• Appalachian Trail 2010,  Florida,  Hiking,  Outdoors,  Photography

    Dinner Island Part II: Macro and Sunset

    After going through the rest of my photos of Dinner Island I realized I didn’t have enough macro shots to warrant a separate post. Alas, you’ll get a mix of macro and sunset. I love looking at the little details… Lichen holding on… I think this is one of my favorite shots. It can be difficult to get light coming in like this, but I love it! Probably my favorite sunset shot out of the set. I didn’t think this one was going to turn out that great when I looked at it in the camera, but I think I like it! A few things: -Does anyone else have horrible…

  • Gardening

    10′ Ylang Ylang Tree for Sale

    I think our Ylang Ylang tree is going to be hard to sell. It was grown from seed and is now 10′ tall in a container. It is in the blooming stage already. If you are in South Florida and want to come by and take a look at it, drop me an email at oceanicwilderness at gmail dot com. Our price is $75 at the moment, but it is worth more than that. Heck, I have MORE plants so, send me an email.

  • Appalachian Trail 2010,  Hiking,  Outdoors,  Travel & Places

    Destination: Katahdin

    I could blame Eliana. After all it was practically this time last year when we went to Payne’s Prairie and met up with them after their epic adventure across North America. She gave me a few magazines to read on the way home and one of them was Backpacker. I didn’t read it until a few days later, but inside was an article on the Appalachian Trail. It took all of finishing the article for me to develop a plan. When Chris got home from work I brought up my great idea: Thru-Hiking the Appalachian Trail. He looked at me with a quizzical brow (ok, it was more like, whaatttt?)…

  • Family

    Love Thursday

    Photo courtesy of my Curtis and Stephanie Whitlock In trying to understand just how tiny Ashleigh is, this really brings it home. Yes, that is my brother’s wedding band on her arm. Her little rib cage makes me want to tickle her ribs, just like my dad liked to do with us, and say “goochy, goochy, goo!” Ah, that will have to wait a few months. Somewhere in the mess of the past week my brother found time to post a blog chronicling the saga up until her birth. Hopefully he will be able to etch out more time for other thoughts, but I suspect that things will be busy…

  • Family,  Florida,  Outdoors

    Dinner Island: Part 1

    I found Dinner Island WMA while on Google Earth one day. I am always looking for new places to explore, parks to see and find the little out of the way places no one goes to. Well, this is one of those places, especially when it isn’t hunting season. A long road winds its way through the property, and you can get out and hike through any of the hammocks any time. Cattle ranching is also done on the land so cows are very prominent as are deer and hogs. The last two you’ll see more in during the non-hunting times. Oh, turkey, too. If you’re lucky maybe a bobcat…

  • Florida,  Gardening,  Outdoors,  Photography,  Thoughts

    Monday Garden Musings

    It is fairly quiet in the garden these days. After the cold snap, everything took a hit. I like this time of year because it isn’t so overwhelming. The grass doesn’t grow 10′ in a day and the vines aren’t trying to suffocate each other. It’s more relaxing. A little bit more reverse lens technique for some closeups: A fly buzzing the loquat flowers Plantain flowers Hibiscus grandideri about to bloom A less mature H. grandidieri blossom Chalice vine Variegated vanilla A little fern, a little recruit… I’ve been enjoying these garden blogs lately: Chiot’s Run The Inadvertent Farmer Fennel and Fern: they have a blog but it appears their…

  • Creative,  Photography,  Thoughts

    Blogging is my Scrapbook

    Going through my old scrapbooks the other day I realized that blogging has become my scrapbook. I abandoned the hardcore scrapbooking phase I went through a few years ago and it seems that it has been reflected here on my blog instead. It has changed for me over time, blogging. I remember the days of blogger and live journal and it was quite a different era. There weren’t any pro-bloggers, people who made money writing. These days it seems there are people making money at writing on their site, giving their opinions, and while all of that sounds great, I’m glad to just be here writing for myself. I think…

  • Florida,  Outdoors,  Photography,  Thoughts

    Washed Up

    I’m a little lonely today. It’s cloudy outside, the sun hasn’t peaked out and said hello, the cats are curled up, and everyone is out somewhere, doing something and I’m not. Reviewing the rest of the Cayo Costa photos make me a little depressed. Call it two weekends of not getting outside, that’s probably my problem. So, I’m savoring the washed up fauna that found its way onto the shore… Oystercatchers…the first time I’ve seen these birds. A gannett…not sure if it was injured or feigning injury, but it was nice to see the bird up close. An ancient animal, horseshoe crab… Even the man-made objects get washed up…

  • Family

    I keep staring

    All I’ve done is keep staring at the photos of Ashleigh. It’s surreal to call my mom up and hear Zoe talking and carrying on in the background. And then there’s 10 and 3/4″ long Ashleigh. The whole thing is magical in a way. She’s here, she’s alive and as tiny as she may be, she’s already a fighter. I already envision her sitting in her room with her big sis, playing dress up or house and then getting into some sort of mischief. I get to meet Ashleigh in about three weeks for an already planned visit at home. Until then I am looking at photos and calling in…