FLORIDA NATURE at its BEST - Honeymoon Island, and Sholom Park

AMAZING NATURE TRAILS

IN FLORIDA

We had the joy of being taken to Honeymoon Island State Park,
in Dunedin, Florida.

We walked the Osprey Trail in late afternoon,
on a perfect day.

This Osprey had an early dinner.

We later saw several others with similar catches.

The Osprey nests are high up in the sky,

safely out of human reach.

It appears that Spanish Moss is used

to cushion the abode.

SHOLOM PARK

Ocala, Florida

(Near the Top of the World development,

out SR 200 West, turn right onto 80th Ave., the park
is at 7110 80th Avenue, on your left).

This lovely private park, open to the public,

has walking trails, a Pond with Koi fish, 

and places where you can sit and enjoy the peace and quiet.

There is a Labyrinth with inspirational plaques.

When we first arrived, we walked to the Pond to see the Koi fish.

I looked up and spotted this Great Blue Heron,

high up in a pine tree,

across from the Koi fish viewing gazebo.

 

Koi Fish Pond has two of these fountains.

As we began walking the Labyrinth Trail, 

this lovely pastoral scene greeted us,
off to the right.

A plant with rosey red leaves brightened the path.

The grass sure does look greener on the

other side of the fence.

We went to take one more look at the Heron,

and were rewarded with this 

magnificent photo of a pair on

the same earlier nest at the Koi Fish Pond.

They had two chicks in it, and

I was able to video tape them being fed.

What a thrilling afternoon.

Great Blue Herons on their nest in

 Sholom Park, Ocala, Florida,

March 30, 2014.

KANAPAHA BOTANICAL GARDENS in Gainesville, Florida

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

We had a delightful day visiting the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens,

in Gainesville, Florida.  Admission - $7.00 was well spent.

When we called to confirm their hours

(see website at: www.kanapaha.org)

we were invited to bring our picnic lunch

and enjoy their Picnic Grove.

They had nice stone tables with tile inlays.

Papyrus

This was first time I could appreciate the stories of Moses
being placed in a basket in the reeds. 
They remind me of Cattails
especially with the hot dog type of pod on the
top of the stems from last year's plants.

The spring flowers were such a joy to see.
They have a Bulb garden with tags to let
you know what you are viewing.

I loved seeing the variety of their
Camillias along one of the walk ways.

Magnolias in February were such a treat,
since we will not see them blooming up home
until well into May.

I must include the Koi fish that were
so colorful.

We hope you will take the time to enjoy this wonderful place,
if you happen to be in the area.

AUGUST 2013 - UPDATE

WEEK OF AUGUST 5 - 9, 2013

I am so happy to finally be able to get into my BLOGSPOT account again.

This week was an exciting one for me and my two Grand Girls.

We volunteered at PEACE OF CHRIST parish,

as Craft and Snack support, and teen helpers, during their Summer Session.

Summer Session is part of their Religious Education

Program and ran from 9 AM to 3 PM,

Monday through Friday.

Two of the most popular crafts are shown below:

The EYE of GOD craft used lots of donated yarn scraps from

parishioners of Peace of Christ Parish.  Even the smallest balls of yarn came in

handy as loops for the Christmas ornaments we made on Tuesday,

and later on Thursday, for the center of the EYE of GOD. 

We used popsicle sticks for their project but my demo

sample was made on two twigs from my backyard.

We especially liked VARIGATED yarn because

the colors changed as the piece grew and

we did not have to continually tie on new colors.

So, keep your local Church in mind when you have leftover

yarn that seems insignificant in length.  It comes in handy

when they work with Youth, and include Crafts

as part of their program.

  

Another highlight of the week for me was the fact that we attended daily Mass

the three days it was held in St. Ambrose Church.

Father Tim Brown (the son of one of my high school classmates)

began by vesting so the children could learn what

his vestments were and their significance.

The children had learned the three songs used

during the Celebration and one of our

teen staff was the Cantor.

We are already looking forward to volunteering again next Summer.

It is so wonderful to have this golden opportunity to introduce my

Grand Girls to the joys of Volunteering, as I was at their ages,

and to know it will be a Gift that lives on in their lives,

as long as they chose to use it.

MAY 12, 2013 - GREENSBORO, NC

SUNDAY

MAY 12, 2013

 

What an amazing experience it is,

while traveling,

to seek out a parish to visit

for Sunday Liturgy.

We use:  www.masstimes.com

It helped us locate St. Mary's in Greensboro, NC,

just a few miles from our Greensboro Campground,

where we attended 11 AM Mass today.

 

 

 

 

 

St. Mary's was a very welcoming community.

Father Charlie, a Vincentian priest,

was our Celebrant.

 

 

At the conclusion of Mass,

Father Charlie shared the important bulletin announcements,

and then took the time to

ask all Visitors to stand and

introduce themselves, and tell the town they were from.

 

Next, he asked for all Birthday people to stand,

and the Choir Director led us in singing

Happy Birthday.

 

The next round was for those

with Wedding Anniversaries,

to which we sang Congratulations.

 

Father Charlie made a special point

of Congratulating a young man

who had just received his

PhD in Industrial Systems Engineering.

You could see the Communities joy

over his great accomplishment.

 

Last but not least, Father Charlie

asked all Mothers to stand,

and several Ushers came forward and

gave the Mothers a Yellow Rose,

after Father Charlie said a blessing for us.

 

 

They had no way of knowing how special that color

was to me.  When my daughter, Kathy was born,

I received a Yellow Rose from an Aunt

in our family who had given birth

to her Son on that same day,

several years before.

It just happened that we were spending

Mother's Day this year, with Kathy,

and that was how we were in the area.  

 

 

After Mass many of the parishioners gathered

on the lawn to take pictures,

and were thrilled to have me take a few

pictures to remember our visit with.

 

Three of the ladies posed in Church for me,

and we exchanged e-mail addresses,

so I could send the pictures to them.

They have given me permission to post

these wonderful photos.

 

We know we will see them again,

in future visits with Kathy.

 

 

 

When I inquired about the special fabric in their

dresses, the ladies told me it was from

Nigeria.  I could not help but think of

Father Jerry Aman, SJ who has

ministered in Nigeria for years.

 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

2013

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAY 5, 2013 - SNOWBIRDS are migrating North via Interstate 95

MAY 2 - 4, 2013

 

On May 2nd, we progressed 294 miles from Florida to South Carolina.

The weather was not very cooperative.  We had torrential rains most of the way.

I was so thankful when we reached our destination, that I didn't even

want to venture out to dinner.  We had a nice meal in our RV instead.

Planned leftovers are such a blessing on days like that.

Another blessing of the day was gas priced at $3.18 a gallon in South Carolina.

 

MAY 3rd

 

One of the joys of a dry travel day is being able to get out

and walk at the rest areas.  I was able to take these lovely

photos of the Scarlet Red Poppies beds planted along

 Interstate 95, from a rest area in North Carolina. 

Later we had blue flowers, some of which

I am sure were Bachelor Buttons.

Gas in North Carolina was $3.23 per gallon.

We traveled 263 miles today. 

 

 

One of many beds of Poppies along Interstate 95 in North Carolina.

 

Scarlet Red Poppies along Interstate 95 in North Carolina.

Bachelor Buttons along Interstate 95 in North Carolina.

 

 MAY 4th

 

 

A field of Buttercups and Cows near

 Smithfield, Virginia.

 

We traveled 186 miles on Saturday, May 4th

which makes for a total of 743 from Florida to

our first family visit.

 

MAY 5th

 

We had a lovely day with my sister and her husband,

enjoying Smithfield, Virginia.

In the afternoon we attended a performance

of OLIVER at the Smithfield Little Theatre,

with an outstanding Cast of so many

talented young people.

We drove into Norfolk for dinner

at Bonefish Restaurant.

 

 

Sculpture outside Smithfield Little Theatre

 

 

Rita and Linda

BARBERVILLE Pioneer Settlement SPRING FROLIC '13 - Barberville, FL

SATURDAY

APRIL 27, 2013

 

Thanks to our friends, Ken and Vivian,

for taking us to enjoy this wonderful day of Music

and Arts and Crafts in the Pioneer Settlement.

In addition to the six stages scattered

throughout the Settlement,

there were two JAM tents and two Workshop

locations.

 

 

 

Interesting Recycle Art

 

 

 

Hand crafted Drum

 

Russ and Rita by Model A's

which reminded Rita of the auto

her Dad had during her childhood.

 

Corvette

I am proud as a Peacock to

have gotten this beautiful image.

It was worth the time and effort to

catch him just right, as he strutted around the

large enclosure in the Settlement.

 

There was an opportunity for the guests to

participate in Square Dancing and Contra Dancing.

I think Russ' cowboy hat was what led one of the

Helper Dancers to spot him, and pull him into a square.

It was his first square dancing since 2007.

It sure gives us something to think about in the future.

 

 

 

We will be on the Road Again, later this week.

See you all soon.

In the meantime, please keep us in your prayers,

for safe travels.

 

 

 

 

APRIL 3, 2013 JOURNEY TO AUTHORING MY OWN BOOK

WEDNESDAY

APRIL 3, 2012

 

The joy of our 30th Wedding Anniversary USA Tour,

this past summer,

lives on in the two volumes of the photos

I took in the 142 days we were away from home.

 

I am thankful for having purchased my camera,

a CANON Power Shot SX40HS,

six months before we departed.

That gave me plenty of time to

get comfortable with the camera, and to know

the importance of having spare

 SX cards and batteries

fully charged, with me at all times.

 

I mention the importance of having spare SX cards,

and batteries with you,

because there were days when

we forgot to check that I had put the SX card back

into the camera, and I was too far away from our RV

to save the day.  One day, we backtracked so Russ

could pick up his Camcorder which we had taken

into the RV to download overnight. 

 

At the end of each travel day, I used my camera review feature

 to delete poor images, before I downloaded my pictures

 to my laptop.  I did keep the good pictures

 on my SX card, as a precaution.

  Once I had the images in my laptop, I deleted even more

images because of quality issues.

I stored the photos by date taken, and named that date i.e.:

2012 7-3 Mount Rushmore.

 

As our tour came to an end, be began to create

CD's for each month of travel, to share with our

friends and family.  

We soon realized it is not easy for others to sit

through our "viewings" given their busy schedules.

So, we made a set for each of our children,

and hope they will take time to view them when

they have a quiet day.

 

I began to long for something that did not require

my laptop or CD's, to show folks pictures of our trip.

Snapfish has printed my photos in the past,

and I saw several books they had created for a friend,

so we decided to use their service to

publish my books.

I learned they had a 90 page limit

for their 11"x 14" Flat-cover book,

and soon realized I would need to create two books.

It worked nicely that the first 71 days were before

our Fantasy RV Tour, and the final 71 days

included their Tour and our return trip home.

 

At the beginning of January, 2013,

I prepared a list of the things I wanted to include in my book.

I started a folder on my Computer that I pulled

images to, from the dated folders.

 

This week I held in my hands the fruit of my labor to document

our 30th Wedding Anniversary - USA Tour, this past summer.

 

Rita holding: 

 

 2012 - #2 OUR 30TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY USA TOUR

 

which covers our Fantasy RV Tour of the Western

National Parks, August 28th through September 29th,

 as well as our journey home from Grand Canyon Village

 to Palmyra, New York.

It is a 90 page Flat-cover, hard-back book,

 jam packed with magnificent photos of the many

National Parks we visited.

 

Our five week journey home across

the Southern half of the USA,

included such  fascinating places as:

Albuquerque, Taos, Santa Fe, and

Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico,

and San Antonio, Texas.

We dropped the RV at our winter home

in Summerfield, Florida,

and visited

family at three stops

on the final leg of our journey North.

 

 

 

 

Russ holding:

 

2012 - #1 OUR 30TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY USA TOUR

 

which covers from June 18th through August 27th,

(the Northern and West Coast)

 portion of our tour.

It includes all of the Lighthouses,

and most of the Churches and two Missions

I have covered in two additional,

topic specific volumes.

 

If you are interested in viewing any of these books,

drop me a note with your e-mail address,

and I will send you the link to Snapfish.

 

My special e-mail address for this request is:

grandmarita15@gmail.com