Georgia Thumper

I found this Georgia Thumper on my front porch rail. I spent a while just looking at him before I headed for my camera, I am glad he stuck around for his picture to be taken.



He was getting tired of my company by this point and had decided to move along.

Sarah

Sarah is expensive, ... private school, webkins etc. She demands so much of my time, ..."can we please play mancala?" , ...."you said I could help you" , ...."mom, can you please watch me do this". Still, Sarah brings so much pleasure to my life. It does not matter that I have had a difficult day at work once I see her smile. She doesn't walk towards me in the afternoons, she runs. "Mommy, I missed you." There will come a time in the not too distant future when I will not be very important to her but for now I am her best friend and I will cherish every moment that we have to share this bond.

She dressed herself for this "princess" photo, she may need a fashion lesson in a few years.

She enjoyed our last camping trip, regardless of the rain.

Introducing A New Friend To Wacissa

You meet a few people in your lifetime that are unique and you are certain you were destined to be friends. I met Diane just a few weeks ago and she is certainly one of those people. Diane has an adventurous spirit and I hope to be just like her when I grow up.


When we first started our kayak trip I told her there were two ways to go past Duck Island. The right side has 5 very reliable gators. I'm certain there are many more but there are 5 that I can always count on seeing in less than the length of a football field. I have not seen one on the left side in a few years. She said, "I'm not scared of anything, let's go right".

Most people are afraid of the grass, not Diane, she was all in it. It was not long before a gator rolled just a few feet from the front of her kayak. Believe me, when you are sitting that low in the water, eye level with the gators and one rolls and splashes water on you it is SCARY! Especially if you didn't know it was there to begin with.

That's him, just staring at us, after he resurfaced.



We made it to Big Blue, had a few beer and sandwiches before heading back, I can't wait till next Monday, we are paddling the entire length of the river, it will take all day and there is no telling what kind of adventure we will have.

This past Saturday was 70 degrees which was such a relief. We had record cold this week, 14 degrees that broke a 20 year old record. We got out on the Wacissa to soak up the sun along with some of God's greatest creatures.

The sky was unbelievably blue. This tree is crowded with White Ibis.

A juvenile White Ibis is resting on the left and an adult on the right. They do not become solid white until adulthood.

I found this gator enjoying the sunshine just below Big Blue. After a low of 14 degrees earlier in the week, he was glad to get warm again. Notice his reflection in the water.

He was quickly getting tired of my attention.

His first attempt at getting back into the water was not a success. There was a tree behind him. He soon figured it out.

This picture gives a good view of the soft white skin under his belly.

Final disappearing act, it's easy to see how you can miss them if you are not looking closely. I look closely and I bet I see one out of 10 that see me. Wonderful creatures.

Cloudless February sky with Spanish moss swinging in the breeze. Makes me happy to be in the South!

Deep In The Woods

I took these photos deep in the woods alongside the Wacissa River, south of Goose Pasture. Most of these were taken just prior to where the Wacissa and the Aucilla become one and travel their final miles to the Gulf of Mexico.
Very small mushrooms.

It is breathtakingly beautiful along the banks. It is so remote,
I bet less than 10 people a year see this area.

This is the Wacissa side of where the two rivers meet. As you stand here you can feel the energy of the people who lived, swam and survived here 100's of years ago.

Check out the water stains on these trees. This is probably a result of the flooding from Faye.

Just one of the many amazing Oak Trees deep in the forest.

Grandpa

Grandpa
I now understand what people mean when they say a part of them has died. There are people in your life that love in you many different ways. Grandparents are in a category all to themselves. I have the usual appointed four loved ones, Granny Key, Grandpa Key(deceased in 97), and Granny Pitts and Grandpa Pitts. I grew up on 13 acres in Jefferson County with both sets of grandparents living on each side of me. I spent every afternoon, weekend and summer with Granny and Grandpa Pitts. Grandpa Key died in 1997 and of course I mourned his loss but the loss of Grandpa Pitts was different. Grandpa has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Everyone loves you in their own way and the biggest part of my sorrow is this, I can never count on anyone to love me this much again. One week before he died, he had lost all of his expressions which caused him to look the same each day, no smiles were present. I told him I loved him and he found the strength to say, I love you too baby. No greater gift have I ever been given. I lost him on Christmas day after a horrendous battle with cancer but I was there with my parents, my grandmother and my brother and I held his hand while he took his last breath. He was a wonderful man, I can honestly tell you I never saw him utter an unkind word or show any temper. He was a wonderful christian by example, a hard worker that made it through hard times and served his country in the Navy, he was married 63 years to my grandmother. I pray that God gives me the strength to live in a world where I do not have his presence and love to shield me from the coldness of this world.