Air from the Arctic has reached Florida and has settled directly over our well pump and pressure tank. Initially, I ignored the temperatures outside, expecting things to warm up, but instead everything started to freeze. To remedy the situation we placed some heat lamps over the pipes. This has been an effective technique and aesthetically interesting.
We picked our cabbage and they were enjoyable. They are small cabbage, Farao, specifically.
Charles and I returned to O'leno Park after my recent trip with Gio. Those are cypress knees on the shore of a sink. Cypress knees, contrary to popular belief, do not aid in gas exchange, nor do they provide shelter for swamp imps or produce St.Elmo's Fire. They are more numerous in areas of loose, muddy soil that floods which suggests that they function as stabilizers which is no surprise...they are roots.
Eveyone likes lichen, especially when it's pink or green and hairy.
The road to O'Leno.
This is the old Florida seal which is full of inaccuracies that were slowly corrected over the years. First, notice the young Indian maiden beckoning the steamship. It turns out that she is wearing traditional Apache clothing and doesn't represent Seminole culture. I did notice that in this unique rendering the maiden is not dropping flowers or wearing a headdress and instead her hand is just pointing...or waving...'come ashore, take our land, do what you will with it, build strip malls as far as the heron flies.' In the distance you might notice the Great Florida Mountains which have since eroded into the sea. The palm is the non-native Coconut Palm, which was replaced by the native Sabal Palm. I guess the steamboat is correct. In summary, The Official Seal of Florida-In God We Trust can be translated as: Come all steamboaters to Florida where the friendly Apaches will wecome you to explore the mountains and feed you coconuts from the trees they imported from the South Pacific. Sounds like an interesting vacation.
There was an abundance of birds to watch. We saw black and white warblers, blue-grey gnatcatchers, bluebirds, wood ducks and palm warblers. They were quite vocal even with the cool temperatures. I was able to attract some black and whites using my Audubon Iphone App. The blue-grey didn't need any coaxing and practically landed on my shoulder.
The duck weed is beginning to die off from the cold weather and mixed flocks were busy collecting insects from surface of the sinks.
