The Old and the Restless

Shore birds A group of black skimmers. They lay their eggs in shallow depressions in the sand. Two black skimmers with a ring-billed gull looking at the camera. A closer look at the skimmers posing with Royal Terns.

I met Carolyn one day while I was in the New Smyrna Chamber of Commerce. As I do every year, I was asking for cycling maps. Carolyn overheard and asked how far I usually ride. Translating kilometres to miles, I said about 30 miles. When she said that she was a cyclist too, we exchanged phone numbers and tentatively decided to ride on the last weekend in January. Carolyn and her husband, Bill, drove us to Deland and led a lovely ride around several lakes near Deland. The area is known for growing ferns. Formerly, the ferns were grown in the shade under the trees. Now, they are grown under cover. These photos were taken in front of one fern farm.

Sandhill Cranes near Deland. Look carefully. There are two sandhill cranes here. Two Sandhill Cranes trying to get out of the picture. Paul says this is a diamond back rattlesnake. It was more afraid of me than I was of it. Box tortoise in Canaberal National Seashores Park. More egrets at the jetty And. finally, a pelican at the jetty.

Many butterflies were flitting around this bush. Egrets at the jetty. One of the creatures lurking on the beach. Maureen and Ramsay stayed with us for a few days. We played a lot of Bridge (Sandra needs the practice) and walked the beach, weather permitting. It was a windy day. The surf was high but at low tide it was still a good walk. Four on the beach. It looks as if we aligned ourselves from the shortest to the tallest. Lunch at JB's fish camp. Paul wanted this in because he thought he and Ramsay looked good. I caught Maureen by surprise here.

Our dive buddies, Glen and Norma, came to stay with us. We had planned to ride/walk the beach and bird watch at Canaveral National Seashore. The weather was sunny and warm but the Red Tide came and stayed right off shore at New Smyrna. While driving the beach...with the windows up...we saw many good sized dead fish washed up on the beach. The newspaper reported 6 dolphins and 4 large dead turtles were found as well as sea birds. The air quality was so bad that it was difficult for us to breathe even on the short walk to the car without coughing. Instead of birdwatching, we decided the next day to visit Winter Park, near Orlando where the air quality would be better. On the narrated boat tour we saw the homes of the rich and famous from the past and present...as well as some egrets, cormorants and anhinghas. An opportunistic blue heron stood on shore to pick off the fish that the cormorants and anhinghas drove to shore. A rose between two thorns? Sandra, Paul and Norma. Is Sandra checki...