Doesn’t this mangrove covered boardwalk make you feel like you are entering a secret garden? You know what? You are — a garden of surf and sand that will wash away your cares.
Do you have a portal to a secret garden or special place? Share it with me.
When you enter the beach there is often evidence of a colony of crabs under the sand. Usually all you see is their holes, large and small. I managed to catch this one just as it scrambled back inside to hide.
The next morning there was the shell of a sea urchin outside its door. Do you think it is in its hole saying, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing?”
Here is what they look like topside.
I went out with some friends one day not long ago and was told we were going to the “peacock neighborhood.” Neighborhoods in Florida, as in most places these days, seem to all have themes — palms, seashells, etc.
So I was totally unprepared for this —
Apparently, this neighborhood in Cape Canaveral used to be the home of a wildlife sanctuary. When the sanctuary closed some of the peafowl refused to leave. Love them or hate them (because of their raucous cry and other birdbrain habits) — you have to admit they sure are pretty.
Bad weather got you down?
Just point your nose into the wind and dream of sunny skies.
Go with the flow
Roar with excitement
Let your cares fall away
Create your own music
Immerse yourself in nature
Stay active
Make a splash
I love it!
What might you add to the list?
If I could just stay right here for a few days I would but alas, since my meander was slowed by rain, and I have to be home for an April 26 engagement, sadly I must leave today so I might enjoy the sights and sounds of the rest of my trip. This is one place I will return to though.
Since this is probably my last day at the beach for a long while, I am so glad it was and is a beautiful beginning.
Shortly before I left to head back North, I started to look at the map and pick a general direction. Lamenting that I did not have a North Carolina map, someone suggested that I didn’t need a map, that’s what GPS is for.
It is obvious that the person who said that has never meandered. A GPS may work just fine in telling you how to get from point A to point B, but that assumes that you know where point B is. If you are meandering, there is no point B only a general direction so GPS is virtually useless.
I do use it to tell me what road I am on and the speed limit, but face it the map on the GPS does not give enough detail to be of much use other than navigating around a strange town. It is handy for those times when I am “making time,” usually in the dark, on the Interstate because it lets me know how many miles it is to my exit so I can read all the fun town names on the road signs, not wondering where I am, and just drive.
A map gives you a big picture of where you are heading. Whether a state map, which shows those blue highways and other off the beaten track roadways, or my multi-state maps that give me a general view of options to choose, a map is something you can hold in your hand and consult without opening up a computer. Although Google works very well, it is dependent upon a signal on the phone, which is not guaranteed off the beaten path. Unplugging and meandering just seem to go hand in hand.
I read somewhere that only people over 40 have maps in their cars. I guess that makes me an old bear huh!!?
Map or GPS, which do you prefer on your meanders?
Ever since I left Cocoa Beach on Thursday, I have been dodging storms. There is a massive storm system that spans northern Florida and reaches up beyond Charleston, South Carolina, and west, past Asheville, North Carolina (exactly the path I had hoped to take.)
I have been getting up to greet the sunrise at the beach only to find that the sun is obscured. Usually, it will make an attempt to peak through the clouds 20, 30 or even 60 minutes late, like this morning (pictured above.)
These storms are too big to go around, so I am just staying put, more or less, moving at a snail’s pace.Since the weather report calls for more rain tonight and tomorrow morning, I hope you will forgive me for sleeping in tomorrow.
Some people think that sunny Florida is just that — sunny, all the time. But that is not the case, the water cycle is in full gear here of late. The pattern seems to be that the temperature and humidity rise, day after day, for about a week until either the sky cannot hold any more or a cool front comes in and the rains fall and fall hard.
You have not experienced rain unless you have been in Florida (or some land of monsoons.) Sometimes there is lightening or thunder warning you to take cover. It is more common for the clouds to just open up and dump on you, sort of like someone unzipped them and all the water inside just poured out.
Sometimes, like today, the sky scuds up and stays that way all day, with clouds dumping their contents and moving out over the Atlantic on what the weather folks call an “occasional” or “intermittent” basis. Translation: It could be raining one minute and not the next, or on this side of the street but not that; it could rain twenty times in one hour!
Don’t get me wrong, I do not mind the rain, especially if I am sitting on the lanai, watching the clouds roll in across the water. I love the sound of the water falling and washing the earth clean. I love the reflections of the lights in the puddles. I love the hazy mist that obscures the view marking where the rain is heavy. Most of all I love the clean, fresh smell.
As in life, some days are sunny and some are stormy, but any day that starts at the beach is a good one.
There is a big storm system that has been cloudy the skies and whipping up the surf. Here is the scene at sunset last night, and sunrise this morning.
Sunset, Seminole Rest, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge/Canaveral National Seashore
Sunrise New Smyrna Beach, Florida
Eventually, a hint of sunlight
The Adventures of Blue Bear 