TIME FLIES - WHEN YOU ARE HAVING FUN

It is hard to believe that four years have whizzed by since I last posted.  

They have been a Gift from God, in my mind.  

In August of 2014, I was diagnosed with angiosarcoma which 

is a rare blood vessel cancer, that occurred after

radiation on my left breast following

a lumpectomy in 2007.

We were sent to Brigham & Women's Hospital/Dana Farber

in Boston, in November, 2014 for a second opinion.

Their recommendation was the removal of all radiated skin.

The expectation was that if I consented, 

I would have a normal life expectancy.

Praise the Lord, it has given me four precious years.

We have been living them to the fullest, 

and thank God for every quality day of our lives.

One of the exciting things I have been doing in the last fifteen months,

is writing my memoirs,

GRANDMA RITA REMEMBERS 

My daughter, Kathy, gave this opportunity to me as a 

Mother's Day gift in 2017.

Each week, Storyworth.com

sent me a question as a story prompt.

I was free to answer their question, or create a story of my

own choosing.  I did some of both.  Their questions got me started

and then when I was impatient for their next question, I would

create my own story.  For example, I decided to include:

OUR FAVORITE FAMILY RECIPES which consumes

thirty pages including some collage photos of the real special items.

I have included an image of Bing Crosby's letter

thanking Mom for sending him, his Mother's recipe that Mom

cut out of a magazine in the 1940's for

Corned Beef Patties.

The published book arrived this week.

Even though I wrote it, and know every word in it,

I cannot put it down.  I am so thrilled to see it in print.

I did not keep track of the hours I spent at my computer, 

writing, editing and rewriting

 to fit the page limit of 480 pages,

but I do know that it took over my free time, 

cut out my Quilting hobby, and kept me up

til all hours of the night when I was on a writing roll.

It has been just as exciting as making a quilt.

Less costly from the standpoint of a year's subscription for this online

experience is only $79.00, 

versus the price of quilting fabric

beginning in the range of $10 to 12 a yard these days.  

The last time I purchased fabrics for a quilt, 

I spent close to $100, for the fabric,

and another $125 to have it machine quilted.

Mixed in with the joy of writing the above book,

has been the fun of joining an on-line photo club.

It is another subscription deal that costs $79.00 per year.

www.pixoto.com/ritagoebert 

is my site.

I have entered over 600 of my photographs in competitions and challenges,

ranging from Nature; People; Places; Things.

Many of my photos were taken during the 30th Wedding Anniversary 

which was chronicled here.

Since I take pictures almost daily, I have something new to 

enter whenever the topic presents itself.

I have also been known to go out and take pictures

to fit the Challenge.

To date, I have received 800 awards, with Nature

being one of my most successful catagories.

It feels good to be back on BlogSpot.  Please give me some feedback, 

so I will know if it is worth the time to post here.

As you may have guessed, I am experiencing 

"Withdrawal Symptoms" after

the writing of my book,

and this is the closest to it that I have.

Rita

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August, 2014 WAYNE COUNTY, NY., FAIR WEEK

MONDAY through SATURDAY

August 11 - 16, 2014

West Jackson Street, Palmyra, NY

Our home town is blessed to host our annual Wayne County Fair each August.

This year I decided to enter some of my Photography in the Domestic Division,

 as well as an Acrylic Painting in the Adult Art work catagory,

and a 20 page Nature book I created and published via Snapfish.

The thrilling part is that of 8 items I entered, 3 were awarded ribbons.

 

The above greeting cards I created with quotes from

Scripture, won a First Place  - Blue ribbon.

This Acrylic Painting was created during a session 

at Painting with a Twist on Empire Blvd., in Rochester, NY,

with my family, as a Mother's Day Gift, in May 2013.

My version was slightly different from everyone

elses, in that I chose to make Hearts on my

Tree.  I decided that I would paint one Heart

for each of our 14 Grand children

 and 2 Great Grand Daughters.  

Only I know who is represented

by which Heart.  

Since we are the God parents of two of them, 

I put a Cross in their two Hearts.

Another was in the Army at the time,

so I created a camouflaged Heart for him.

The 16th was one of our Great Grands,

who we knew would be a little girl, 

so hers in Pink.

The Nature book has photos taken during our

2012 Travels.  I identified

the Animals, Birds, and Flowers,

as well as telling where it was seen.

It received a 

Third Place - Yellow ribbon.

I encourage you to go to the Fair to see the remaining

exhibits.  The food concessions are also worth

a visit.  Russ and I enjoyed the Grange sponsored

Chicken Bar-B-Q on Senior Citizen's Day.

There are many other wonderful choices to tempt you.

For more information about our Fair, 

go to:  www.waynecountyfair.org

 

RAINBOW SPRINGS STATE PARK, Dunnellon, Florida

RAINBOW SPRINGS STATE PARK

19158 SW 81st Place Road

Dunnellon, Florida 34432

353-465-8555

www.floridastateparks.org

Hours: 8 am until sunset, 365 days a year

We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon at Rainbow Springs State Park.  

The $2 per person charge was well worth it, 

as you will see from the beauty of what we found there.

The water temperature of the Rainbow River remains

at a cool 72 degrees year round. 

The Rainbow River is a first magnitude spring-fed river

 ranked largest in the state by volume of flow. 

The springs discharge 300-400 million gallons of water per day 

into the 5.7 mile Rainbow River.

It has been a tourist attraction since the early 1890's.

In the mid-1970's, when larger theme parks lured the tourists away,

 Rainbow Springs was closed. 

In the mid-1990's, it reopened as a State Park.

(The above information taken from brochures.)

A view from the visitor's center patio.

Crystal clear water reflects green on backs

of turtles, and blue sky.

Azaleas maybe.  I have never seen this tangerine color.

It was stunning against the greens.

I was using the VIVID color feature on my Canon SX40 camera.

This little Carolina Wren intrigued me for

quite a while, singing his heart out,

to another Wren, off in the distance.

He reminded me of the little ones who had

build their nest outside our kitchen window last Spring.

Kayak and canoe rentals are available at 352-465-3211.

Maybe we will give this a try, in the future.

It looked so peaceful, and the waters are shallow.

The first waterfalls of many we enjoyed along the paths.

 Pools created near the waterfalls

 were filled with small fingerlings, 

that seemed to like to hide under the moss and leaves 

that creeped from the edge of the pools.

 The natural arch of this tree limb over the crystal stream

was too pretty to ignore.

 Rainbow Falls

 Brown Anole is from the Iguanid family,

and blends in well with the leaves and rocks.

Lance-Leaved Arrowhead

I love the color contrast

 the leaves provide in this photo.

I wish I could capture the wonderful

sounds for you, 

 that we heard as the water cascaded down.

This is a Great Blue Skimmer dragonfly,

 that teased me, as it flitted around

at the edge of the pond. 

 Eventually, another hiker told me a technique he uses to get a close-up

 of nature subjects that are moving.

When you enter Florida, be sure to stop at the Visitor's Center,

and look for the State Parks Guide,

which lists hundreds of places similar to this one.

My AAA gave one of the Guides to me,

which the State had provided to them.

SHOLOM PARK, Ocala, Florida

REVISIT to SHOLOM PARK

As I had said in my earlier post, Sholom Park deserves more than one visit.

Our first visit on March 30th had produced the beautiful pastoral scene,

as well as the pair of Great Blue Herons on their nest.

Well, our second visit rewarded us with the exciting

opportunity to see the family the couple had produced.

This is what we found on April 9th.

These two have a sibling for a total of three chicks.

Yesterday, April 24th, there was still one chick in the nest.

It didn't look as though there was room for the other two,

and they had apparently flown the coop.

I would have thought from all the wing exercising this

one was doing, that he was ready to fledge

while we watched.  However, he was still

content to have Dad deliver a meal to him,

and then he preened in the afternoon sun.

He is getting to look a lot like the parents.

Did I mention that this nest is across from the viewing deck at the

Koi fish pond with the two fountains.

On April 24th, these beautiful iris were 

in bloom at the edge of the pond.

Almost exactly above the viewing platform is another nest

with a Mom and four chicks, that we sighted on April 9th.

By the time we returned on April 24th, there was only one remaining

in that nest that we could see.

Sholom Park is in Ocala, Florida at 7110 80th Avenue,

easily reached off SR 200 West. 
Summer hours are:
8AM to 7PM daylight time.
See my earlier posting

for further details.

Take a picnic if you wish, or a chair and a good book.

It is so peaceful there.  There are many benches

along the path around the pond, as well as in the

Labyrinth walk.

ROSS PRAIRIE STATE FOREST, Dunnellon, FL

ROSS PRAIRIE STATE FOREST

10660 SW Hwy 200, Dunnellon, Florida

We explored Ross Prairie State Forest, yesterday, with a new friend. He guided us along a 2.3 mile trail that wove through the forest, where the fragrant aroma of pines and spring flowers wafed through the cool air.  The trail led out to an open prairie, where there is a sand path around the perimeter, with trail markers pointing us back into the forest. We could really feel the heat of the day out on the prairie path.

 

It was so refreshing to reenter the cool forest, 

before heading back out to the sun drenched prairie

 where he showed us a water hole.  

It was permanent enough to have White Water Lilies,

 and two resident alligators.

 

 

Can you spot the alligator peeking at you, 

from between the water lily pads?  

He looks like a stick stretched out to the right.

Partridge berry blossoms in the forest reminded me 

of our woods in New York State,

as did the cascades of high bush Blueberries blossoms.

I was surprised to find lots of colorful fungus and mushrooms in Spring.  Back home I think of mushrooms as being abundant in the Fall months.

a peachy trio

brown tones

Red Blanket Lichen was on live trees

 as well as on many fallen logs.

In one of the forest openings, 

we heard the Eastern Twohee rustling in the leaves, 

under some shrubs.  

Soon he moved to the top of the shrubs

 where I was able to take his picture.  

He seemed to be saying,

"REET" "REET" "REET".

When I imitated his call, he got really excited and stayed near us much longer than I would have expected.

 While enjoying the Twohee,

I glanced down and spotted this blue Lupine,

with a 

Florida Leaf-Footed Bug on it.

Before leaving the RPSF, we were awed by the 

Prickly-Pear cactus plants

 that graced some of the prairie grass along the entrance road.  (Look to your left because they bloom from April through August).

If you venture to walk among them, as I did, 

be sure your feet are well covered and legs protected.  

They have barbed bristles that are difficult to remove from the skin, per my Audubon book.  

These plants can be from one foot to three foot tall

 with spiny pads the size of the palm of my hand.   

They were just beginning to bloom, and smaller than I expect they will be in the months to come. 

We topped off our day with lunch at Stumpknockers,

just three miles further West on HWY 200, 

heading into Inverness. 

 The view of the cyprus, at the edge of

the Withlacoochee River, just off the deck

at Stumpknockers. 

VENETIAN GARDENS PARK, Leesburg, Florida

VENETIAN GARDENS PARK

Leesburg, Florida

Follow the signs on US Hwy 441 South, to Dixie Avenue

 and to the Leesburg Hospital.

This magnificent park is just beyond the Hospital on your left.

If you approach Dixie Avenue from US Hwy 27 South, it will be

on your right before you get to the hospital.

There are ample parking spaces or you can drive along the shoreline

of Harris Lake to view some of the water activities.

There are  picnic pavilions and plenty of park benches

 for sitting and enjoying the beauty.

There is also a nice children's play area and rest rooms,

close to the entrance.

 

We chose to park and walk the trail,

and pass over the many bridges from one

area to another.

Near the parking area, some

folks were fishing.

There was some sun bathing going on too.

There were flowers to be enjoyed

as well as the birds of all shapes and sizes,

and colors.

Lantana

Lance Leafed Arrowhead

 Great Blue Heron

 Great Egret

Red Winged Blackbird

  Common Moorhen

 

 Purple Gallinule

Anhinga

sunning himself.

Take a picnic with you, and have

a memorable day.  

We plan to visit here again, soon.

There is no charge for a visit 

to this Paradise in Leesburg, Florida.