Jupiter in my Rearview Mirror

Well we are on our way back to Maryland. Hard to believe. We are currently stuck in traffic north of Cocoa Beach due to an accident. We've lost about 20 minutes.

I can't believe my love affair with the ocean is now on hold for probably another year.

We just drove by the accident the had the road closed and it was on the other side of the road. Our lanes were closed for the medivac helo. It was a horrific two car accident. We said a prayer for those involved in the accident.

It put a real downer on my vacation's end. But we are going to drive a bit safer.

The image is of Jupiter Island beach this morning. A memory caught in an image.

Just Another Sunny Day in Paradise

Fundamentally, what is wrong with vacations is that they seem to end right when I begin having fun and am fully decompressed and can really enjoy the vacation the most.

The thought of returning to the grind of daily life begins to weigh heavily on me as I write this knowing that in less than 72 hours, I will have a tie around my neck, socks and shoes on my feet, and again be stuffed into a windowless room lighted with the harsh glow of florescent lights.

While this morning--my last on the beach for this vacation, I snorkeled for over two hours with Chris and we had a magnificent day. We played with birds and urchins on the beach, we saw a huge barracuda, and a 6 foot lemon shark and then had a manatee swim within 10 feet of us. Had my underwater camera not been toasted a few days ago, I would have images to match these memories--but alas, they are only memories.

Chris called it the best day snorkeling ever! I agree. I decided not to go diving so I could snorkel with Chris and God did not disappoint us with the diversity, size, and ferocity of the marine life we saw.

And so, as the packing out moves into a frenzy--I have fond memories of a great vacation which showed me so many different things and taught me about the fizz in my life as well and the constants. I'll write about the fizz soon.

Mostly, I got in touch with my real self again--if even for only a few moments on the beach mindlessly watching the waves.

I was mostly in the moment--not thinking about what was going to happen but just enjoying what was happening. I even got bothered when people asked me about the "plan." Ugh. Plan was in the future and I just wanted to enjoy the moment, or the bird, or the fish, turtle, manatee, or shark.

But even now, my mind is looking towards the trek back to Maryland and the life I have for 50 weeks a year.

It is a long trek--but I will ride spectacular memories of family, friends, and awe at God's creation.

The Turtle Whisperer

Just Hatched and Looking for the Ocean

Crawling Across the Beach

Off to the Deep Ocean

First Contact with the Surf

Missed the First Wave--Waiting for the Next One

She did it again this morning.

Found little turtle hatchlings on the beach after a nest had an eruption.

The Turtle Whisperer

The weather this morning was awesome--a second day in a row of pristine snorkeling conditions--but first, we had to rescue, or rather watch, some small turtles make their way to the ocean to begin the swim to the Sargasso Sea where they will grow and mature.

It really is amazing though--they dig themselves out of the nest, crawl across 50 yards of no easy to navigate beach and then into the ocean! But once they hit the water, they really begin to motor and these little guys can really motor!

One of the pictures here is of a hatchling just breaking the surface of the sand and the Turtle Whisperer was there to capture the moment.

we spent a long time this morning watching the turtles from at least three nests make their way to the surf. Sadly, the Turtle Whisperer could not save one hatchling which became caught in the sea grass drying on the beach and was plucked up as breakfast for a big black crow.

Mini-Lobster Season

Today, July 28th was the first day of the mini-lobster season here in Florida.

The pictures highlight the ending for one unlucky lobster--left dead on the beach after having its tail removed.

Spiny lobsters do not have claws like Maine lobsters do, but their tails are every as bit good to eat.

The ocean was alive today with boats, snorkelers, and divers looking for lobsters as private citizens get two days before the opening of the commercial lobster season.

We met a guy on the beach today who had a lobster in his bag and saw one out on the reef as we were snorkeling earlier in the day. If I had not destroyed my underwater camera I would have taken a picture of it--but alas, my camera suffered from unplanned exposure to sea water when the housing failed for some unknown reason.

I hate seeing the results of this type of harvesting--half a lobster washed up on the beach. I love to eat lobster, but seeing this really caused me to question why I continue to eat lobster since we use only a small portion of the total animal.

But, that is just the way it is--having a season protects them so they can reproduce and we do not take the species to extinction in over harvesting.

Usually, we hear of four or five divers who die lobstering--and those numbers aren't available yet.

But--it is a season like deer season in Pennsylvania and trout season in New York.

Lots of people took the day off from work to go hunting lobster.

I just wanted to take pictures of them--

But fish are food, not friends.

Bird Brained

Most everyone knows that flamingos are one of my favorite birds.

I don't know why--they just are.

I have a pink flamingo statue on my desk at work which greets people who come to visit me.

I just find them to be a very stately acting/looking bird.

I could watch them for hours--but alas, life keeps me moving all to quickly. The other day at Lion Country Safari, I was enjoying the flamingos and snapped a few images to remind me of the visit.

No--we do not have pink flamingo statues in our yard or gardens.

Yes, I do have a pretty unique pink flamingo wine bottle holder that I bought at the West Palm Beach airport twice! The first one got broken a few years ago and I replaced it.

Yes, by the way, the flamingo is drunk!

You Talking to Me?

Sometimes we take images that just scream out a caption and make me laugh, like this one.

We were driving through Lion Country Safari, and these water buffalo's were enjoying a dip on the start of another hot day. As we drove by this one looked right at us as if to ask:

"You talkin' to me?"

I think he could have made any response to my answer to his question stick, so we stayed silent and kept driving.

He remained cool and did not pursue.

Manatee Surprise

It seems that every day of this vacation is filled with some new unexpected surprise. Most of them good--except for the sunscreen failure we suffered.

Today we were treated to a very rare treat.

A herd of manatees chose to spend some time sunning themselves very close to us on the beach. It was a surprise as there were about 10 manatees in the herd. They had been playing about 100 yards offshore and when spooked by a boater who came too close and probably sis not see them. We had seen the herd playing out in the water and spent a lot of time trying to decide what type of animal it was.

Fortunately, they decided to come close--about 50 feet offshore onto the rocks near us and I was vindicated when everyone else saw they were manatees--which is what I had postulated.

They are huge!

Some had fresh wounds--although from what we do not know--it could have been the barnacles on the rocks or something else.

As close as they were, we really did not want to disturb the herd as it had definitely assembled for some purpose and stayed close together until their departure when they went in many different directions.

They continued to play off shore for a long while--separately. The herd had dissolved into a separate groups of single and paired manatees playing in the warm, late-July Atlantic Ocean.

It was really very cool to see these gentle giants playing together, just offshore.

We had read an article last week that the cold weather of the past winter had killed many manatees and so seeing this herd gather together was a good reminder that nature has a way of surviving.

Finally, Some Snorkeling

Well it took over a week for the water to calm enough to allow some snorkeling off my favorite Jupiter island beach, but this morning it did and I went out, armed with my camera, to see what I could see.

And did I ever see a lot--it was awesome. I suppose, if I had actually remembered to set my camera on the correct settings the pictures would have been better. As it was, I had to do some magic to make them as good as they are. I even found a free program to help reintegrate the red into the green and blue. Yes--I forgot to switch my camera from land to sea mode. Duh!

Once I got out from over the rocks, the water cleared and I found myself in a large school of the fish you see here. sadly, I left my fish identification book home and do not know what these schooled fish are, but there were a lot of them and they had a lot of company: snook, a jack, a couple barracuda, and a tarpon or two.

I was out there with them for a long time enjoying all of the fish and then occasionally, I'd head in over the rocks to view some of the sergeant majors, and an Atlantic spadefish among other fish that were there. The waves crashing on the rocks though, made them somewhat harder to both linger over and see the fish amongst.

I got a pretty good shot of the barracuda--there were actually two of them and they were pretty little guys, as barracuda go.

A couple of really cool shots happened when an especially big wave broke out over the more open water and it stirred up the bottom--you can see the sand rising in the picture. The school continued to swim over top of the cloud coming from the bottom and it gave the appearance of the fish swimming in the clouds.

I felt bad that Nicole and Mike left before the water got to the condition it was today, but even so, it was still too rough for Chris to trek out. The waves crashing on the rocks for the 100 yards between the edge of the rocks and the shore made for a rough transition and there was a strong current pulling down the beach. It took a lot to stay in one place.

But it felt good to finally be in the water with the fishes rather than just looking at or sailing upon the water.

Good things seem to be in store for the week ahead.

Romantic Evening Beach Walk

Moon over Carlin Park in Jupiter, FL

Last evening, after dinner and to help work off a scrumptious dinner, we went for a walk along the Atlantic at Carlin Park.

It was beautiful as the day was beginning to end and the waves were moderating just after high tide.

From where we stay it is a very short, less than 5 minute, walk to the beach.

And we were treated to a very beautiful evening along the near deserted beach. As the sun was setting, behind us of course since we are on the Atlantic side of Florida looking east, the colors of the sunset were reflected in the clouds.

We found a point of rocks and sat for a while watching the waves crash up into the air on the rocks and the colors of the day begin to deepen into those of the night.

And then, just to add the perfect exclamation point on a near perfect day, the moon appeared from behind a cloud the add the perfect ambiance.

We looked at the clouds and thought that the dark one to the left of the moon seemed to be a small dog jumping up to catch a ball (the moon).

Thanks to the magic of the iPhone, we actually were able to image the scene to help us remember the moment, the thought, and the emotion.

This is what vacations are all about after all--experiencing those things that we cannot regularly enjoy where we live, making memories we hope we never will forget, and recording them with cameras to help ensure that we really won't forget them.

The power of the Storm

Yesterday I indicated that we would not be going to the beach because of Tropical Storm Bonnie--but as the weather would have it, shortly after I wrote that the skies over Jupiter cleared a bit and we decided to hit the beach and watch the power of the storm.

In a word--it was awesome.

It had been a long time since I was on a beach with the red flags flying.

The waves were powerful and rough.

The boys enjoyed playing in the rough surf--but we did not let them go deeper than their knees.

The power of the storm was magnificent--we watched one dark group of clouds come across the water towards us until it forced us off the beach with wind and waves.

We really had the beach pretty much to ourselves--there were very few other crazies out on the beach enjoying the oncoming storm.

As it was, Tropical Storm Bonnie stayed pretty much south of us--so we missed the true brunt of the storm but were in a great position to have patches of blue sky interspersed with the true power of a tropical storm.

Barnacles--who wants to play?

There always seems to be one of this kind on the playground. The one who is a little crusty--and while he/she may be nice--they are definitely unappreciated.

I took this picture a couple of days ago and remembered it yesterday morning while watching Tropical Storm Bonnie brew over top of us.

The barnacles were on a rock on the beach and provided a good reminder that walking on the rocks without foot protection was something that should not be attempted.

On this sunny day they were basking in the sun at low tide waiting for the life giving waters of the Atlantic to wash over them again soon, covering and protecting them.

They seemed a bit lonely as no one really wanted to play with them on this bright and sunny morning.

But, I guess that's the way they like it.

One Green Turtle Saved

This tired little turtle lay exhausted on the beach the other day.

Baking in the near afternoon sun after probably struggling all night to make it to the ocean, he had given up and was waiting for death to come--either in the form of a predator or in the form of heat stroke and exhaustion.

But guess what--

He was found and rescued by Chris and Ethan. Placed in a cool bed of sand and kept out of the sun to recover a bit. A short time later--after a couple telephone calls he was delivered, alive and somewhat stronger, to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center of Juno Beach.

There they identified this little guy as a green turtle and took him to help him recover until he was strong enough to be motored about 8 miles out to sea and released in the area where the turtles go to grow into big turtles.

This guy is lucky actually. The survival rate to adulthood is about 1 in 1,000 and most are lost right after hatching when they are known, sadly, as the "cheerios of the sea."

We have a deep respect for the sea and our planet. Despite the odds and the probable outcome--we rescue those marine animals we come across who need help. This trip so far has seen us assist one green turtle, ten anchovies (yes strange as it seems), one crab, and three sea urchins to return to their environment and avoid an unpleasant death on the sandy beach.

Conversely, we love watching the pelicans and the osprey hunt for the animals just like the ones we just saved--kinda sick isn't it?

Lavender and butterflies

We were treated to a host of white butterflies enjoying our lavender yesterday. A cloud of the white butterflies hovered over the blooms enjoying the scent and the pollen from the blooms.

The gardens are suffering a bit from the lack of rain, bit we are supplementing with water to keep the blooms coming.

Chris mulched the beds this week which will further help retaining moisture on the plants.

The weather has been glorious and we are heading into a hot spell this week according to the forecast.

Bring it on.

Best Pictures of our Week in California

I went back through all of the pictures we took in on our California wine adventure looking for the one best picture that best represented the week and what we enjoyed doing the most.


Funny, I could not decide on just one--but it took two. And neither has anything directly to do with wine, or drinking, or vineyards.

I guess I'm still a country kid at heart because they were both from our trip to the Armstrong Redwoods State Park. Funny--I still enjoy a nice walk in the woods--even on a very crisp morning.


Chris took both of these pictures--and she was being creative, but they also capture something really special.


The first is of the cool haze that was hanging in the morning forest as we were enjoying the natural beauty and marveling at the works of God. The sunlight reflecting off the trunks and stumps and moss covered rocks. Being refracted by the atmosphere. I still remember the cool, clean smell of the forest that morning. And the sounds of the birds high above us in the canopy.


And the second--a sight so easily missed as it was off the trail and the web could only be seen from one specific angle as the sun reflected off it. The silk shimmers in the morning light as the spider, in the center, rests from the work of the night. It was beautiful shimmering there. A work of beauty.


I remember a saying from a long, long time ago--it was about taking time to stop and smell the roses along the way.


And I am glad that we took time out of our California wine adventure to see the natural beauty of the land and marvel at magnificence not created by the hand of man!

Back into Life--Making Lemonade from Oranges?

The hard part about traveling is returning to life, afterwards.

The memories are good. The pictures remind of the fun times.

But when the return to life comes--there they are: bills to pay, events to deconflict, crises to solve.

I feel like I'm going through life right now with concrete overshoes on--trying to get going, but I can't.

I remember this tree we saw in front of Rubicon Vineyards. It was the epitome of everything that can be really funny.

Look at the picture--click on it if you need to--the right branch of the tree is growing lemons and the left, oranges.

It is an example of grafting (obviously) and is a good demonstration for how European grape vines are grafted onto US root stock.



But is this is one of those cases when you have a bunch of lemons and wind up making orange juice?


It can be confusing, if you let it. Just like life.

Safe Return and Fond Memories

Well, it is over.

Thanks to a relatively uneventful trip on Southwest Airlines our Napa adventure came to a safe conclusion early this morning (about 1AM) when we pulled into the driveway and unloaded our treasures and dirty laundry.

During the trip we saw natural wonders including geysers and giant redwoods; and we saw grape vines and wineries and mountains and so many things that it just really can't be all told.

These pictures here kind of give the variance of the week--from looking at the new leaves sprouting into the warm sun, to bottles of champagne lining the cave walls at Schramsburg--to works of art and a Persian Palace Winery at Darioush.

There are so many things to see and do. We even got in a little shopping and antiquing.

The high points of the trip were walking among the giant redwoods and talking to the winemaker of Parador Wines.

We spanned quite a diverse set of wineries from the opulent at Darioush and Rubicon, to the modest Buena Vista (in Sonoma).

We experienced a wide variety of wines and were able to sample some wines with incredible price tags--$165 per bottle. And found that they were OK. But we also found some great wines for much less.

I continue to be unhappy to be living in Maryland--where the legislature has no problem regulating things like cell phone use in a car--but can't see to get its act together to "Free the Grapes." Come on--it will increase state revenue! That we lived in Maryland almost always was a source of discussion at the wineries and I was told many, mostly illegal, ways to circumvent the Maryland liquor shipping laws--most of which require the commission of a felony! Here is a real good question--how can something be absolutely legal in most states but yet be a felony in others?

But--all in all--the trip was awesome. We saw art--and we saw nature's beauty.

And now I'm home where the lawn needs to be mowed and I get to return to the reality of daily life. But always with the memories of a great trip.

A Walk Among the Giants

We had the opportunity to walk among giants as part of our vacation to the Napa/Sonoma area of California. We went for an early morning walk (after over an hour drive) in a redwood grove at the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve.

It was awe inspiring and I sent a couple updates on the jaunt--but it really is something beyond words.

The trees, and I confess, this was the first time I had been in a no kidding full grown redwood forest, are so big they cannot even be comprehended when you are looking at them.

I enjoyed the smells of the forest in the morning and it was cold--only in the low 40's as we arrived--but the walk was so worth the time to get in touch with these old and magnificent trees.
They are that big.

And did I say, old. 1400 years some of these giants have been growing. There was one exhibit which really put the timeline in perspective. It was a cut piece of trunk exposing the growth rings. And most of the things we consider as history--were in the very outer rings. I was awed to think that that tree was alive and pretty tall in 1066 AD--dating from the Norman invasion of Britain. The tree was already almost 400 years old when that occurred.

All in all--we really couldn't see the forest for the trees.

Thursday afternoon

Enjoying the day.

OK--so I didn't mow the lawn. But I did enjoy my daffodils. This one is right off my front step. And it is just awesome.

I also checked out the camera on my new cell--yeah, Chris finally wore me down and we switched to I-phones.

I feel as if we have gone over to the dark side.

But the afternoon warm sun was great and the flowers are just bursting with Spring.

Bring it on.

The New Cat in the House

So my mid-life crisis finally got the better of me and I decided to get a new pet. I kind of let the "cat" out of the bag in yesterday's blog; so I figured I should probably let everyone in on the secret.

This cat can be very mean--and is very fast. It is sleek and black for navigating the night. And it has a deep roar.

Right now--I have to keep it in the garage until I get it trained and house broken.

I guess I do crazy things when I get snowbound.

But I have been seriously looking for a car like this for months (bordering on years) now--and I finally found one that met all of my specifications and was a good deal too.

Chris and I are excited about driving it to Florida this summer! I'm just excited about driving it--once the snow melts and the temperature gets about 60 degrees. Is that ever going to happen?

Every time I drove it through a puddle while we were bringing it home the other night--I cringed! I drove it to church on Sunday just to get it out on I-95 and it got stuck in the parking lot leaving the church,. Not real good on snow and ice on a hill. But I knew that.

Ethan really enjoyed it when I put the top down on Sunday. He was a bit worried that it was going to hit him on the head though when I put it back in place. Everyone in the family wants to go for a drive--but they are going to have to wait until the weather gets a bit better.

So here is the problem--I don't know what to call it. I already have a Kitty--so that is out. And I could tell that Kitty was jealous sitting under the pile of snow she is currently stuck in. Cleopatra has been proposed--and it a good name, but, not too sure that I want to call my car that. Any ideas would be appreciated.

We will have to see what happens to Kitty--I'm not sure I have enough time (or money) to feed and maintain two big cats!