nature – The Hermits' Rest

There’s a lot of Louisiana in Louisiana, too

We didn’t do quite as much wandering as we headed home today, but we did take backroads through Louisiana after successfully navigating the big bridge across the big river.

I didn’t take as many photos out the car window today, because it’s love bug season. If you’ve never experienced it, give thanks. These things were so bad when I was in college that there were special stations on the Florida Turnpike where you could clean our windshield and radiator. So many cars overheated! You can see below why they are called love bugs. I remember my dad struggling to explain them to my brother and me as we played in our backyard kiddie pool.

Common love bug (***Plecia nearctica)***

We met no charming locals, but did get to see some interesting plants around our hotel and when we stopped at a ranger station somewhere along the way. We didn’t want to do more jungle exploration. We did see the scary jungle plant, kudzu. I didn’t know before today that it has pretty flowers that smell nice.

I had nightmares as a child that I’d wake up and kudzu had swallowed my house. I think I’d seen too many buildings covered in it on the roadside.

Today I learned that it’s a common ingredient in Asian food, as a thickener. The roots can be eaten like potatoes but are stringy. It was also used in Japan to make kuzufu, a traditional cloth. Huh!

It can be used for netting and baskets, too.

The first article I read said that it’s hard to decide if it’s invasive or not, since it’s also a crop. The claim is the best way to get rid of kudzu is to harvest it. Hmm. So many ideas.

Here are a few plants I found at the hotel and on our stops. I’m always impressed at the variety of plants you can find wherever you go!

One thing traveling through Louisiana will tell you is that it’s a very wet place. No matter when I looked at Apple Maps I could see water, whether a river, a creek, a bayou, or a lake. No wonder they call it sportsman’s paradise! I noticed we went by many lakes that appeared to be part of where a river once ran. I wish I had photos. Thanks, love bugs!

We’re home now. Other observations I can report are that there are fewer songbirds in Florida than farther west, at least right now. And I only saw two signs declaring allegiance to the current US President.

That will have to do! Thanks for traveling along with me.

There’s a lot of Mississippi in Mississippi

Today we set off from the edge of Florida, zipped through Alabama, and ended up in Lee’s favorite place to do bird watching, the Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. He’s even come here without me.

I have never actually seen a crane here, though I see them often enough at home. My favorite part of this site is the nature trail, because it takes you through many fascinating plants that I’ve never seen elsewhere, including pitcher plants, my carnivorous favorites. Last time I was here I got great pictures of them, as well as flytraps (those weren’t blooming now).

I’m also fond of the bayou behind the trail, which is absolutely pristine and often has many water birds (not today). Photos don’t do it justice.

Rain held off for us, so we were able to go through the whole trail. I think I found new plants I didn’t see last time, which was a different season. It was extra humid, though. Whew. I’ve got some photos for you. I swear I omitted most tedious plant closeups.

I needed a cold drink, so we stopped at a gas station with an intriguing sign saying “We have deer burritos.” Well, that sounded interesting. We went in to find a shiny clean convenience store with people buying food that smelled really good. Everyone was extra friendly, and I enjoyed my conversation with the guy behind the counter about my love of boudin (it’s a Cajun rice sausage). He had, get this, boudin in an egg roll wrapper. That was my lunch, while Lee got deer burrito. Both were yummy.

Next, Lee said he had a surprise for me. He was going to the only “park” he could find between where we were and Laurel, the next stop. So we drove and drove. We saw a lot of tiny towns and trees.

We turned onto smaller and smaller roads, never seeing signs to any park. But the map software said there was a park!

We realized we were in a National Forest, but no sign said which one. We arrived at the park. It was a forest road not near any houses or anything.

Since we were there, we made the best of it and looked around. The woods were teeming with butterflies and native bees. They weren’t scared of us, so they zipped all around us. Magical! I found a few more plants, too.

On our way out, we kept going on the road to the “park” and saw that if we’d have come in that way, we’d have seen signs about numerous forests, preserves, trails and other places. At least we knew it was ok to be in there!

As we continued across Mississippi, which has lots and lots of tiny towns, lakes, and forests, we eventually made it to the edge of the state, Natchez. There was actually a hotel room available in the scenic River area. I was glad to see the Hampton Inn had been remodeled since I was last here.

We tried to go eat somewhere nice, but Lee got frustrated trying to find hidden historic areas. We ended up at Dairy Queen. It’s ok. We are tired from all the meanderings!

Home tomorrow.

Crossing Florida through Cross City

Today I took the day off, so I could enjoy the drive across Florida the interesting way.

Rather than going up to Jacksonville and heading across Interstate 20, we went across the middle of Florida through the parts tourists don’t usually see. This route is for the nature lover—covered in forests, lakes, Thoroughbred farms, and springs.

There are National Forests, State Forests, wildlife preserves, and charming small towns that have not lost their 60s vibe. Even though it was mostly a rainy day, it was refreshing and a wonderful change from condo after condo.

I also enjoyed showing Lee places I loved as a child. Since we’ve already been to Silver Springs (ten years ago for high school reunion) we drove by that beautiful place. So instead, we went to a place where I used to go as a child with my parents and our dog Maggie, Fanning Springs.

This was the most pleasant outing in our hot Florida summers, because the water is pleasantly cool year round. And you could see so many fish (and the occasional manatee).

Much like with finding Mom’s grave, I remembered exactly where it was in the park. It looks so much like it used to! The view out to the Suwannee River was a total match to my memory. Wow, so I took a few pictures.

Even though it was rainy, we had a great time. All those mullets swimming around fascinated us and I had just as much fun on the lovely (but slick!) boardwalk by a smaller spring/seep.

After that fun, we kept driving across the state until I hit another family link, the deepest backwater of Florida, right in the armpit, Dixie County. Yes. That’s its name. The county seat is Cross City, where Mom spent her childhood as the one fancy little girl with big bows and long curls among the children of lumber mill workers. (My grandfather was a surveyor/big fish in a small pond at Putnam Lumber in the 1930s-1960s.)

I heard lots of stories about Cross City, at one time the poorest county in Florida, but I know Mom had some fond memories. She subscribed to the newspaper her whole life.

I was surprised at how little that place had changed. I was also surprised at how much visiting these places from my mother’s past affects me. It brings back memories of things that had been buried in my mushy brain for decades. I now have a lot more empathy for my anxiety-ridden mom and her parenting challenges.

I spent much of the rest of the drive through the panhandle asleep. I was awake for a couple bad accidents that we passed. Rain is scary.

But at least we didn’t hit a bear or deer. Why? Because Florida has these signs that blink when an animal is coming across the road. They are all through the National Forest. What a cool idea!

No photos of the signs, but we saw some great clouds!

Now we are in Pensacola, making Florida seem almost as wide as Texas! I hope it’s not too rainy tomorrow so we can see more nature stuff.

New hotel brand, LivSmart Suites. There were actual birds near here. I’ve missed birds.

Another day, another park

Vicki wasn’t up to going to the farmers market today, so I pivoted. I can always come up with something to do! So first I put in new nail polish. It didn’t go on very well, but it’s growing on me. I don’t think the magnetic ones are my favorites.

Then I got in the rental car (have I mentioned how much I have enjoyed this Honda? It’s a perfectly reasonable car). I drove straight up A1A for 26 miles. I enjoyed brightly colored beach houses and stretches of just plain beach. I saw Flagler Beach, which I’d never seen before. At the swanky town of Palm Bay, I found my destination, Washington Oaks Gardens State Park.

The first thing I did was walk the nature trail, which included a half-mile stretch of the original A1A, the road built to get cars to South Florida. That was a fun piece of history.

You can see it was a road, returning to the earth.

It was pleasant to look at all the plants, and there was a good breeze. I was disappointed that there was hardly any view of the creek/intracoastal, but I did see some spiders. Focusing on spiders is not easy without manual focus.

I drank a lot of water (it’s humid) then walked around the formal gardens. I managed to find some insects for iNat along the way. There were many shady ponds, a sunny rose garden, and a place where they have planted Washington oaks from the trees owned by early settlers.

I enjoyed the rose garden, which had big, hardy roses in it, all of whom were blooming away.

After looking at the rest of the plantings, greenhouse, etc., I went in the gift shop, which was formerly the office of an early television pioneer. It was a cute place, and I enjoyed talking to the volunteers. I put signs in the photos, in case you want to read about the place.

I returned to Ormond Beach a different way, which took me through some fancy neighborhoods and a toll bridge. Then I drove down I-95, which was not bad, since it’s Sunday. I had time to go walk in the ocean a while. I got to watch some surfing, too.

Around 7 pm, Lee arrived after two days of driving. It was good to have someone in the condo with me!

Back to work tomorrow!

Twelve thousand steps later

Today was my only Saturday in Ormond Beach. So by gosh, I was going to make the most of it! While I’m still not back to the strength and stamina I had when I was working with horses and camping so much, I still managed 4.5 miles of walking at three different parks. I got my nature walking in!

I started off back at Tomoka State Park, where I walked the mile-long paved path on the other side of the road from the main park. It’s very smooth, and can be enjoyed by people with many disabilities in addition to walkers and cyclists. I’d have enjoyed it much more if there were fewer motorcycles on the road (it must have been a special touring day). There was a never-ending parade of buzzy small planes, too. But it was shady, and I saw a beautiful box turtle. Not many birds.

The woods is very uniform, with the same mix of plants throughout. I wonder how long it’s been recovering from being an indigo plantation? Here are some sights.

I left there and proceeded a few beautiful miles down the road to a truly special place, Bulow Creek State Park. Lots to see here! First I enjoyed the area around some huge, old live oaks, including the Fairchild Oak. All the trees are beautiful. My big surprise was spotting a raccoon family in the big old tree. Mom was trying to keep up with four very busy young ones. I enjoyed them a while, then showed them to a couple of other visitors.

Next I took the shorter trail that goes through a wet area. It has a collection of fascinating seeps that flow across the clay substrate to form the larger creek. Since it’s rained recently, they were flowing nicely. They are very similar to the seeps on our property, and now I understand them more. It made my day (that and the raccoons).

I endeavored to go on as much as possible of the next trail, which is a six-mile loop. I did not go that far. I did make it to where the trail turns and follows Bulow Creek before turning back. This was a lovely trail that even had some birds! I saw a Pileated Woodpecker fly by. There was also ample evidence of wild hogs. And since there was NO evidence of bears, I concluded that the large black animal that snorted at me was a hog. Yow. But the ferns, flowers, and trees were great. I also enjoyed many brown anole activities.

I had one more stop on my route, which made a nice circle. I wish I could have taken photos as I drove, because the drive between Bulow and North Peninsula State Park is through some of the prettiest wild east coast scenery I’ve ever seen. Woods making tunnels over the road lead to stunning swamps and to wide-open marshlands. I may take Lee there just to see it again. I also enjoyed going over a small drawbridge.

At this park I went on a trail that’s supposed to be a birding trail. I didn’t see any, nor any alligators. I did see a very large gopher tortoise. It made a noise at me for interrupting snack time. I also found what had to be its hole (huge) nearby.

If it wasn’t so hot, I’d have enjoyed more of this trail, which crossed hammocks and scrub. But I got too red and knew I needed to get a drink and rest. That led me to a shiny Anhinga. A bird!

I came back to the condo and enjoyed putting my observations in iNaturalist and rehydrated. After cleaning up, I got Vicki and we had a fancy steak dinner at the fancy restaurant I ate at last week. Other than very happy and loud revelers next to us, we had fun.

Lee is halfway here, after dealing with bad traffic and wonky GPS. Tomorrow I won’t be alone in the condo!

Hope you enjoyed the photos. I sure enjoyed my day. All positive.

Drowning my sorrows?

Today I tried very hard to find happiness amidst sadness about so many good people passing away lately (famous and not-so-famous). I should get used to it, and normally I am. This is just a rough week.

I did find beauty! This is Ohio Spiderwort.

I got up early and dragged myself to a nearby park, Michael Crotty Bicentennial Park, where I wandered around and enjoyed many beautiful plants.

I then walked across the road to a nice dock with great views of the Intracoastal and native woods. I got to see birds and talk to a couple of nice folks. I still made it back in plenty of time to start work.

It stormed pretty spectacularly this afternoon, with lightning right on top of me. I enjoy watching rain over the ocean, and it brought peace except when the big booms came.

After work, I went for a nice walk. I ended up with more birds today than any other here so far. To reward myself for working hard and because I was kind of lonely, I took myself to a nice dinner right across the road from the condo. I had old fashioned and a dessert. Good thing my meal was nice heathy fish and kale!

I’m looking forward to reading and relaxing for a while. This condo might not be fancy, but it sure is nice and quiet. Time to reflect.

Also, thanks for all the good feedback on Stephanie’s poem. She is full of understanding.

There’s a lot of water here

Since it’s Monday, I had to work. But since it’s Eastern Time, I didn’t have to work until late morning. So I took the opportunity to head over to Tomoka State Park, which is quite close to where I’m staying in Ormond Beach, Florida.

The park is surrounded by two rivers, the Halifax, which is also part of the Intracoastal Waterway, and the Tomoka, which joins the Halifax here. As you can imagine, there are beautiful views, many without any signs of humanity. My kind of place.

There are lots of kayak trails and camping areas. The nature trail and the trail around the point were what I focused on today, though I have plans to return and either go on a boat tour or hike another path.

Oddly, I didn’t hear many birds, just a very persistent Osprey and a Belted Kingfisher were loud. Blue Jays, Cardinals, and Carolina Wrens rounded out the songbirds, and I spotted an Anhinga, some Ruddy Turnstones, and a Great Blue Heron. Nothing too exotic.

There were plenty of very interesting plants to distract me from the lack of birds, however. The scenery was lush and verdant, with some new plants, like a hog plum (Ximenia americana), also known as a sea lemon. Apparently they’re common on the Florida coast, but I don’t remember them.

Take the tour of the nature trail with me! It’s fun.

There was lots of turtle and tortoise evidence here. I saw a nest that had recently hatched and found a beautiful gopher in its hole. I sure enjoyed gopher tortoises as a child!

Here’s more on the Gopherus polyphemus.

Okay, I’ll just share a few more interesting plants and insects I saw.

After exhausting my eyeballs from all this, I headed back to work and tried not to let the pelicans distract me as the majestically sailed by. The ocean was very blue.

After working I took a short walk on the beach to enjoy the sea birds and the shifting sands. This is a great place to come in summer after school starts. It’s warm but quiet. There are so many beautiful colors to enjoy.

And finally, I got to hang out with Vicki, whose headache was over, thankfully. We ate at a fun place in a non-touristy area with a great ocean view. After an amazing grilled cheese sandwich and much conversation about taboo topics like politics and religion (where we disagree less now than at other points in our lives), we went to a quiet beach park and watched pelicans dive as the sun set. A fine day with much water!

The cordoned off areas are turtle nests.

Sleepy time!

Book Report: Noticing

I’m on a real streak of fascinating nature books these days. Noticing, by Richard Louv (2026) is no exception. Lee found it in a bookstore and rushed it to me. Louv also wrote Last Child in the Woods a decade or so ago, which led many educators to try to get more natural world experiences into the curricula for young children.

Admittedly, most of the topics in Noticing are familiar to me, since I do spend a lot of my time, well, noticing. What I enjoyed were the interviews with researchers, artists, and philosophers about how being around nature affects us humans for the better. It gives me hope that humanity won’t completely lose its connections to the world of which we are a part–just a part, mind you.

Another reason I enjoyed going through this book is that it fulfilled my oh-so-human need for confirmation of my biases. Nothing is more soothing to me than going through hundreds of pages of discussion with people I completely agree with and who help me feel like I’m on the right track in how I live my life. It’s too bad there are so many folks out there who will go, huh? (I had a long talk with an old friend last night who literally shuddered at the idea of a life not surrounded by people and full of bugs and weeds.)

I guess she wouldn’t like this beauty from the chicken house, a Deduced Graphic moth

One of my favorite concepts Louv brings up in Noticing is that of having a First Place, which is where the book starts out. It rang so true to me. The first place you explore, get to know, feel grounded in, and feel a part of is your first place. Louv says:

Through the years, we live in newer places, and if we’re lucky, we bond with them. All these places become the geography of our lives. But there is only one First Place.

p. 13

My early memories of the first home I remember, in Gainesville, Florida, are very strong. I remember the plants, the insects, the heat, the wind, and the smell of camellias. I’ve written before about the fact that I am overcome with a profound sense of peace and “home” whenever I return. I think I’m attuned to the ley lines or some magnetic something that vibrates correctly with me.

I have not bonded with every place I lived. My last house in Illinois, the Bobcat house in Austin, and this ranch are the ones I feel most at home in. I find it a bit sad that I never could attach myself to the house in Round Rock where my kids grew up. I was interested in all the plants and animals in the surrounding area, but the crowded suburbs were too full of “noise” for me. Hmm.

That’s what the stories and science that intermingle throughout this book will do for you–send you off on tangents about your own experiences. If you are not someone who practices the art of active noticing, I hope you will read this book and give it a try. Your life will be enriched, you will feel more connection with the unity of the consciousness around you, and you will feel less alone. As the review on the cover by Carl Safina says:

This book is a how-to manual for getting back to your soul.

If nothing else, it’s important to remember what Louv shares in the future, which is we don’t necessarily have to fix things or bring them back to some ideal state. It’s also okay to simply observe how nature changes and adapts over time. That’s what it is supposed to do!

Stumpy success

Now, that took a while. The huge stump has been sitting in the corner of the back yard for months.

It’s been many weeks since flat bits were created on the surface.

Spring Stumpy with bird bath fountain and flat spots.

I have been adding bird seed whenever rain or wind washed it off. I waited patiently, knowing the birds had plenty to eat after all the rain. But yesterday, out of the corner of my eye, I caught motion. A sparrow was eating some seed!

Today I looked over at the stump every time I went out to check the bird phone for new birds (Swainson’s Hawk today!). Sure enough, the House Sparrows are eating my admittedly low-quality offerings.

Since I’ve established that birds have discovered Stumpy’s magical gifts, I can now give them better stuff. I even sprinkled some corn mixture on the ground to attract the doves who have been hanging around. Tomorrow I’ll break out some better seed mix I’ve been hoarding so maybe songbirds will see what’s there. I can store all the food safely in my birding hut, too, since I have a tightly sealed bin. Winter may be fun when all the various sparrows return.

It makes me feel trusted when Carlton sleeps right next to me—he feels safe.

Looking and learning

I’m pretty much wiped out, but today was extra, extra fun. I enjoyed listening to and watching birds behind the hotel. I got to watch Lesser Goldfinches eating thistle seeds and the happiest Raven, who had scored an entire biscuit. I also saw unidentified animals in the hills.

Hard to believe this is behind the business district.

Next we met a fun young woman named Alison, who showed us some representative houses here that might work as summer homes. Alison was a lot of fun. We met in a restaurant where her fiancé painted a cool mural.

There was quite a collection of properties to see, ranging from sad small condos to rustic cabins to a house nicer than ours. It reminded me of the good old days when we bought houses and fixed them up.

Of course, I also found flowers that elk hadn’t eaten. This is scarlet cinquefoil.

I didn’t think anything would match all my criteria:

Not too big
No close neighbors
Space to park an RV
Lots of nature
Attractive view

Two did. One rustic place in need of some TLC near town, and one doublewide in a more rural area in really good shape. (There are so many well preserved mobile homes here.) They both are quirky, which I like.

The lady who owned the rural house had taken great care of the yard, which I liked. It was very low maintenance. The other one needed occasional weed whacking. Anyway. Here are a couple things I enjoyed in other houses.

Upstairs family room in a house that was too big

After a lot of driving around, we dropped Alison back off at the restaurant and went back to look at the area where the rural house is. It’s a big, green high mesa with a mix of double wides and nice traditional homes. There are also many horse properties nearby. However, the most interesting thing is in the middy of the neighborhood. A rock shop. Not just a shop, but the place where miners of fancy rocks with geodes and other beautiful formations inside process the raw material!

We got to see all the grinding and polishing stations. It was fascinating! We got to look at beautiful examples of the finished products and watch a slideshow of how they mine the rocks (almost all in New Mexico). after mining, they put back all the dirt they dug and seed it with appropriate plants. I was impressed.

After that, Lee took me to the Noisy Water winery outdoor gathering place, where we sat under trees and drank wine and ate charcuterie. I also listened to birds. Of course. They had a petting zoo, so I went over and said hi to the goats and other residents.

This one licked my hand clean. Yes I washed it.

But wait, you ask. Did you see any interesting mammals? Of course I did. Many elk, of which I just share a few, and a herd of wild horses serenely grazing next to a parking lot. Apparently that’s common. That was the last fun wild animal I was looking for, so yay. No bears. That’s fine.

This was a fun whirlwind trip. I’m glad we are coming back in September so I can do non-real estate activities.

I want to look at more flowers like this Rocky Mountain zinnia

I have no idea if Lee intends to buy a property. I understand why. Texas is getting more scary to us as time goes on. But we love our ranch and don’t want to go away from our family there. A summer getaway would be ok.