Florida's wonders - part 2

The second part of our trip was spent on Sanibel Island.  This is a wonderful place (albeit an expensive place to stay) with long sandy beaches and, in my mind, the best part is that 60% of the island is protected within the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge!

In this refuge one can drive slowly through and stop at various viewing locations to see an amazing assortment of birds and other creatures. 

A highlight of one of my visits was seeing two Horseshoe Crabs mating in shallow water (a photo is displayed in my Florida gallery).  I also spent part of an afternoon with a White Ibis (just the two us on a sandy shoreline).  It was magical!

Here are some images from Sanibel Island:

A Reddish Egret.  This bird is said to “dance” and act drunk and it didn’t disappoint!  It is believed to be a fishing technique.

An Osprey

A Fiddler Crab peering out from its home in the sand

Brown Anole lizard

Two Coots in a pond at Bailey Tract on Sanibel Island

Diane photographing a Little Blue Heron at Bailey Tract

Diane at The Windjammer restaurant

Doris at The Windjammer restaurant

Florida's wonders - part 1

In March 2013 my sister Diane and I flew to Fort Myers, Florida and thus began one of the best weeks I’ve ever had!  From Fort Myers we drove to Bonita Springs where we stayed for three nights using it as a base from which to explore some of the natural areas that Florida has to offer.

Other photos (high resolution) of Florida’s magnificent wildlife are at my Florida gallery

This first post shows some of the interesting wildlife and sights at Big Cypress National Preserve (March 14), at Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve (March 15), and at Corkscrew Swamp (March 16).

One of the very first animals we saw at Big Cypress was a Manatee.  I guess I should revise that to say that we saw a Manatee’s nose!

And a trip to Florida would not be complete without seeing an Alligator.  They are truly magnificent!

At Fakahatchee Strand, we saw the following: 

 This is a migratory creature known as Dianeus Marcotteus (aka my sister) :-) 

A hawk (possibly a Red-shouldered Hawk)

Palm leaves with another plant with heart shaped leaves (philodendron?)

 Strangler Fig on tree trunk

Diane on boardwalk

Royal Palm

A Brown Anole lizard displaying its colourful dewlap

Diane and I on boardwalk

A photographer’s paradise

Sights at Corkscrew Swamp

A sign showing the location of a rare Ghost Orchid 

My photo of this orchid plant

A sampling of the wildlife that can be seen from the boardwalk

 

Siblings - sheesh!!

Move over!  Let me look too!

I was here first ... sheesh!

Ow!  You're squishing me.  Quit pushing and MOVE OVER!

Ha!  He's gone.  (No way was I going to move over).

I'm baaaack!  Maybe this side will work out better.

Ok, I guess we can both look ...

Success!

Well, my avocados ripened and the "unholy guacamole" was a success!  I think I need to tweak things a little though - like try to perfect my mixing technique and get a spicier salsa - but all in all I was happy. :-)

I actually decided to try another recipe!  This one is called "Potatoes in Paradise" and involves cubing a cooked potato, dicing an avocado (as long as it is ripe like your nose), and wrapping this mixture plus some shredded lettuce into a tortilla.  Maybe someone can explain the difference between cubing and dicing?!  Anyway, it worked out quite well even though I substituted "broccoli slaw" for the shredded lettuce.  I enjoyed it immensely and will make it again.

However, my next venture will be to make a fruit smoothie using soy milk, strawberries and banana.  Having just purchased a mini-blender for the purpose, it will be another first!

If you know me, you will know that food preparation is something I view with horror so this turn of events is quite extraordinary.  Of course, since I am now becoming much more vegan in my food choices (and restaurants have not caught on to this lifestyle as much as I would like), eating in becomes more of a necessity.

Unholy Guacamole and how to find a ripe avocado!

Ok, I'm retired now you see, and one of the things I vowed to myself was that I would take up cooking (something I have avoided religiously).  Well, I bought a PETA vegan cookbook a year ago in preparation for this major life change (cooking that is, not retirement).

Now when I was flipping through the pages (and chuckling over the humourous names of the dishes), I found "Unholy Guacamole" - and it looked really easy:  3 large avocados, 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro, one 16 ounce jar of salsa , and salt (to taste).  Just mix it all together and eat with chips, nachos, or by itself!

I had some difficulty finding avocados in the supermarket and I didn't know what cilantro was.  I kept thinking that was the name of something alcoholic (but chopped?!) but then realized that I was thinking of cointreau!  Anyway, I found all the ingredients, came home, found a suitable bowl and began the process ...   

I found my knife was not going through the avocado very well.  Are they normally this hard to cut?!  After quite a bit of effort I cut one in half and found it very hard inside as well as on the outside.  Hmmm.  Ok, time to re-think.  Were they not ripe?  So how does one know when they are ripe?

As I always do when I am in a dilemma like this, I Googled "how to tell when an avocado is ripe".  I found the following advice which made me laugh through each step.  My disappointment was tempered by my amusement. 

How to tell if an avocado is ripe:

Instructions

1)  Press gently on your forehead.  This is an example of how an avocado should not feel when you press on it.  This means the avocado is too firm and not ripe.

2)  Press gently on your cheek.  If your avocado feels this way, do not purchase it.  Your avocado is too ripe and possibly rotten.

3)  Press gently on your nose.  This is how your ideal avocado should feel to your fingertips.  Look for avocados with a little bit of give, but not too mushy.

Well, my avocado feels like my elbow!!  I'll wait a few days and try again.  Stay tuned!

Only Kindness Matters

One finds the most beautiful, wise and poignant messages on tombstones.  As someone who frequents cemeteries for both inspiration and wildlife photo opportunities, I have read many epitaphs during my meanderings.  One of them strikes me as encapsulating everything that life should be about in just three words:  "Only Kindness Matters". 

Riches, beauty, intelligence, success are not what makes one happy or makes the world a better place - but kindness does.

Here are those three words immortalized in stone

The Alien Life-form

It all started with me looking for my thermometer.  I looked in the usual places and nothing!  Then I thought I would look in the “white box”.

 Background on the white box: 

This is a hinged, plastic box (I think made for clothes pins) that I keep on my kitchen counter as a sort of back-up medicine chest.  I keep analgesics, antacids, bandaids, cat prescriptions, etc. in it.  It keeps things nice and neat!

When I opened it I saw something that my brain could not interpret.  I stared for several seconds then I rapidly closed the box and stood back. I was so un-nerved by this thing that I went into the living room and watched a TV show.  This distracted me for half an hour and then a movie came on … about a Martian invasion!  OK, it was time to go back and check this thing out again and see if it had moved.  It hadn’t (whew).

Oh yes, here is what it looked like (pictures below):  it was slightly smaller than a golf ball; was gray and furry on its ruffled underside; was cream coloured and furry on its upperside with what looked like six or seven “legs” in an upright position.  It looked like a dead, mutant, head-less mouse lying upside down!

Mustering my courage, I began to remove things (with long tongs) from the box until only the “alien” remained.  It never moved through-out this process (even when I accidentally bumped the box) so I started feeling much braver.

I took the first picture and noticed that the camera flash revealed that the “legs” were greenish (keep in mind that Martians are reported to be green)!

All of a sudden, a flash of a different sort occurred in my brain and I think I knew what it was and under what circumstances it came to be in the box.

Can anyone guess what it is?  (It is not an animal)!

I’ll post the answer in a day or two.  (Please note that the answer now appears in the comments below the posting). Keep in mind that without DNA testing, this is still conjecture on my part. J

 

P.S. Although I was going to post this on Thursday, I thought I would wait to see if the world ended yesterday or you would be left in suspense.  Dead - but in suspense.