Lovely little shells


This morning there were tons of tiny shells at the tide line on the beach. Strange photos above I know, but they are my attempt to show how thick they were... a good 2 to 3 inches thick, and the close-up shot hopefully lets you see how many of these tiny coquina shells there are in a bunch. 

A coquina is a tiny clam about a half an inch in length. Their hinged shells are often called butterfly shells and come in a myriad of colors from white, to yellow, to lavender, to a deep terra cotta and everything in between. Some have bands of color like rays of a sunrise or sunset. When I was a kid we used to stick the halves on our fingernails like those plastic ones found in the drugstore. Oh how grown up we felt.

My Dad and I would also go to the beach, find live ones burrowed at the edge of the surf and bring them home for Mom to make coquina broth. 

Around this area of Florida's East coast many of the older buildings were constructed using coquina rock which is abundant. These tiny shells get compacted over time (thousands of years) and create their own lime which literally cements them together into stone. I have some of this coquina rock as a landscape feature in my yard. It is interesting to see these tiny shells imbedded in solid rock, makes me feel humble when I realize just how big and ancient this universe is. Being brought down to size every once in a while is not a bad thing, and these darling little shells do the trick in such a lovely way.

Sunshine, lollipops and...

SUNSHINE! What a joy to open my drapes on Sunday morning and be flooded with sunshine! After 6 days of rain it was such a welcome sight. Immediately a song sprung (or is it sprang?) to my lips. Whatever... there it was and there it stayed. That was three days ago and unfortunately it is still running through my mind and out my mouth. I have tried to share it with friends hoping they would take it away from me. Didn't work! I have listened to many other songs in hopes of ridding my brain of this tune. Nothing helps. Now I'm going to share it with you. 

If you remember Leslie Gore, you may remember her song Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows. If you don't recall it check out the link to the YouTube video below. Hopefully you won't be singing it for three days, but maybe you can take it away from me. A happy song for sure, but it does get tiring.


What isn't tiring is being able to walk on the beach again and enjoy a sunrise like the one I captured this morning in the photo. It was glorious... enough to make me want to sing!

Rain, rain go away...



So far we've had six days of rain and according to the TV weather folks it isn't over yet! More than 20 inches of water has poured from the sky in the past 6 days and it has no place to go. My backyard pond is now a lake almost knee deep. However, I am so fortunate—many, many people in this area are experiencing impassable water-covered streets not to mention flooded garages, houses, businesses and even whole city blocks are under a foot or more of standing water. People are saying that they have never experienced so much water even with our hurricanes and tropical storms. I know that in my eleven years here, my backyard has never had a lake or even a large puddle for that matter. My neighbor who has been here more than 30 years concurs. Luckily my house is high and dry.

If you know where to look there are some delightful sights. The nearby church parking lot is now a huge lake and apparently someone even thought of canoeing to church. I loved seeing the variety of birds that had found haven on a high spot in the middle of the golf course.  And when people say this is lovely weather for ducks... the local ducks are having a wonderful time with so much water to swim and feed in. 

Finding a smile is easy enough but I really do wish it would all end so that I could get back to my normal routine, gather in some sunshine and once again partake of my wonderful and therapeutic beach walks. Maybe Monday!

Closed - Gone Fishing!


Four days and nights of heavy rain and it is still coming down, though it does seem to be letting up a little bit this afternoon. People who have lived here for many years have been saying they have never seen anything quite like the rain we've had. I know my backyard has never had its own pond and my pond grew even larger overnight. 

There is levity in all this H2O. The title on an email I got from a friend was "Closed - Gone Fishing" and I got quite a chuckle out of the attached photos. Apparently his neighbor's fish pond had overflowed and the goldfish are now swimming in his yard. Quite a sight! Nice to find something to smile about in all the misery many are experiencing.

Backyard pond!


Rain, rain go away... though I'm not supposed to complain about rain since we have been running a deficit for a couple of years, we are now approaching too much of a good thing! It started raining Monday, it is now Wednesday and forecasters say this rain-producing low will stay here until Friday. I really miss my sunshine, I miss my walks on the beach and I miss the typical Florida weather which changes every 5 minutes. Four or five days and nights of solid rain is just no fun! Add to that the wind which has sent branches everywhere and it sets up a perfect scenario for me to be able to complain.

The good news I suppose, is that I now have a pond in my backyard. Waterfront property is a premium, right? It was such a surprise when I came home this afternoon, looked out my back windows and saw my pond! One friend said it was so lovely, tropical and sultry like old Florida that I ought to sell lots! Ha! 

At least rainy days make it possible to stay inside and do those dreaded chores like clean out closets, cabinets and drawers which is so hard for me to do when the beautiful and sunny outdoors is calling. Though I could just sit in my Florida room and enjoy the pond!

Traffic stoppers

It was a wonderful sight early this morning as a line of ducks crossed the road right in front of me... and an oncoming red truck. We both stopped and enjoyed this slow and measured parade. Never thinking to hurry, this feathered troupe quacked, waddled, fluffed and strutted along at a ducky pace. 

I had to chuckle and thought "what a lovely way to start my day."

Atlantis to Hubble


No matter how many shuttle liftoffs I witness, I still get goosebumps even on a 90ยบ day like today. Lucky me gets to step outside my front door and take the photos above which I have the opportunity to share with you. 

The Atlantis mission that launched today (Monday, May 11) is taking our 7 astronauts on a mission to repair and upgrade the Hubble telescope. It is a very dangerous mission taking place 350 miles above Earth. Apparently there is so much space debris at that altitude the risk for this mission is greatly increased. Plus the repairs and upgrades to the telescope are complicated and will require five intricate and delicate space walks. NASA's assessment of the risks has made it necessary to have the shuttle Endeavor already on the launch pad waiting to take off on a rescue mission if necessary. 

All in all, I wish them a safe trip home in eleven days after a successful mission. I also wish I could better share the excitement of a shuttle launch with those who have never had the opportunity to experience the thrill.

Bird or cat?

Watching this yellow-crowned night heron I was reminded not of a bird foraging for a meal but of a cat patiently stalking its prey. It was amazing. The heron spotted a crab and quickly advanced on it, then stopped and stood there without moving a feather as it eyed its potential meal. It advanced slowly, stealthily upon the crab very cat-and-mouse like! Like a mouse, though, the crab escaped down its hole and out of reach. No meal this time.

I have yet to figure out why these large birds, about two feet tall, are called night herons. I've seen them morning and afternoon, though rarely at midday. Apparently the yellow-crowned heron is less common than its cousin the black-crowned night heron so I'm aware of the privilege of being able to enjoy watching this statuesque, thick-billed heron along our coast. Though it stalks its prey like a cat it says quark instead of meow.

Martian landscape

We are still experiencing strange sandbars and tidal pools on the beach even with a change of wind direction this week from easterly to southerly. The tidal anomaly pictured here reminds me of what I imagine the landscape on Mars would look like, minus the condos that is... as far as we know. ;-)

The red sand is from crushed coquina shells and coquina rock that dominate in this area of Florida's east coast. There were several years when there was very little of the red sand on our beach, then with the hurricanes of 2005 it came back and is still here in large patches all along the shoreline. The red sand is much softer than the white sand in this area and therefore prone to being shaped by water currents. I find these little rivers, with bumps and swirls to be visually interesting and small marine birds seem to enjoy bathing in these nature-made bird baths. Kind of like a sea spa I suppose. It's too bad they all flew away before I could capture them in a photo for you. Maybe some other day.

Colorful treats


With the first of May comes turtle season and I went to the beach this morning with hopes of seeing the first-of-the-season turtle offerings. Fortunately there were none since I forgot to take my camera. I don't know what I expected. Maybe the turtles were lined up just off shore and were waiting for calendar to change before coming inland to make their nests. Or, waiting for the starter to blow the whistle so they could begin? Say what?

With no beach photos to tempt you, I'll share some of Mother Nature's other wonders taken at my friend Edward's bird feeder. He has managed to hang a feeder that is squirrel proof and attracts birds the likes of which I have never seen. I must say that I am always amazed at the array of colors that Mother Nature uses to dress her creatures. The Rose-Breasted Grosbeak and the Painted Bunting in the photos above are simply dazzling! It seems there is a never-ending parade of interesting species adorning Edward's feeder. Great visual pleasure, for sure.