~ ~ ~ time out ~ ~ ~

Flatwoods Plum blooming in side yard

ok

so i can finally talk.

my throat's been sore 

& 

my voice gravely

from coughing too much.

it takes a lot for me to actually go to the doctor.

but after trying all my usual natural healing remedies...

and nothing seemed to be getting rid of this congestion...

my throat was getting sorer

&

my ribs felt mega-bruised!

one of nature's curly-q's

i gave in.

diagnosed - bronchitis.

sent home with antibiotics, an inhaler, cough suppressants

and the suggestion to use a vaporizer at night & get some rest.

two weeks later.

still coughing.  but better. 

throat no longer scratchy & ribs don't pain me when breathing!

minimal wheezing.

slowly easing back into work, living on cough drops during the day.

anyway.

i'm taking time off...from here...my blog.

“Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I'm not living.” 

~ Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

i feel a weight on my shoulders.

a trapped kind of feeling.  

like a slave to the internet at times.

i need

to

get up. get out. feel the sun.

watch the flowers grow. smell them.

spy on the bugs & birds...all the little critters!

listen. take pictures. create more. 

so many trails to wander...trees & moons to sit under...

books to read.

the full moon behind Oak tree branch on 23 january 2013

of course i won't be gone forever.

just a hiatus.

time for my soul...my body...

to

BE

to

DO.

“I give thanks for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, 

and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, 

which is infinite, 

which is yes.” 

~E.E. Cummings

i'll still be wandering out here now & then,

and will visit all the places i love.

take care.

be safe.

laura

(links to my FB places on sidebar)

emo - doing his little halloween dance!

spring.

the

spring

equinox.

(blue-eyed grass)

(camelia)

new beginnings.

(baby birds...uh...wrens maybe)

(hibiscus bud)

(cocoon on oak tree out front)

life & love.

(red bud tree)

(red bud...close up...w/ bee)

(wild blackberry flower)

(female cardinal)

(rain lilies)

(rain lily up close)

hopes & dreams.

(spiderwort)

(tussock moth caterpillar)

(mock orange flower)

[Spring is] when life's alive in everything. 

~Christina Rossetti

be safe.  be cool.

laura

(the march equinox brings spring to those of us in the northern hemisphere.)

welcome spring.

but i'll sure miss winter. 

bathroom grief & nature stuff.

milo. snoozing on the back porch.

"The problem with cats 

is that they get the same exact look 

whether they see a moth or an axe murderer." 

~Paula Poundstone

oOo

and here is the tale of

the little earring that ripped our bathtub out!

well, not really. but...sort of.

a few years ago, sam & i bought a pair of tiny gold celtic trinity knot stud earrings.

we each wore ONE.

always.

about 10 days ago, on the way to one of my appointments,

i realized that my earring was gone!

*shit*

after calling my previous clients from that day...

and searching in my car...all over the house...in bed...

we decided it was time to look in the elbow or trap...of the shower drain pipe.

we live in a mobile home, so sam would have to climb underneath.

he was sort of hoping i would find it some place else.

no such luck.

while under there, he noticed the tub had been leaking.

the wood flooring under the tub was wet. 

another *shit*.

but better to have realized it NOW, than to have fallen through the floor

while taking a shower.

so off come the walls...

out comes the tub.

yuck!

(the rectangular hole, back & center is where the tub was leaking

around the drain...the insulation soaked.

fortunately, the wood floor is just wet, not soft. it could've been much worse.)

OH, and my earring wasn't in the trap.

*shit* X3.

with a dehumidifier running 24/7...

a little bleach and scrubbing...

it won't be long before we can put it all back together.

(ps - i ordered another pair of the tiny celtic knots, from the same place...

Island Ireland Marketplace

so now we'll have an extra earring if this unfortunate loss should arise again!)

oOo

ok, time to move on...

how about if we get out of this musty bathroom and head outside.

i heard the Red-bellied woodpecker...and then spotted him!

one of the coolest looking ferns is starting to sprout up out back...

at the edge of the woods.

cinnamon fern

one week later...it's starting to uncurl...

it's been raining a lot the past couple of days.

i've been hoping for mushrooms.

BUT with the temps jumping from highs to lows...

from one day to the next...

the mushroom spores are lying in wait i guess.

i  didn't give up though...and finally spotted a little cluster.

i haven't seen any of the BIG swallowtail butterflies yet.

 but there are quite a few Orange-barred Sulphurs and Carolina Satyrs  braving the weird weather.

Orange-barred Sulphur/Phoebis philea

Carolina Satyr/ Hermeuptychia sosybius

and Robins.

the yard is filled with American Robins.

and there's a lot of these little guys too.

the only reason i was lucky enough to get this shot is because he was thirsty...

and stood still for longer than a couple of seconds!

what is he? a wren?  i'm not sure.

*thanks to Run*A*Round Ranch Report  &  A Quiet Corner

for IDing this bird as most probably a Warbler! Run*A*Round thinks possibly

it's a Pine Warbler...and the latest ID confirms this, from Viewing Nature with Eileen, who thinks

this little bird is probably a female Pine Warbler or a First Year, due to her coloring.*

oOo

well, it's time to get started on our TAX stuff.

i've been procrastinating long enough.

i have a whole year of business receipts...

just tossed in a file folder.

i'm bad.

"It's income tax time again, Americans:  

time to gather up those receipts, get out those tax forms, sharpen up that pencil, 

and stab yourself in the aorta."  

~Dave Barry

i'll leave now, with a cool night shot of our front porch Orb Weaver!

stay cool & be safe.

laura

Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. 

Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. 

Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

~Martin Luther King Jr.

the brave 'shroom. the Orb. another misspelled sign.

a

single

mushroom

standing tall

and brave

against the almost freezing rainy nights

and

enjoying

the sunny & cool days.

~~

weird weather.

some of the plants are being fooled into thinking spring is here.

then the next day the temperature drops.

Flatwoods Plum

this small Flatwoods Plum tree i bought a few years ago 

at a local Florida native plant sale.

it's grown from about 2 feet tall to 6 feet.

this is the first year it's delicate blooms have come out!

mini Daffodils

the tiny daffodils blooming by the front porch.

oOo

REMEMBER the Orb Weaver from recent previous posts?

the one living in a wind chime on the front porch.

on colder nights, she stays hidden.

but when she senses the temp will be tolerable...

she appears just after dusk and begins weaving her web.

every time i see her out there

i can't resist taking pictures!

she's really grown.

one night i saw that an unfortunate bug had ended up in her lair.

(well, unfortunate for the bug, anyway.)

she wrapped it up.

when she was satisfied that it wasn't going anywhere...

she moved to another spot and left that little bug, June Bug i think, just dangling there.

i was really surprised the next morning to see that she had left this bug 

still hanging on a strand of web...

while she slept all day in her bell.

for her next night's snack?

usually her web hangs from 'her' chime, straight down to the porch railing.

one night, she wove it so that it was almost against the front of the house.

(even if you don't like spiders, you have to admit...

it's pretty cool to watch them at work.

isn't it?)

♥ "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love."  ♥

~Albert Einstein

having the NEED to get out of town...

sam & i are both taking off work tomorrow (friday) and going camping this weekend.
with milo of course!
she's looking forward to it just as much as we are.
(no phones. no internet. not for milo either.)

most of the local parks are booked but i found one with some vacant spots.

we haven't been there for a few years...and they have a few good trails...

so hopefully i'll get some decent pictures.

maybe even a picture of an ANIMAL or two,

and not just their TRACKS or POOP (oh, sorry...be professional laura...SCAT!)

oOo

i leave you with ANOTHER misspelled sign i spotted at a church 

on the way to a client's home.

i didn't have my camera...but did drive back there the next day

HOPING it was still misspelled.

it was.

this is the third church i've taken pictures of their misspelled signs at.

"I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way." 

~Mark Twain 

when you're done shaking your head,

if you don't have to rush off,

check out my page up at the top or just  CLICK HERE   for MORE misspelled signs.

stay cool & be safe.

laura

♥ "We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, 

and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, 

we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."  ♥

~Robert Fulghum

PART 2: the finale - christmas camping - suwannee to caverns

~i apologize if i haven't made it over to your place yet.

if you read my previous post, you already know that things have been pretty hectic...

with my youngest son travis moving in with us, looking for work, 

and not having his own transportation. 

so with work, home, and everything in between, i haven't had too much ME time.

BUT the REALLY good news is that travis may have found a job! yay!

i dropped him off earlier this morning at a (hopefully) possible employer!

we'll know more when his work day is done.~

☼

onward we go...the second & final post from our xmas to new years trip.
so lace up those hiking boots and follow us from 

Suwannee River State Park  to  Florida State Caverns Park...our last stop!

one of our Suwannee hikes was along the river trail that lead the way to Balanced Rock.

the days were cloudy and cold.

the nights cloudy and coldER.

reflection of the the sun hiding behind clouds. 

OOoooooh!!  i love these reflections in the river.  hypnotizing.
reminds me of a Van Gogh.  the one below looks like a cactus silhouette.

the shoreline with a cypress knee to the right and the sun & clouds reflecting...

cypress knees & trees reflecting on the river.

the only flower we saw blooming. a Rain Lily.

Balanced Rock...on the Suwannee River...

Balanced Rock and a couple of kayakers paddling down the river.

back at the camper, we let milo out to say goodbye to the squirrels.

they were kind of happy to see her go...although they wouldn't tell her that to her face!

we packed everything up and hit the road.

next stop...Florida Caverns.

along the way, we stopped at a memorial in Greenville, Florida...

a life size statue of Ray Charles at the piano.

after about 2 ½ hours drive time we reached Florida Caverns State Park...

northwest florida...in the panhandle. the ONLY public caverns in florida.

reaching our campsite...we unpacked...let milo out (on her leash)...

and then we wandered to Blue Hole Spring.

we spotted some deer...but unfortunately i just wasn't quick enough to get a picture!

BUT i DID get a picture of their POOP...oh, sorry...let's be professional here...

White-tail deer SCAT!

MORE  'shrooms...(love the purple border...)

trees standing on their heads?!   hanging upside down?
reflections....

BeaVeR ALeRt...on the perimeter of the spring!

evidence of the presence of beavers!

we didn't get so see one in the flesh...or in the fur...

but we were amazed at all their gnaw marks!

i love this one!  focused on the tree's reflection...with a background of colorful fall leaves under water.

while at Florida Caverns park 

we also hiked a trail that took us to the shores of the Chipola River.

the shore of the Chipola

sam standing beside a monster Bald Cypress Tree.

ANOTHER bike and hike we took, was to the Caverns themselves!
but, guess what?  they were closed!


not a big deal, we still walked the trails, saw a lot of huge limestone outcroppings, crevices
and smaller cave-like structures and native plants that live in the acidity of the terrain.

and since i have some pictures from the last time we were here,
you can still see what it looks like.in this underground wonderland!

along the above ground trails...

huge moss & fern covered limestone

Purple Toad Shade (Trillium)

The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.

a tunnel cave we walked through

False Rue Anemone  (Columbine)

(i THINK)...this is Allegheny Spurge.

WELL, that about does it...

our between christmas & new years road trip.

i hope this becomes a yearly thing!

OH! and on the way home...just after leaving the State Park, 

we pulled over at a small roadside park, in Marianna, FL.

(black legs & feet, yellow eyes and beak...)  a Great Egret.  right?

Adopt the pace of nature:  her secret is patience.  

~Ralph Waldo Emerson 

stay cool & be safe.

laura