Lettuce Share

Deer in Florida are scrawny and scarce.  Deer in New York are robust and abundant. The latter can be a bit of a problem.  They total cars and decimate gardens.  This deer, in particular, is tormenting my mother.

The deer nibbles on her Hostas, poops under her apple tree and brazenly lounges in her front woods.  She’s tried using Milorganite, and she’s tried to physically chase the deer away.  Neither approach has been effective.  No exaggeration, this deer can be spotted morning, noon and night munching on apples in the front yard.  As a friend or family member of my mother, this is both ironic and hilarious because she hates animals.  For an extremely selfless and loving mother, grandmother, sister, and daughter, she is the most unlikely and absolute animal-hater I know.  She’s probably annoyed reading this, shaking her head saying, “I don’t hate animals,” meaning she doesn’t want to open a taxidermy shop because she enjoys the zoo, but she still has no use for them as pets or otherwise.  And as they say in New York, fuhgetaboutit when they mess with her garden.  

While my mother’s hatred may be unique, her predicament is not.  Deer are actually more menacing than cute.  They’re dangerous to drivers, and as their herds increase other animal populations decrease.  The former I know to be true because of first-hand knowledge; my brother-in-law is convinced by her scarring that I’ve met this deer before from behind the wheel.  The latter I know to be true because of the Cary Institute.  While we were hiking around the surrounding property we came across an enclosure in the middle of the woods, a large square of extra-tall chicken wire.  But this enclosure was actually an exclosure - rather than keeping anything in, it was designed to keep the deer out.  The data collected from the exclosure will be used to determine the environmental impact of deer and what the forest would look like without them.  Because deer are willing to devour just about anything at eye-level or below, large herds can wipe out the habitats of songbirds, insects and amphibians…oh, deer!

We had already planned a sunny Saturday at the beach when we heard about Hands Across the Sand on the news. 

For fifteen minutes, between 12 and 12:15, people joined hands to protest offshore drilling.  It would have been neat to see an arial view of Florida at about 12:10.  Check out this map to see how many beaches statewide participated.

We’re among the lucky residents; the Gulf of Mexico we know is still pristine and oil-free…for how long?  We don’t know.  My mother didn’t think my last BP post was completely appropriate, but I’m angry and a little FU here and there isn’t the worst thing in the world.  I’m expressing myself, mom!  At least it was a well-deserved FU.  BP took chances they didn’t have to take.  They risked wildlife, livlihoods and lifestyles.  I am angry, and I am heartbroken over this oil spill.  I’ve lived 10 minutes away from Siesta Key Beach for over 15 years.  The sand wins awards regularly for being the whitest sand in the world.  It’s 99% quartz and blindingly white.  I took my sunglasses off yesterday to take a swim.  I felt like a bear fresh from hibernation seeing the sun for the first time; my left eye would not fully open!  For all of you land lovers living away from the shores, where this oil spill will inevidibly become yesterday’s news, this is what’s at risk - the whitest sand in the world turning black.

A friend of mine just returned from Louisiana; need I say more?

We attended a wedding on Lido Beach last night.  The ceremony took place at sunset.  The timing couldn’t have been better for a summer wedding in Florida.  The cool sea breeze and the fading sun made me almost forget it was June.  

The crafty couple had lots of great ideas that should be shared.  First off, I loved their cake.  It was pretty and whimsical with a tad of the mad à la Alice in Wonderland.  The groom wired the tree cake-topper himself.  He entwined crystals and beads into the branches. 

Nature was a theme.  Dragonflies complemented the bouquets of Calla lilies, and the bridesmaids dressed in green.  But the more specific theme was birds.  The bridesmaids each wore a necklace with a tiny bird beaded into it, and the guests received birdseed doves as favors.

But this had to be my favorite touch…

…a birdcage for the gift envelopes!

As oil gushes into the Gulf of Mexico, there is a renewed sense of appreciation and urgency to enjoy the water.  We spent Saturday at Turtle Beach because there was no parking left at Siesta.  Last night John went fishing with some other die-hard fishermen friends scrambling to get their hooks cast while they can.  And today, Luke and I took our walk over and under the Ringling Bridge.  This is the view from the top:

The view from underneath the bridge is no brick wall either!

Beyond the water, I paid a lot of attention to the birds today.  It’s hard to imagine this stately Great Blue Heron slicked black with oil…

…or the Pelicans that line the pier at Hart’s Landing.

Save Our Seabirds is a local organization helping with the clean-up.  They are no longer accepting volunteers because so many people have lined up to help…the only good piece of news I’ve heard regarding this spill. 

John and I felt like being tourists for a day, so we headed up to Anna Maria Island on Saturday.  I wanted to check out the Bridge Street Market.  It runs November through May from 9 am to 2 pm, but check the events calendar before heading out as it’s not open every Saturday.  

It’s a small outdoor market with about 20 vendors.  Although there’s one produce stand and one plant stand, I wouldn’t consider it a farmers market.  The majority of vendors sell crafts.  There are handmade aprons, bags, headbands, and jewelry.

My favorite was the plant stand; there were boxes full of air plants - Tillandsia varieties. 

Air plants are also known as epiphytes.  They’re not parasites; but they grow on other plants, mostly trees.  I picked up a couple of Tillandsia ionantha minis for only a dollar a piece.  John grabbed a fish taco, and we were off to the beach.  Here’s the view from my beach chair: 

After a few hours on the beach, it was on to the Sun House for wine and appetizers on the roof.  I knew we were at the right place from the moment we stepped on the elevator The Sunshine Express.

Unfortunately, we were about three hours too early but what made us choose The Sun House, besides the view…

…was their sunset ritual - the whole restaurant breaks out in song!  But not just any song, it is the Sun House after all; everybody sings You Are My Sunshine.  And next time, we’ll be singing too!  It’s now on my must-do list.        

Our day didn’t end at the Sun House, but I’ll leave that for tomorrow…

We left the garden and the ground behind last night and went moonlight ziplining at Forever Florida in St. Cloud.  It’s called the Starlight and Moonlight Zipline Safari, and the name says it all.  We piled into this army green, safari-styled bus that drove us out to the zipline course. 

On the way we saw alligators, vultures, white-tail deer, and a raccoon.  Those were only the wild animals.  Adjacent to Forever Florida is Crescent J Ranch, a working horse and cattle ranch.  We saw fancy French Charolais cattle and good ole Cracker horses.  The Crackers are descendents of the horses Ponce de Leon brought over from Spain in 1521.      

We walked through a mini-zoo full of baby gators, exotic birds, coati, and a panther/puma mix.  Then a quick hike through the woods, and it was on to ziplining.  After climbing a 55-foot staircase, we were amonst the treetops.  I was the first one to zip.

After plowing into one of our guides, Jody, on the other side (which turned out to be nothing compared to John flying in spread eagle style, crushing him up against a pole, and wrapping his legs around his waist), I spotted an armadillo rummaging around on the ground.  That was about the last thing we saw.  Here’s John’s video from the last zipline of the day.

As the sun set, we were instructed to turn on our nightlights.  You couldn’t see the platform on the other side; and once you got there, you couldn’t tell who was coming in behind you - all you could see were little specks of orange neon zipping through the dark.  During my final zip back to the ground, I felt leaves brush my arm for a second but couldn’t see the tree!  After seven ziplines and two suspension bridges, this was our view walking down the final platform onto the path back:

The weather slowly crept up to perfect over the weekend.  Yesterday morning we were in sweatshirts, by the afternoon we were in T-shirts, and today we were in shorts!  At 1:00, it was a sunny breezy 74 degrees.  Vitamin D is pumping through my veins, and it feels good!  John and I took full advantage of the warming weather and headed down to Venice yesterday, first to the farmers market and then to the Italian festival.  In between the two, we stumbled on Caspersen Beach.  For the first time in over ten years I felt like a tourist snapping pictures, pointing at the sights, and oohing and aahing at every turn.

The water was so still and so blue that if not for the clouds the horizon line may have been indistinguishable. 

Caspersen Beach is on the tip of Venice Island.  It’s an undisturbed beach with natural boulders and dunes.  It’s also a park; there are nature trails, a canoe and kayak launch, a playground, and picnic areas.  But most visitors seemed to be searching for only one thing…

 They were even willing to forge the frigid water for them…

Have you guessed yet?  These shiny black sea gems have made Venice, Florida an annual gathering spot for beachcombers everywhere.  The hot commodity are sharks teeth and the gathering is the annual Venice Sharks Tooth Festival.  The festival is in its 18th year and is scheduled for April 9-11.  We found a few sharks teeth on the beach, but here’s what a half-hour in the water can yield. 

Efficiency like that doesn’t come without some gear…

Caspersen Beach has to be the best destination a missed turn has ever led us!  It’s a must-see if in the area ~ 4100 Harbor Drive Venice, FL 34285.

I found another crabby spider hanging around, but unlike the last one that made its home at a comfortable distance underneath the grapefruit tree, this one overstepped its boundaries.  It attached to the house along the garden path.  After part of the web caught part of my ponytail, I was sufficiently creeped out enough to take action.  I thought a couple quick tugs on the anchor threads would do it, but spidey kept hanging on, so I kept walking.  I walked a good 25 feet before the web finally snapped.  And after all that, it took less than a half-hour for it to rebuild.  Here it is laughing at me; you can see the very minor damage I caused toward the bottom-right.

Pound for pound, spider silk is stronger than steel and stretches up to 40% of its normal length!  The Museum of Natural History in New York is exhibiting a naturally golden textile made from spider silk.  More than one million female golden orb spiders contributed to the 11′ x 4′ woven textile!  Here’s a creepy crawly tidbit: it’s difficult to cultivate spider silk because when kept together, spiders like to bite each other’s heads off!