It's Been Awhile!

A couple out riding their bikes today stopped me as I was on the way back from the laundry room and asked if I was the lady who did the blog. I thought they meant the Periwinkle Park blog but he said, no, they meant mine. And they said they were worried about me because I hadn't posted for so long. I admitted that I spend a lot of time on Facebook, therefore have let my blog go by the wayside. But--it did kind of give me a kick in the you know what so thought I would catch everyone up on what I've been up to.

I was spending 4-5 days a week at CROW but with the snowbird volunteers back, I'm only working 3. We pick up patients on Thursdays and I work in the clinic on Fridays and Saturdays. We have been feeding MANY baby squirrels this fall. Very time consuming but I really enjoy it. Another plus was that we have hired another vet. Dr. Steph was an intern a couple of years ago and stayed on for two years as a rehabber. She left last June but they hired her back this fall. YAY!!! Be sure and check out CROW's up to date, new and improved website.

In October we headed to Walt Disney World for 4 nights staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. If you stay there, you can take a special tour of the Savannah and get up close and personal with the animals. Part of the tour includes a wonderful meal at Jiko's, their really nice restaurant.
I also treated myself to the Characters in Flight in Downtown Disney. This is a balloon which is tethered but goes up in the air. I've been wanting to do that forever. Chuck doesn't like heights so I went alone.
From Orlando, we headed up to Stone Mountain, Georgia to attend the Stone Mountain Highland Games. We met up with our friends, Vard and Lora from Michigan, and our Montgomery "cousins" from Clan Montgomery and we got to see our favorite Scottish singer, Alex Beaton. We are enjoying the cooler weather here in SW Florida. It was a very hot summer. And thankfully, we have (so far) escaped any hurricanes or tropical storms. We still enjoy our deck. Here are a couple of sights from our deck. So, I guess this posting is thanks to the people who stopped me today and asked if I was the lady who had the blog. I neglected to get their names but thanks guys. Hope you read this.

A Quiet 4th

When we moved down here full time, I really looked forward to the 4th and the celebration here on the island. We were here about 10 years ago and had enjoyed the parade and fireworks so much. When I found that the parade was on Saturday the 3rd instead of the 4th, I was a bit disappointed. I volunteer in the CROW clinic on Saturday mornings. I know I could have said I wasn't coming in but all of our students were going to be gone to be in the parade which left only 4 people besides me to man the whole place for about 3 hours. That and the fact that in a couple of weeks I'm leaving for a month, I didn't feel it was fair. So I worked instead of going to the parade. And, believe it or not, I wasn't at all disappointed. I had a great morning with the skeleton staff and the critters.

It didn't look for awhile that Sanibel was going to have fireworks because they didn't have the funds but some caring and very gracious residents chipped in and raised enough money to purchase the fireworks. The causeway seems to be the spot where most people go to watch the fireworks. When we were here before, that's where we went so that's where we planned to go.

It rained or was really gloomy most of yesterday so it looked like the fireworks might be a washout. But it cleared about 7:00 so at 8:00 we decided to head to the causeway. Just as we were leaving we saw a faint but beautiful rainbow.I had really wondered about going to the boat ramp to watch the fireworks but figured with no C parking pass we couldn't go there. But as we were passing the Chamber of Commerce I noticed people parking there and walking down to the foot of the bridge. So we pulled in and joined the crowd. We couldn't have found a better spot!Traffic across the bridge to and from the causeway islands was non stop. In factit piled up and was almost at a standstill. Sanibel's Finest kept driving back and forth announcing that there was no parking on the bridge. I had forgotten from 10 years ago but there were a LOT of private fireworks being launched out on the causeway islands. I don't always feel too safe around those kinds of fireworks so I'm glad we didn't go out there.

Someone kept shooting off flares which actually were pretty amazing since they hung up in the sky for what seemed like forever.The sky was beautiful as the sun was setting. By the way, the fireworks were launched just in front of the tall pole you can see in the pictures. (I think it is an osprey nest.)There were tons of boats gathered out in the water to watch the fireworks. After dark, it looked like a small city out there. The fireworks started about 9:00 and lasted for about 20 minutes. It was a wonderful display. Unfortunately my pictures don't really do it justice.

I'm sure practically everyone has seen the quote from a letter that John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail. He had envisioned the celebration to be on the 2nd as that is when Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence from England. It was signed on the 4th which is when we now celebrate.

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

Many years ago, I had the extreme pleasure and privilege to direct the musical, 1776, at the Fort Findlay Playhouse in Findlay, Ohio. I love that show, the music, the characters, the story, the history etc. One of the songs that always stuck in my head was "Is Anybody There" where John sings "Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Does anybody see what I see?" And a verse in that song paraphrases his letter to Abigail.

I see fireworks! I see the pageant and
Pomp and parade
I hear the bells ringing out
I hear the cannons roar
I see Americans - all Americans
Free forever more

Well, John (who just happens to be a very distant cousin of mine), you guys did a great job for those of us who followed you. Thank you and thanks to all of the men and women who serve and who have served not only their country but all of us by keeping this country free forever more.

Backyard Visitors--and Other Things

Guess I am becoming very lazy in my old age. I have really been neglecting my blog.But I've been doing other things that I really enjoy--like genealogy. I love doing genealogy, even when it's not my own. I have been working on my neighbor's lines. It absolutely blows my mind how much genealogical material is on the internet now. I love it!!

Anyway, that's not the reason, I'm writing this post. I have been bemoaning the fact that we haven't gotten any rain on our little piece of Paradise. Everyone else seems to be getting it but not us. I see the dark skies every afternoon and I hear the thunder but do we get any of it? Noooooo. Boo hiss. Remember my beautiful creek? This is what it looked like a couple of months ago.

Well take a look at what it looks like now.

Very depressing. The other day one of the ducks tried to get through the muck and mud to get up to where I feed them. Haven't seen a duck since. Even the turtles don't come around although you can see where they plowed their way through the mud--one time.
It has been so HOT down here, I haven't really enjoyed sitting out on the deck anyway, but it does cool off some in the evening so I go out and read for awhile. The other night, the trees were alive with the sound of music. (No, not the hills, the trees!) Cardinals, Doves, Grackles and Mocking Birds. I thought I only had a pair of Cardinals but I spotted at least 5. I thought I only had Ground Doves but I spotted at least 4 Ring Necked Doves too. Now the Grackles don't exactly sing or coo. In fact they can be downright annoying but I still enjoyed watching them. I had to grab my camera and take some pictures. Here is what I got.
Then last night I looked out the front door and this is what I saw. Unfortunately the colors didn't come out too great but it was still an amazing sight.
Then this morning, I looked out the front door just as the sun was coming up and spotted this gorgeous sky.
So, the water in the creek may be gone and the ducks and turtles don't come to visit anymore, but I do still have the birds and the beautiful Sanibel sunsets and sunrises. Guess I can't complain too much. But I still would like a little rain just for the heck of it.