Fall Happenings In Florida

It is finally feeling like autumn here in Florida!  Last night the temperatures dropped into the 40s and today it is in the mid 70s.  So nice to feel a break in the brutal temperatures of summer.  Migrating birds are starting to be seen again.   Prior to this past week we saw an occasional lone white egret.  Now the ibis are here as well as the spoonbills and a few wood storks.

Our daughter Melissa was anxious for her children, Nathan and Clarissa, to experience the fun of pumpkin patch, going on hay rides and drinking apple cider.  There are a few farms which do offer that experience here in Florida (although I would venture a guess that the pumpkins are trucked in from the north).  Saturday we drove to Sweetfields Farm in Brooksville Florida- about an hour north of Tampa.  Clarissa found the pumpkin she wanted immediately after wandering into the area.

 

We had a wonderful afternoon at the farm.  There were plenty of activities, including a playground for the little ones.  And animals to see as well as pet, also ponies to ride. Adults could pick a variety of squash which are still in the fields.  A field of sunflowers provided a beautiful backdrop for such a fine sunny but cool day.

Now that the weather is cooler we are making the rounds of parks and playgrounds with the little ones.  Eagle Lake Park use to be a citrus farm, it has a playground with equipment that looks like what one may find on such a farm- like storage sheds, orange crates and even a tractor.  It was also fun walking on one of  the boardwalks where we saw egrets, one alligator, and about a dozen turtles.

The turtles and alligator came up to us in the water near the boardwalk.  My guess is that people have been feeding them, which is very harmful to wildlife.  After our trip to Eagle Lake we needed to stop for supper and the Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant was our choice.

 

  It is a chain eating establishment located in parts of the southeast which has the most delicious pizza crust.  They are also family friendly, an important detail when taking little ones out to eat.
This weekend I am traveling to Kissimmee Fl. to meet up with my sisters.  You never know what excitement we may find next in the fair state of Florida!

Corkscrew Swamp Revisited

This was about the third time John and I have visited this swamp.   Our expectations of what we would see there this time were low because of the damage incurred by Hurricane Irma.  Sections of the boardwalk had been destroyed by large trees.  There was only one small loop on which we could walk to view the swamp.

According to a park ranger whom we met while there, the water level in the swamp is the highest he has seen in about 15 years.  At 4 feet not many wading birds are eager to be here at this time as the fish are harder to find.  However we did espy one blue heron.

As I mentioned earlier, many large trees had fallen in the swamp.  There was a blessing to be found in that,  because it opened up the swamp to a lot more light.  We noticed quite an array of wildflowers which seemed to be taking advantage of the extra sunlight.

We also saw patches of purple morning glories, blooming pickerel weed and water lilies.  My brother Marcus declared that it all was still quite beautiful, and I would have to agree.
We had lunch in the small town of Immokalee, which had also experienced a lot of destruction from the storm.  In the town were many buildings with blue tarps on the roofs, an indication that they had to either be replaced or repaired.  After lunch we drove over to Lake Trafford in search of an air boat ride over one of the many marshes in the area.  We had neither the time or desire to drive further south into the Everglades as we would continue to find many more parks and preserves closed due to storm damage.

We had a wonderful boat ride through a swamp, thank to the Air Boats and Alligators Company.  Our driver stopped at different places to point out flora and fauna.  Pictured above is a swamp lily, the one white spot in the mass of green foliage.

He also stopped the boat to allow the bittern in the picture above to give us a close look over.  Many herons, and egrets, took to the sky from their watery havens as our noisy boat approached.  On the lower branches of trees and shrubs we saw a few anhinga drying out their wings.   And hanging out in the high tree tops were the ever watchful osprey.  There were also many sightings of  alligators in the water.

 

Our driver pointed out an alligator nest, it is in the lower left corner in the picture above.  It was a brownish mass of twigs and grass.  That organic mess serves to keep the eggs warm and covered until the babies are ready to emerge.  He said that about a week ago there were about 30 hatchlings swimming around in this area.
That was our two day trip to southern Florida, we certainly saw and experienced a lot.  It was a good trip, and if you are a Floridian you should certainly get out and explore the wonders of your state! 

A Visit to Southwestern Florida

Last spring my brother, Bishop Marcus Lohrmann, became Interim Bishop for the Florida Bahamas Synod.  We promised him that while he was in this area we would take him to our favorite spot in the state, Corkscrew Swamp.  Marcus had a busy work schedule last week with the synod assembly and thought that after that, and the election of the new bishop was accomplished, he would take some time off and go on a road trip with us.  We knew that Hurricane Irma had hit southern Florida hard- even had learned that Corkscrew Swamp had only part of its boardwalk open, but still decided to visit that area anyway.

After driving a couple of hours Sunday afternoon we were ready to stop for the night, and most fortunately chose Bonita Springs.  We happened upon a wonderful beach there where, after securing  a spot for the night ( we soon learned that most hotels were full and should have had reservations because disaster crews are still present taking care of damages from the storm) we chose to walk.   The beach was quite busy with many people in the water, in the picture above two fishing poles are hanging out at the water's edge. Not sure how successful is that mode of fishing!  The beach was quite littered with a few varieties of shells,  but we were interested only in a good walk.

A lot of the beach houses showed some damage from the storm.  The one pictured above looked like it had some kind of reconstruction work going on the inside.  Most of the homes and condominiums along the beach are not quite as ostentatious as that one!  For supper we ate at a restaurant which gave us seating at the water's edge.  One small alligator in the bay eyed us sleepily as we ate our meal.

Would you believe that we started our day at a church Monday?  Remember, we had the Bishop traveling with us and he felt a need to check out the local Lutheran church (ELCA).  Christus Victor is the name of the church, and Pastor Tom Slater was in the office.  We had a good visit with him and toured the park next to the church, which the church owns.  In the park there is a small lake with plaques noting the stations of the cross around it.  The park also has an outdoor worship area which still has a lot of brush laying around from the storm.  Our adventures of the day continues in the next posting on this blog site.