Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Orlando Wetlands and More

Me on top of a hill.
Yup, I am just a dot in the landscape of the Orlando Wetlands Park, a huge area where they clean the waste water for a large part of our area, before flowing downstream into the St. Johns River. We went about two weeks ago, however other stuff took precedent in this space. Not that it is not interesting, but other places and things were more so. This visit, a woman immediately saw us as we exited the car, asking if we would like to take a guided tour? Sure, why not? Our guide was a retired electrician, knowledgeable and congenial as well. We rode around in a golf cart as he explained the cleansing process and occasionally what type of bird we were seeing. Sometimes this is a bird mecca, however, on this day, my most exciting sighting was a small flock of Roseate Spoonbills that were almost too far away to capture with my zoom lens.
Pretty small aren't they? Nonetheless I was excited to see them. It was a gray and slightly chilly day for us, so perhaps I'm not showing it off in the best light, however you take the cards you are dealt.
The water is very shallow, as I recall, only about six inches deep, enough so that there are hundreds of alligators living there. As for us, we saw only a few, yet on another occasion when we were walking, we saw quite a few up close and personal. The remains of previous hurricanes are evident throughout.
Loads of vultures, a bird I'm not so fond of, and one measly hawk that flew off as I was shooting.
I was hoping to see more, but it was not meant to be. Nearby, the Cypress trees are beginning to turn, and there are a few Wood Ducks around. 
Although I saw about eight on our lake a week or so ago, at the moment they have sadly disappeared. Some days though, we are having killer sunrises, making up for the absence of my favorite ducks.
Spectacular, right? The above was taken last week when sunrise was nearly 7:30 in the morning and now here we are a week later and it is at 6:30 or so. I've read there are folks working to get rid of Daylight Savings time; do you suppose they will succeed?

One day last week Fallon came with me to see Maureen who, btw, is mostly unchanged. Following our visit, we had lunch at a new "plant curious" restaurant, oddly named Hungry Pants. Super cute decor, and to tie into the name thing, well, there are framed pants on the walls.
By far my favorite part of the restaurant is the blush pink floor. Brilliant look.

Sunday afternoon we went out to DeBary to visit with the other local Pecks, well, the older version, not to be confused with our boys. Michele came down for a quick visit from St. Paul, MN, enjoying the warmer weather before the extreme cold kicks in. 

Bob and Judy's kids:
Judy and Cris live on the St. Johns River amongst the moss covered cypress trees and have a lovely view from their dock.
Not to mention the incredible number of these birds--I counted fifteen of these beauties!
Twice daily she feeds the Sandhill Cranes, as well as, seasonally, turkeys.
I cannot believe I've seen wild turkeys twice in the last week. Crazy indeed.
It was super great to see both the older adults, as well as our nieces who are close in age to our boys. Part of our conversation was about the sad state of Florida State football following a crushing loss to Miami on Saturday afternoon. As we were getting on the interstate to go home, Judy sent me a text with the news that the coach was fired. I'll keep you posted regarding this saga in the coming months, not really because you care, but in the next few years when I look back on this time, well, I'll know.

Despite this man's sign, King Buddy as he calls him has just won his fifth term as Orlando's Mayor.
Lastly, Halloween was a bust around here with Bruce patiently waiting for kids that never came.
And of course that means we now have to eat the candy, as you do.

your friend,

Gail

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