way down upon the suwannee river...

a dragonfly resting on shovel handle out back.

Buckeye Butterfly

 ☼

every time i hear the name of that river...the Suwannee,

i can hear  ♪ ♪ 'Way down upon the Suwannee River...' ♪ ♪   playing in my head.

(well...it's better than hearing dueling banjos from 'Deliverance'....huh?!)

on saturday, we went for a drive...only about a 45 minute drive...

to where the old Lake City RR bridge crosses the Suwannee River.

 

we were hoping the water would be low enough to get down and wander

the river basin...in search of old bones, artifacts...cool stones...rocks.

BUT WAIT!   let me back track a little.

on the way up there, along Hwy 441...just before you get to small town Alachua...

we passed a local produce stand that's been there forever!

THAT DAY i had my camera with me...and sam did a U-ey

so i could snap pictures of these misspelled signs!

 ACEPTING is missing a 'C'.  

(EBT stands for Electronic Benefits Transfer. it's Florida's government

food stamp assistance)

fresh cut collards, mustards...

and don't forget to TURNUP the volume!?

(turnips)

☼

OK...back on the road...we made it to the Suwannee...

off US Hwy 41, just south of White Springs.

as we hoped, the water was pretty low! 

usually all the rock you see here...is under water!

we walked along the exposed rock...limestone...

peering into the holes...or cavities, 

which have worn away over time from the rushing river.

as the water churns up the bottom...small stones...artifacts...debris...

can get trapped in these crevices in the rock.

 

the Suwannee River rises in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia...

and runs south for over 240 miles...until it empties into the 

Gulf of Mexico in the small town of Suwannee, Florida.

(Slider Turtle soaking up the sun)

the Suwannee River's DARK..tea colored water...is because it flows through

forested swamps, picking up decaying vegetation.

(a Little Blue Heron...also enjoying the sun & running water)

(weathered wood at the edge of the water)

(looking under a large limestone rock)

 

(a damsel fly)

so with heavy pockets...we headed back to the truck.

we didn't find any old bones...or artifacts. but we did pick up

a few OLD shells!  SO old in fact...they're like rock!
we found petrified wood...fossilized shells and coral...from long ago...

when most of florida was covered by the earth's oceans!

☼

on our way back to the main road we passed bunches of Coreopsis wildflowers. 

the Coreopsis is Florida's state wildflower!

you can see these bright yellow blooms all along the roadsides and in fields.

☼

heading south down Hwy 41...toward home...

we passed some florida long horn cattle! well, probably originally from texas...

sam did another U-ey so i could get a couple of pictures!

...and a here's a Gopher Tortoise digging his burrow...on the side of the road...

Gopher Tortoises belong to a group of land tortoises that originated

in North America 60 million years ago!

in florida they're considered endangered and threatened.

☼

back home...we put our collections together and rinsed everything off.

look closely at this piece of coral (you can enlarge).

it amazes me when i hold something like this...to feel it in my hands...

thinking about how old it is...and what the earth was like when this 

coral was alive...in the ocean.

and all the little long skinny pieces...

like stone...but what are they? petrified wood? coral? 

whatever! i could do this every day! 

hike...explore...search for treasures...

but we need to pay the bills.  :)

thanks for stopping by...and wandering...

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”  

~Winne the Pooh, AA Milne

stay cool. 

have a safe journey & enjoy the ride.

:] laura

OH YEAH...REMINDER...i made a MISSPELLED SIGN page...up there

at the top...under the header. IF YOU HAVE A sign pic...email it to me with 

where it was taken...and i'll add it to the page with credit to YOU!

☼

((i'm going to try and get on here and post again...SOON!

i have so many pictures i've taken around the yard lately...

snake, woodpecker, hawk, more assassin bugs, frog, butterflies, spider...

my camera is out of breath!))

p e a c e

lk 

lizard junkie...and other addictions

i had been planning on doing a post on lizards...

since they're the little critters i'm seeing the most of lately.

yeah, you could call me a lizard junkie.

but i'm more than that!

i'm addicted to feathers, rocks, bones, old glass bottles,

the woods...artifacts...sunrises, sunsets...anything turtle...or wolf...

so, i guess i'm a...nature junkie.

i carry around my camera (canon powershot SX120)...

constantly trying to creep up on critters...which is a little hard to do right now,

with all the crunchy leaves under foot.

but if i see something that catches my eye...inspires me...

bugs, fungus, the moon, morning dew, bark, weathered wood, flowers, feathers,

intricate leaf designs...critters, big and small...

i not only take a snapshot in my mind...but with the camera.

anyway, getting back to what i was saying in the beginning...

i had been thinking of just doing a LIZARD post...

BUT...as the days slip by...

there's more going on...than just lizards!

the weather's been so nice. 

during the week i spent time raking the leaves out of the flower gardens.

...kind of a futile chore.

as soon as i rake...more leaves flutter down from the trees.

i did some weeding...and cutting back  of  some  plants

that survived the winter.

OH! and the azaleas are starting to bloom!

i picked up a few pansies and begonias that were on sale...

wanting to add a little color to the gardens!

oOo

while digging a hole, my trowel hit something...

it sounded like glass. i carefully started moving the dirt out of the way...

like an archaeologist...not wanting to damage whatever it was down there.

it was an old soda bottle. 'Like' diet soda from the early 1960's!

i took a before and after picture.

(before: just after i dug it up!  after: carefully rinsed it off!)

hmmmm. never heard of Like soda. looked it up.

Wiki says: "Diet 7 Up: Originally introduced in 1963 as Like 

(not to be confused with 7 Up’s Like Cola from the 1980s), 

it was discontinued in 1969 due to the U.S. government ban of cyclamate sweetener."

it was pretty cool...finding that bottle while digging in the garden!

i wonder what else is down there!  

 you might remember...i've mentioned before...that we've found MANY OLD

bottles around here...on our property...and across the street in the field.

here's just SOME of what we've found...

we've also dug up these old clay turpentine pots in the woods out back...

left over from when they used to collect sap from the pine trees.

these pots have one hole near the top where they would nail them

to the pine trees and make diagonal cuts in  the tree so the sap would drain into them!

i did an entire post about these pots. click here to go there)

oOo

saturday...sam and i decided to head to a local park with a 

not-too-long trail that runs along Hogtown Creek.

it's a nice wooded area with wildflower gardens

and trails that take you through 22 acres of upland forest.

not bad for an 'in the city' park.

the wildflowers aren't blooming yet...but the Camelias are!

here's a Damselfly we spotted.

we veered off the path...down to the creek...and saw this at the water's edge.

an old pop top. i wonder if it's still worth  25¢!

and here's an awesome Blue-tailed Skink we saw.

"Let nature take you on its journey."

~Jamake Highwater 

oOo

back home...i'm getting inspired...creative.

i mentioned how i was going to start working on those deer jawbones...

so i picked out a few...and started to think about drawing on them

rather than the pressed flower decorating i've done in the past.

i started to fool around...doodle...ancient cave designs...symbols...hieroglyphics...

...still...trying to decide...what feels right...i like the snake...

i still have to spray coat them...which takes a couple of days...

letting them dry 24 hours between coats.

then i'll make simple leather lace hangers for them with wooden beads.

will show the finished pieces next time...

oh! and i made a "ForestWalkArt" deer skull...

(with art pens, pressed flowers, butterfly wings...

when i'm finished with it, i might use this as my new 'profile pic')

ok...so i'm home...doing some art stuff...

and taking a break now and then to wander...

lichen on a downed...dead...tree.

(lizard fix!)

wow! (underside of an) awesome mushroom growing on another downed, dead tree.

well...enough for now...eh?

it's sunday.

rain showers have come and gone.

sam's outside getting the grill ready to smoke a ham.

i'll probably go outside and wander out back...

maybe get lucky enough to get a couple of butterfly pic's.

maybe dig around looking for more old bottles...buried treasure...

i also need to finish up the jawbones...get them on etsy...

vacuum...mop the kitchen...

i also need to get some work stuff ready...wash sheets...print forms...

confirm appointments.

this week's a little busy...and i'll find out tomorrow if i have a couple of new clients! :D

so, without taking up too much more of your time...

(i know, there's a lot to see out here...in cyberspace! 

we can wander around the world...go places we may never get to in person.)

so, i know...it's about time to move on...

(sneaked in one more...)

stay cool.

have a nice journey.

laura  :]

"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."    

~Friedrich Nietzsche