The Island Life

Thankfully, living here in Central Florida, we don't have to travel to the Caribbean to get a taste of island life.  We just hop over to one of the barrier islands off of Florida's west coast.   That's just what the kids and I did yesterday.   What glorious sights we beheld!

A Day at the Beach

I'm off to the beach! Not literally. Just in my head. Thoughts of this dreary month have caused my mind to wander over to the oceanside. I popped over to my photo archives and pulled out some memories from a beach trip last summer. Peaceful, warm, pleasant memories...

I love the sea oats that arch gracefully along the beach edge.

The most wonderful memory of this particular trip was a first-time-ever sighting of the Reddish Egret. Another bird checked off my list! The Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens) is a medium-sized heron that inhabits coastal beaches of the tropics and subtropics of the Americas. I watched this bird for quite a long time. Like many coastal-wading birds, he was not people-shy. Isn't he beautiful?!!!

A Reddish Egret (Egretta rufrescens)

"The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man."
-Author Unknown

Now I have been known to do the touristy thing and visit public beaches and resorts here in Florida. But...sometimes it is nice to visit a beach that has been "little touched" by the hand of man. This particular beach I visited was on an island in the Gulf of Mexico that was almost completely absent of manmade structures. The city high-rises were a distant blur in the horizon. While the kids splashed in the water, I roamed the sands looking for shells, birds, and flowers. Such a breath of fresh air!

A white peacock butterfly on a sunny beach sunflower.

Beach morning glories!