Scene in Sanibel: February 18, 2015

When I travel I try to find a gloriously tacky souvenir to bring home for my parents. In Sanibel, that means finding something made of seashells. As it turns out, I had to spend quite some time deciding amongst  the bountiful options of Christmas tree ornaments. I very nearly picked out this starfish scuba diver, who looks to me like Beaker (the muppet) on a beach adventure:

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But in the end, I opted for Santa with his little bag of tiny colorful shells: IMG_0290

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They loved it.

Scene in Sanibel: February 9, 2015

While on Sanibel Island we visited the Ding Darling wildlife refuge. We had a guided tour. At one of the stops we walked into a wooded area and the tour guide pointed out the tree crabs. They were everywhere. And they are super fast, too. It was at this time I decided Florida is made at least in part of nightmares.

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Scene in Sanibel: February 2, 2015

Seeing that heron in my yard yesterday reminded me I have a lot of photos from Sanibel Island I haven’t yet shared. I also have one video – of a great blue heron. When the fishing boats would come back to the dock they would leave the bait bin open. The birds were clearly aware of this and lined up to snack. We must have watched this guy eat twenty fish! (just off the right you can see the beak of an egret who was waiting for his turn…)

Uninvited Guest

I went to my back door to have a look at the weather. To my surprise in the middle of my pond on a rock (under which I hope my fish are hiding) was a great blue heron. I may no longer have fish. I don’t know. The heron looked at me placidly for a moment when I opened the door as if to let me know that flying away languidly was his idea completely and I should run a better restaurant.

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I should have gotten my real camera – this is a phone photo. I regret that now, but honestly don’t seek a new opportunity. I need to figure out how to make that rock impossible for the heron to stand upon.