 5 Pastel Highlighters, 7 Colored Pen Pack, Letterpress Stamp Set and Ink. What do you think? Do I need another journal? More pens and highlights?
The workshop will be next Saturday so I still have a whole week to continue practicing procrastination.
In the meantime, here’s Wendy bathing and playing with her blanket, the same blanket in which she was brought home about 8 1/2 years ago.
The Rascals beat out the Beatles as my favorite music group when I was growing. I had a major crush on Felix.
Many thanks to everyone who commented on my Monday post and provided me with sage advice. Ironically (maybe?), on Wednesday, before I got around to responding to comments, I made myself work on my novel a bit. I wrote about 600 words. Then I rewarded myself by reading the comments. Surprise, surprise (to no one), most of you suggested I write about 500 words a day. Well, golly gee, I had just written 600! And then today (Thursday), I wrote another 982. I do believe I’m grooving. My daily goal going forward will be 500 words. If I’m inspired and write more, well, that’s icing. But if I write at least 500, I can stop guilting myself for having (and needing) other interests.
Speaking of other interests and the multiple ways I’ve been avoiding writing, I forgot to mention exercise. In mid-July, my husband and I rejoined our local gym, and we have been faithfully going there three times a week, working out for an hour-and-a-half to two hours. We’re retired so we can take all the time we want. I’ve lost some weight and gained some muscle in the process. Given all that’s happened to my sister, I am even more focused on building strong muscles.
And then there’s the bike riding, which we did Tuesday. What a beautiful day. And, as it was a weekday, we saw few people.
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As it happens, when we go for bike rides, my mind wanders and often I think of my novel. That’s what I did on Tuesday so I was primed to do some writing on Wednesday.
Your encouragement helped as well as it always does.
A bit of good news before I close this post. Maxine had a checkup today and her creatine values have dropped yet again, to 4.4. Still elevated, but a hell of a lot better than 6.9. Her urine is still clear of bacteria, but the vet wants us to do two more weeks of the twice daily antibiotic injections. Apparently, that is the regimen. Who are we to argue? She promised that if Max’s urine is still clear after two weeks, then we can stop. We might even be able to reduce her subcutaneous fluids. The only real disappointing news is that now she has anemia so new meds (yay!) for the next two weeks. That cat is turning into a poster child for the pharmaceutical industry.
But she’s doing good. She really is. She’s peeing and pooping in the litter boxes more often than not. She’s steady on her feet and generally trots to her meals (food is her reason for being). She’s still sleeping a lot, but not when there’s food around. I don’t have high expectations for her, as she does have chronic kidney disease, but she really seems to be enjoying a better quality of life than she was a month ago. We are grateful.
Maxine chilling out after her morning with the vet.
Lest you think all we did for our thirtieth wedding anniversary was go for a fourteen-mile bike ride, here’s a continuation of the happy day. We went bug hunting. Well, actually, my husband was the bug hunter. I took pictures.
Bug hunting is so easy in Florida.
While the bike ride was refreshing, standing around in the hot, humid air of a Florida afternoon in August was the antithesis of refreshing.
Before I could experience any symptoms of heat stroke or heat exhaustion, I got some nice pictures of the longleaf pines that grace this forest tract.
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Due to logging, longleaf pines now only cover about three percent of their original range of 90 million acres (https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Plants-and-Fungi/Longleaf-Pine). Fortunately, private citizens, nonprofits, and government agencies are working together to restore longleaf pine forests. They can withstand many natural disasters such as tropical storms and hurricanes. Florida in particular shouldn’t take these trees for granted.
I know less about flowers than I know about trees. After searching around a bit on the internet, I believe these pretty yellow flowers are Partridge Pea. This link will take you to some more detailed pictures: http://myfloridabackyard.blogspot.com/2010/07/yellow-days.html
Partridge Pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata)
After a short and slow walk (you know, when you’re bug hunting, you really do have to watch where you step), we found that we aren’t the only ones who enjoy being out in nature.
Almost makes me want to rest my feet for a spell.
But I’m not sure we’d care for the company of these strangers.
Spent ammunition because nothing says Florida more than a recliner and guns in the forest.
If you have a fancy for insects or macro photography or magnified insects, take a walk over to my husband’s Flickr account and have a look-see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/calopteron/
You know, I would never go bug hunting if it weren’t my husband’s interest. It just wouldn’t occur to me. Thanks his interest, though, I now know about the Elephant Mosquito.
Male Elephant Mosquito
Do you engage in activities because of a spouse or friend or family member that you otherwise wouldn’t even think about? How has that expanded your world?
On Saturday, after years and years of waiting, I finally turned 62 years old. To some of you, I probably seem ancient; to a few others, I’m just a young pup. To the rest, I’m in good company.
Over the years I’ve become indifferent to having a birthday. Yes, the alternative would be worse, but I’m just too much of an introvert to want a big deal made of it. Small gestures are the best: goodies from Australia; Facebook messages with birthday emojis; a shower of Tweets; thoughtful cards from friends and coworkers. The small gestures make me feel loved but not overwhelmed.
I took Friday off work with the vague idea of going to a beach. All I knew is I wanted to wade and experience that bit of Florida that I don’t often make time for, the salty side of Florida.
We headed out and did what we do best–make up our plans as we go. First stop was The Edward Ball Dining Room at the Lodge in Wakulla Springs.
My husband showing his preferred side at the entrance to the Lodge in Wakulla Springs.
It’s an “old-timey” kind of dining room, spacious with tall windows, tables covered with heavy white tablecloths, low black leather swivel chairs. The Lodge’s website will give you the best feel of the place: https://thelodgeatwakullasprings.com/. It tends to be dark inside so I decided against trying to take pictures.
We had a wonderful lunch. The last time we had eaten at the Lodge was in March 2001, a few days before I was to have major surgery. The menu then was good but definitely heavy on Southern cuisine. It’s improved since with more salad options and vegetarians entrees. The Lodge also includes a soda fountain so, yeah, ice cream for dessert.
We made another but slight detour, this time to the Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory Aquarium. Another place we had not been to in years. As we toured the tanks, a young docent attached herself to me, making sure I got to meet and greet each urchin, starfish, and whelk they had. What’s a whelk, you ask? It’s a gastropod, or mollusk. Some, like the crown conch, are herbivores, but the whelks can be downright cannibalistic. Here are some scenes from the Marine Lab.
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The Lab was great fun, especially for the little kids. We also saw nurse sharks and manta rays being fed. The aquarium part of the Lab is not huge; it’s rather modest and comparatively low-tech, but it’s purpose is more to educate than entertain.
From the Lab, we headed to Mashes Sands where we waded, Greg taking photographs of insects and me looking for signs of marine life. Thanks to our visit at the Lab, I had the added benefit of being able to name what I saw.
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I’m not a swimmer, although I know how to swim, and I’m a bit afraid of deep water because I know I’m likely to not be alone (especially in Florida where the bays teem with sharks, and rivers and lakes teem with alligators and snakes). But I love being near water. In these moments, I feel like I could forget and just exist in peace.
Marie at 1 Write Way 