beaches – The Hermits' Rest

Phone apps, or favorite activities

What are your favorite 5 apps on your phone?

Today featured a four-hour workshop with much complaining, so I’m not up for any deep thoughts. I’ll share some photos of a quick visit to watery areas of Tomoka State Park here in Ormond/Daytona/Orange Beaches in Florida, as well as beachy and river-y views from happier parts of the day as I list my five favorite phone apps. I bet you can guess some!

Little Blue Heron, a hint at two favorite apps.

One. The Camera app, especially the one on this iPhone 17. I love all the zooms, the lenses, the Live Photos, the grid that helps you crop, and the indicators that tell you if your image is level. I have a ridiculous amount of fun taking pictures wherever I go, documenting all the life forms I encounter.

Sunset looking at an island full of roosting White Ibises

Two. Merlin Bird ID. Merlin brings me so much joy. It’s given me something to focus on that’s positive and educational, even in these troubled times. Days when I don’t get to go out and look for birds (like yesterday) are few and far between, which is fine with me. Now if only they made apps for identifying frogs and cicadas.

Three. iNaturalist. So far, none of these surprise anyone who’s ever read this blog. Right? Anyway, I’ve always wanted to know what I am looking at when I’m out in nature. This fantastic app helps me learn about my surroundings and allows me to teach others. I am in awe at the variety of living things around me, large and small. And iNat lets me learn and contribute to scientific knowledge. So much fun.

Four. Finch. It’s a game kind of app where you and your “birb” friend explore new things, work on mental health, and interact with friends to cheer them up. It borders on silly, but it helps center me in the morning and before bed. It can be very helpful for people dealing with an anxiety and depression.

Ada is my birb. She currently has a pet corgi.

Five. Crossword Puzzle Redstone. Lee plays this a lot, so I’ve joined him. The Hard ones are just right to keep my brain active and keep me from thinking I’m in mental decline. There are many different authors to choose from. We both like the G. Johnson ones. One good thing about the Crossword app is it keeps me off Facebook so much!

Runners up: Facebook, JetPack/Wordpress (blog app), Clime (NOAA weather), Apple Maps, Google.

I’d love to know which apps you like! Because I’m feeling better, here are other photos from today. Love that phone app.

Final note. Lee went to dinner with me and Vicki, but wasn’t feeling well and only ate a sweet potato. The place we ate was Aunt Catfish’s, a perfect old Florida seafood place. I could eat there again!

Hooray for friends and nature endorphins

I’m having a good time in Ormond Beach, which, by the way, is just north of Daytona on the east coast of Florida. I spent the morning getting set up and organized, then went to get my friend Vicki for breakfast. We went next door to her apartment, which is an old local favorite. The food was good, but the conversation was the best! I love being around people who know me very well but still like me. Having known each other since we were teens means we can poke fun at each other about stuff others are unaware of. That’s fun.

After lunch we rode around town, so now I’m much better oriented and know where all the vital places are, like where to get socks (I forgot socks). I just love looking at all the pine forests that cover north Florida and all the houses that look like the ones we grew up in, only more brightly colored. Sorry, but the only photo I got with Vicki was this Cattle Egret we saw while in line to get a soft drink.

I took Vicki back home to have a migraine (I’m such a good influence), then set off on a trek to get socks, an extension cord for my laptop monitors, and some food. It all went fabulously. Marshall’s had socks and nothing else that tempted me. I got all my groceries and nail polish remover at Publix (yay, the chain Mom shopped at when I was a kid), and I got an extension cord at Dollar Tree, thanks to a helpful Publix customer suggesting it.

I can see the ocean from my desk. The only place with a good view.

In the afternoon I got my nature endorphins. I really needed them, since I didn’t get much solo nature time in Ruidoso. First, I took a walk along the beach, which was pleasantly uncrowded and full of friendly shore birds. I like the beach sand here, which has a lot of pink in it.

I kept walking and crossed into the neighborhood across from the beach. I tried to listen for birds, but there weren’t too many, other than a persistent Osprey and many Blue Jays. I enjoyed all the houses in various states ranging from disrepair to perfection. Of course, I also recorded weeds/native plants.

I was surprised to see a small garden and trail that the garden club made fairly recently. I mostly took pictures of specimen plants, but it was a nice, neatly labeled, oasis of semi-wildness, right next to a pretty cemetery.

I continued walking and was about to turn back when, suddenly, there was a sign directing me to a museum and garden. Garden? Yes! I found a woodsy wonderland at Ormond Memorial Museum and Gardens. Coming the back way, it sneaks up on you.

Okay, someone really loves this place. It’s beautifully designed and cared for, with sweet surprises everywhere you look. So much tropical greenery, with water trickling everywhere. What a gem! My heart was filled with pleasure at every turn, even if it was bursting with non-native plants. They were still beautiful.

Entrance, which would be prettier with fewer signs

The turtle pond was my favorite surprise in the garden. It was so lush with water dripping and bubbling everywhere. And so many turtles! I didn’t try to ID the ones I saw, since they have so many kinds, but I did sit and watch them for a while. I love a good turtle pond.

By this time, I was a bit warm and tired, so I headed back. It was 104° at home, so I’m not complaining about the high 80s. I realized I’m really out of shape since I stopped doing horse stuff and hiking all the time. I’ll just use this trip to get back my walking legs. At least my last pleasant sights didn’t use my sore muscles. I got all these sunset photos from my balcony, from where I can see a sliver of water. I liked how the colors of the water and sand also changed.

Now, THAT’s a Beach

I found out something interesting yesterday. I wrote down all 99 different birds I saw last month at home in my bird journal, because that’s what you do when you have plenty of time to do things you actually like to do. After that, I decided to add the South Carolina birds I’ve seen so far on this trip to my list. I discovered I’ve seen 42 additional birds! I’m up to 111 species in this state and am grateful to the warblers of spring for contributing a good many of the additional birds. My new warbler for yesterday was the Worm-eating Warbler; it’s clear that there are so many warblers the namers are running out of good ones. Spring is a good time to bird on the east coast of the US!

Eastern Towhee that was singing away next to the condos.

The shore birds, when I can find them, have also added to my totals and life list. I got a new one and saw many interesting others when Lee and I finally went over to Mitchellville, a historical Gullah area, to the beach there. I’d read that Fish Haul beach has great birding, and yep, it does.

Tricolored Heron just enjoying the breeze.

It also has crabs and oysters for all those birds to eat, and neighboring marshes chock full of songbirds, including a Red-winged Blackbird that made a sound like an alarm bell ringing. That was odd.

Let me tell you, this is the kind of beach I want to visit, not ones covered in people and no interesting things to look at (sorry beach lovers, but when I have seen one long stretch of sand with some waves, I’ve seen them all). Fish Haul beach has rocks, tree stumps, seaweed, sandbars, tidal estuaries, and so much more. I had a blast.

The only negative aspect of this beach is that it’s very close to the airport. There are more flights to this island than I realized; no wonder they’re expanding the charmingly tiny airport. Still, plane and helicopter sounds do drown our your Whimbrels and Willets (the Whimbrel was my new beach bird).

The surrounding wooded area at the park was equally pleasant, and the boardwalk across the marsh was breathtaking. I could have spent many hours there if I was willing to keep paying $3 per hour to park. We used every minute of our hour, though. I have a new place to go every time I come here!

I’m sort of torn about Hilton Head. I realize it’s a haven for ultra-rich people and that most of the place is off-limits except to residents. That feels uber-elitist, and it doesn’t help that most of the Black folks live in mobile homes in “their” areas (though the Gullah areas are fascinating and it’s so cool that they stubbornly continue to live life on their terms, like growing their own food, weaving, etc.). It’s also cool that many mobile homes have been raised way up on cement blocks to avoid floods.

Can’t complain about the landscaping. Fortnight lily.

But wow, it’s so pretty here. All the zoning regulations and lighting rules mean that you feel like you’re in some woods, even on commercial roads. Only the two or three main drags look like roads in most places. Otherwise, you drive through tree canopies draped in Spanish moss. It looks so much like the older parts of Gainesville, Florida in the late 60s where I used to ride my bike and visit my grandmother’s house. I feel comfortable here until I start to think about my white privilege and former good income that lets me come to this bastion of golf and fanciness.

I feel a rant coming on. If you’re a Substack subscriber, you’ll get to read one shortly, after I do a Master Naturalist blog entry. Good thing I enjoy writing.

A Day of Rest

No one was in a great mood much of today so I didn’t even try to do any activities. The only reason we left the condos was to get groceries in the world’s smallest and perhaps most expensive Publix supermarket. That’s ok. I still liked it, because my mom shopped at Publix when I was a wee lass.

I like how this place has lots of trees and birds. We are the top right unit.

It was a bit chilly, but warm enough to sit on the balcony and crochet long enough to realize I needed sunscreen on. I enjoyed lots of singing birds and chatty crows, plus I watched pelicans diving and an osprey hunting.

It doesn’t look like much yet. It’s another curtain or a tablecloth.

There wasn’t much reason to leave here, since I got a good lunch at the cafe along with a latte spiked with Bailey’s (which may explain the nap I took later). And it’s so pretty. Hilton Head is just so green and natural.

I did venture out on a Long Beach walk. I enjoyed looking at the patterns the tidal movement makes on the sand, saw a few dead horseshoe crabs and one dead stingray. Mostly I saw shorebirds, though, such as gulls, terns, sanderlings, and willets.

This time of year, dogs are allowed on the beaches here. I got to get my dog fix just by looking out the windows, but walking with them is even more fun. They really have a good time!

We relaxed in the evening and watched two movies, which we don’t get to do often at home. The first one was an extra violent but spiritually interesting one about a Viking. I had to look away a lot. The other was Cruella, which was enjoyable.

Everyone is doing better now! Naps helped.