Selby Garden Sarasota

album

Fort Myers Shores Florida

 

We are staying a few blocks from the margin

Where the houses front on the canals draining swampland

Leading out to the Caloosahatchee River

Dredged and straightened to drain Okeechobee Lake.

We are renting a house for January.

Our neighbors are working class

Latinos and African Americans mostly

With some retirees mixed in.

The open bed trailer trucks go by on Route 80

Filled with harvested oranges in a huge mound

Turning north towards Arcadia on Route 31

Where we saw them gathered on our way here.

The pickup trucks drive by our house starting around 6 AM

Going to work jobs to make ends meet.

The children gather at the corner by our house

Getting on the school bus at 5 minutes to 8.

We are up early, too.  That is our way.

But we are planning our day of leisure.

We are exploring the natural areas all around us

Anywhere we can get to in an hour or less.

We have been to 24 different preserves and parks

Seen wildlife up close and personal

Taking many photographs and some videos, too.

We have counted 101 different species of birds.

This is a good place to weather the storms up north

Warm enough but not too hot to enjoy being outside.

We read about Juno the blizzard from afar

Remembering the times when we were snowed in.

We have no plan past the winter.

We are getting our bearings, gathering our thoughts

Considering what we will do next

When we return to the northeast in spring.

Northwest Everglades edge exploration

Marco Island Tigertail Beach album
Ten Thousand Islands NWR album
Fakahatchee Big Cypress Bend boardwalk album

red headed woodpecker in Hickey's Creek Preserve

album