sunday poem

ecology

when i came back after a few days away/

my return terrified a huge

marsh hawk

his new nest next to my front door/

twice that happened:

he explodes with a powerful shuffling of feathers

aimed in a 45-degree angle that leads/

to the sky above the sea

if i go away again

(big as he is)

i wonder which one of us will

be/ the more surprised?

by june jordan (1936-2002)

placed in everglades national park january 31st, 2025

poetry society of america, you are here, poetry in parks - site specific poems

tales from the keys

the bike path to pigeon key.

chanda and adam went biking on the road to pigeon key which is a national historic district - and also a small island - in the keys off the florida coast (this was on sunday). it has eight buildings which are a remainder of the work camp of the florida east coast railway. currently, they serve as administrative offices and housing for educational groups and one of them is a small museum. you can read more about it here on wikipedia.

this is the florida keys brewing company cat. chanda and adam visited the brewery in islamorada, one of the key islands.

one of the raised wooden paths in the everglades park (look at those beautiful florida clouds!)

saying hi to manatee at the south visitor center and marina.

she arrived home last night and stopped by for dinner after work today. it was fun to hear about her adventures.

 

greg picked up some sausages which i sautéed with green peppers and onions from the green market, including a big bunch of basil for pesto.
 

before flying home yesterday, she enjoyed relaxing by the pool at her cousin's place. she said the water was cooler and felt more refreshing in the heat than the warm florida ocean.

adam's cozy home . . 

and his national park ranger badges (chanda filled out the booklet for one also).

rainy monday, cat care, tea and florida

it was a humid and rainy day . . fortunately it wasn't too hot. i think it only went up to 78 or so.

but i got caught in a downpour on my way to cat care . . fortunately, i had my umbrella!

remember nala?

she's queen of the cats.

("i have my toys. go away now. i want to rest.")

janet and i investigated a new tea place . . and found it very nice. the cookies are chocolate chip tahini and ginger .

i had jasmine ascension (forgot to take a pic of all the different teas that make up the brew) and janet had a chai.

----

and in the everglades . . 

chanda standing next to a beautiful, giant mahogany tree.

out on the bay

it's 2021 and i perused my tags to check on the day greg and i volunteered with adam at everglades national park and helped him on his water base rounds. he checks for rain levels and water salinity and ph. well, it wasn't there and i realized i hadn't finished posting about our october 2019 florida trip . . so now i'll see how much i can do.

 

we were up early to make sandwiches for ourselves and to pack the car for a day out on the water with adam.

 

we first drove in his little car from key largo to homestead and the entrance to the park, which took about an hour. after passing the visitor center, we stopped at the park personnel lot to switch to a truck that had the gear he needed for the day's work. we then drove another hour to the boat launch at the flamingo visitor center, where we loaded up and coasted over to the canal.

i honestly felt like i was on the disney jungle cruise . . 

once you pass the visitor center where you can gas up or buy food supplies, the canal opens up a little more . .

until you come out to whitewater bay . . 

it's incredibly beautiful and we passed many egrets, ibis, great blue heron birds and orchid plants high up on bare tree branches.

i loved sitting in the bow as we sped along . .

this was the most beautiful part of the entire trip for me . . when we came out of the snake river (where whitewater bay had led us) into the gulf of mexico . . actually this little part is know as ponce de leon bay, but the entire gulf spreads before you.

the horizon was barely visible . . sky and water were so similar in color. adam said he had never seen it so monochromatic before.

 

  we were headed to the little shark river for one of the water checkpoints . .

we had to take the tarp down in order to squeeze past several large low lying branches . . i felt like i was in the movie the african queen . .
 

 

 

this section is very muddy so we had to make sure to leave before the tide went out  . .
 

i loved how the birds flew up from the underbrush as the boat sped past them . . 

and this is where we saw dolphins! i didn't get a photo but we did see them jumping and it was incredibly exciting. adam brought the boat around in a circle but they must have had an agenda as they didn't come back up again, but sped away into the distance.

 

we had one last checkpoint which i got to do . .

after securing the boat . . 

i climbed up and checked the rain water level and then climbed back down. i actually don't remember it being very easy. the rungs were skinny and it was hot and sticky and all new to me, but definitely fun.

we then had an hour long ride back to flamingo center. 

the sky and clouds felt overwhelming beautiful (florida has the fluffiest clouds).

 

back in the canal . . 

we docked and  adam picked up supplies and gassed up . . 

while greg and i walked around and found a manatee family to say hello to. if you don't want to watch the full video, jump to 2.0 to see the family all together. there was a boat wanting to back down into the water, but its owner had to wait for the manatees to move (they were feeding on the grasses).

 

 

it was such a fun day.

heading back to the work dock . .

a blue heron . .

unloading . . 

we took the truck to adam's office . . 

to drop off a few items . . 

and to input some data . . 

admiring adam's badges from the national parks.

there's actually a few parks he hasn't been to, such as hawaii - he hasn't visited hawaii yet.

showing us on the map where we were today.

we had an hour and a half ride back to key largo and we were all very hungry (though we went home and cleaned up first). we ate at the buzzard's roost, which was lovely being right on the pier, surrounded by boats and quaint houses. i persuaded them to eat outside and they acquiesced as long as we sat in the shade (even the setting sun feels hot in florida).

fried clams (adam), blackened shrimp (greg) and crab cakes (me). everything was so good.

we took a walk to the end of the pier and looked out over garden cove.

the beach behind me is not very sandy. i think it was coral, but not very healthy looking coral. wikipedia says it's a fossilized remnant of a coral reef which formed during a period of higher sea level and then eroded during a subsequent ice age.

what an amazing day . .