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:
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.
I was Marc and Eliana’s last night for dinner and was lamenting to Eliana that we needed to have spent more time at Cayo Costa State Park while we were there over Christmas weekend. It was truly a beautiful and magical little place.
To get there you have to drive north of Cape Coral to Pine Island and nearly to the tip of that island and then catch a ferry over. We thought there wouldn’t be too many people two days after Christmas, but the ferry was packed. The downside is that the ride costs, I think $50 a person, to get over there unless you have your own boat. We figured that the $50 a person wasn’t too bad considering that we didn’t know when we’d ever get back over there. Plus, once you are there, you could stay almost as long as you wanted to camp. If you figure that into the cost, it isn’t nearly that bad. The ride over is an hour long, though the two islands are not that far apart from each other. The problem is that the area has very narrow channels and you can’t speed through in a ferry boat!
This will be the first post of probably three of this little excursion. Too many great photos to share and I don’t want to overload it all at one time.
Oh, I will also preface to say this is an excellent shelling beach.
I had the day off for a doctors appointment and spent the morning mowing the back yard. It was seriously over grown, weeds had over taken half the yard. I also surveyed the frost damage from last week. It always takes two to three days for the damage to be known and sure enough the tell-tale signs of browning and curling were beginning. The ylang ylang took a hit as did the tropical almond and other tenders. I once had a starfruit seedling that bit the dust after a 45* night. Very tender tropicals. I think most everything will recover now that it has warmed up, but I will keep a close eye on things for awhile.
We had two iguanas take up a roost in a hanging basket about a month ago and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of them in awhile. We also had a black racer snake chilling in our front flower bed but I haven’t seen it in awhile either. I was nervous about running them over in the tall weeds, but I didn’t see anything. *phew*. We’ve hit a few snakes before that haven’t moved from the mower; I always feel bad about that.
After all of that I brought my camera out and did the reverse lens technique out there. This time it was sunny and I could set the ISO to 100 and all was well. Ok, minus the wind, which makes this even tougher without a mount! I had the tripod, just no mount. I think my endeavors turned out pretty well!
This little weed is what has taken over the yard. Bidens alba. It’s a great plant for butterflies and I do keep some of it around, but it seeds itself everywhere and has a tendency to become, well, weedy!
Blackberry lily berries…love this plant!
Amaranth…I got a plant from someone at a garden swap a few years ago because it is an edible grain and I thought I’d try it out. But man, does it seed itself everywhere. I haven’t been in the yard in awhile and the containers are full of little seedlings. Not to mention they have spikes on them so you have to be careful how you pull them out.
Sophora tomentosa, necklace pod, pods…a native to Florida.
Basil flowers…I should go collect the seeds.
White beauty berry. I transplanted this a few months ago from the tiny pot it was in to a much bigger pot and it hasn’t quite recovered. I think the rainy season will see it to better days.
I think I’m going to try this shot again because I couldn’t get the white in focus as much as I wanted. I am not sure what little egg sac that is, spiders maybe?
As for the frost and freezing temperatures, Saturday was bad, but Sunday seemed to be worse. I had ice on my windshield that morning and I found frozen puddles in the center part of the state on Monday morning. I’m actually very nervous for Little Slough and all of the ghost orchids. I’m hoping the water kept the area warm enough, but the wind was pretty bad and since it is winter the trees have defoliated. We’re going to go out and check in a few weekends to see how things fared.
We were at Dinner Island WMA on Sunday afternoon, driving around with our friends Randy and Kathy, when through the cattle pasture we heard this high pitched noise. Eventually we came up to the two bulls making the noise, in the midst of what seemed like a territory war of some sort, or maybe one was miffed the other took his gal. Who knows, but it was hilarious to watch them! Check out the puffs of steam coming out of his mouth—see it was cold here! Lots of throwing of dirt…it was great entertainment!
The photo challenge is up over at Meghan’s blog: Strangers on the Street. I know there are at least two people who read that I could persuade to participate….Robin and Eliana. ooh, and Shelly. There really aren’t any rules other than to break out of a rut and try something new. I’d say use whatever camera you’ve got and try being creative. We’re trying to put together something weekly, so hopefully it’ll work out.
I’ve got more reverse lens stuff to post later today…stay tuned!
My brother asked me last night how I liked the cold weather. I replied that I was ready for it to go away. He’s in Texas where they’ve had more snow than I can remember this past month.
A month ago I would have enjoyed it, the holiday season, etc. But, it’s just too cold for me now! Yes, living in gardening zone 10B, where we push the tropical zone limits and enjoy all sorts of beautiful plants that love warmth and humidity, has made my blood too thin.
I’m the iguana that hangs onto the tree, hoping not to fall off when it gets too cold.
I’ve almost gone through all of my winter clothes already, they’ve been in the wash already this week.
We warmed up to a beautiful temperature of around 72 yesterday afternoon and even last night I slept warmer. Today, it has gotten progressively colder, rainy and grey the entire day. Perfect for sipping cider and hot tea.
But, not so perfect for sea turtles who are getting cold stunned, and manatees hitting canals and warmer waters near power plants to keep the frost from nipping their noses.
More information on Jamie Drake’s blog about how you can help if you are in Florida.
Weather.com says we may brush 33* tonight in South Florida. I wonder if I will find an icicle in the morning from the rain???
I think Hawaii is looking to be the best place to live at right about now.
Until I get the comments working again, I’ve put in my old commenting system that you can use.
I’m finally trying to finish up our Christmas weekend trip to Sanibel. Here are the sunset photos from the day after Christmas. All but the last were taken at Blind Pass, the pass between Sanibel and Captiva islands. The last was taken at the last public access beach on Captiva.
This one is Chris’. I like it…very wild and untamed look to it.
I always feel a little reluctant to leave the beach after a sunset like that—a sad goodbye to a great day.
I know, comments aren’t working. boo on you wordpress…trying to get up up and running soon.
Chris and I got off early on New Years Eve and decided to hit Big Cypress National Preserve to capture the last sunset of the decade. We also were aiming for photos of the Blue Moon but were unsuccessful due to clouds in the east that prevented a decent moon rise from being seen. The only glimpse we saw was for a few minutes but it was still partially hidden between the clouds. By the time it was up and shining, it was dark and we couldn’t find a decent place to take a photo.
Alas, all I have are a few sunset photos from that night. My favorite is the first one:
The clouds made the sunset, I think.
The wind was producing some very awesome clouds and on our way out we saw a rainbow up in the clouds from the ice. Alright, some Google-ing produced the real name, circumhorizon arc. This was our second one in about three weeks; the last one we saw with my dad when he was here a few weeks ago. We didn’t get the cameras out in time, though.
Stay warm everyone. Looks like today we’re going to make 75* just in time to turn around to 57* and 55* over the weekend. Ick.
Samson hasn’t made a post here in awhile, so today I decided to capitalize on the fact he was looking adorably sweet on the bed with the Snuggie. I got the Snuggie in a gift exchange at work and the instant I brought it home it was stolen from me by Leo and Samson and immediately it became theirs.
See, all warm and toasty in the Snuggie. Chris and I were both off today for dentist appointments and when we came back in the house after being out a few times we found both Leo and Samson snuggling together on the blanket. It was 56* in the house this morning—still no heat working. It was colder in the house than outside for awhile today.
I’ve watched this over and over and over again, but I get such a kick out of it:
