A recent morning I woke up and discovered "The Girls" hanging around the house. For all I know they are all boys but in my mind they seem like a bunch of girls who hang around and come to have breakfast and catch up on the news. These magnificent birds greet and make my days especially when you see how adapted they are to the invasion of people to their paradise. They are up at the crack of dawn trying to catch whatever earthworms are in our poor deficient soil and whatever other bug they can come across. They have not quite mastered standing on a cable wire. This morning two caught the wind wrong and had to fly off to keep from falling.
Kites don't seem to have any problem this time of year when the coastal breezes make them stay aloft. This time of year you wonder how could it get any better? No humidity and lovely 80 degree weather.
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| Brooker Creek Preserve |
It is no wonder I have had a parade of friends visiting this year. As I keep working on the restoration of the house, the upstairs which had served as my non-existing garage, piled with boxes and materials for all matter of projects, is now fully functional as guest quarters. It is still not as posh as the downstairs but no one has complained. So I have been developing places to take my out of town guests. Some have come kayaking, others off to the shore for fancy vistas, others to wildlife refuge and all to the great Greek dining on the Sponge Docks.
The Brooker Creek Preserve is this wonderful facility a few miles from my house that serves as an education center to all those not experienced with native plants and animals so they can understand what this area is all about. I like going, even though Limo is not allowed. It has miles of trails. The Preserve is roughly 9000 acres of unspoiled land filled with magical plants I have not even figured out yet to every manner of bird and gators. It has been a great place to explore and bring friends to discover the magnificent landscape of Florida.
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| Gator nursery! |
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| Here was my first Black Crowned Night Heron |
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| Strangely enough this was my first Armadillo since I came to town. |
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| A Pileated Woodpecker |
It was four years ago that I started writing this Blog. My life was devastated by the reality that this Recession and otherwise economic mess would derail great plans that I had for a future. It would certainly derail my economic well being and retirement plans. Fortunately, my cautious nature and planning until that point allowed me to revolutionize my life and parlay my assets into a new beginning. It is more or less documented in this Blog from my disdain for unrealistic taxation that I experienced in New Jersey to exploring places to escape to the events leading to buying the house in Tarpon Spring and selling the Collingswood house. It is all history now and today I started yet another chapter by applying for Social Security.
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| Cormorants on the Gulf by Sunset Beach |
Years ago the idea of being involved in any religious community would have been a non starter. Yet, for the past year I have devoted a great deal of time to help my Unitarian Universalist Community here in Tarpon Springs find a new religious leader. It has been a different journey for me to work with people not to plan a city or create a landscape but rather to have a vision of what will make a richer life experience. It has been very rewarding to help create a new future for this 127 year old congregation. Florida is a bit of a backwater in many aspects and it deserves the best that its citizens can offer to bring a new richer vision that is open to possibilities rather than blinded by limited vision. Our UU Community is just one of those places where we are striving to create a more inclusive and significant place that is slowly making inroads to a better Florida.
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| Sunset at Sunset Beach Tarpon Spring |
This journey that started not so long in New Jersey is now well on its way here in Florida. Sometimes, I find it hard to believe that I spent most of my life in California. All that seems so long ago. I suspect that the more I live the less that I consider the past and the more I live in the present.
The present is rather pleasant here by this gulf. The sun setting over the water is very comforting to my California days. It is also very wonderful to be surrounded by all this water that may some day flood and cover all that I currently hold dear if global warming goes on as anticipated. Three days ago the newspaper recorded that we have now surpassed 400 parts per million of Co2. This might not mean much to many but it is somehow sad to know that as smart as we are we can't take care of the only planet we have to live on.
Maybe it is these levels that are making our sunsets all that more majestic. We certainly don't need warmer summers, here anyway, and yet we are experiencing warmer and warmer years. I still work on reducing my impact on this planet as much as I can. Meanwhile, I am also planning my summer escape to points cooler and new adventures.
You may have figured out that I am not writing the Blog on a weekly basis as I when I started. All things evolve. I have not developed a new rhythm yet with all my other projects as I been gathering a lot of my missing pieces to make a better whole. The garden is still high on my list but it has reached a stable point and now is just filling in. The house needs a lot more work but it will always. Soon I intend to start doing more traveling to far off and exotic places where I have always wanted to go. I shall continue to journal my life with commentary and travel and garden adventures. Final note: Limo who was introduced in this blog turned three years old yesterday. Happy Birthday boy! And Happy Gardening!
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