FLORIDA WILDLIFE

Sandhill Cranes dancing together on Silver Lake

Last evening I sat on the porch of the Sullivan house overlooking Silver Lake here in central Florida watching silver-streaked waves sparkle as they were buffeted by a slight wind, and I overheard a strange trumpeting noise. I looked up and saw two sandhill cranes, their long bills outstretched as they talked to one another in low pitched harmony on a walk at the edge of the lake. They seemed to have some strange kind of disconnect from their environment and deserved a photograph by Vickie Sullivan who often snaps photos for this blog (see the intriguing photo above). The two cranes on the beach are actually of concern to lovers of wildlife but aren't among 5,000 of an endangered species in the U.S. — yet. The oldest of these elegant birds in the U.S. is 36 years, and I assume it is still performing his dance with his mate (although he may have experienced the loss of the one with which he mated for life).

Cranes with two babies on
Moody Lake shore

When we went indoors and mentioned the birds to Vickie's mother Inez, who is in her late 90's, she said one word: "family," and I was told that the cranes have a family close by.  Baby cranes follow their parents around for nine months before they're declared an adult. If you look closely at the picture on the left, you can just discern two little ones loping beside their mother.

The crane twosome at Silver Lake were enjoying an evening stroll, perhaps foraging for berries, insects, or snails… and are also prone to eating reptiles – lizards, snakes, and the like. However, they, in turn, can be devoured by crocodiles and alligators that, fortunately, don't inhabit Silver Lake. If disturbed, their defense against such predators is to hiss, jump in the air, and kick at their attackers. I watched the couple stride on the beach for a few moments, wondering how old the cranes were. To me, their slow bobbing walk, with legs bent backwards at the knees in contrast to human legs, resembled that of elderly humans, but they carried themselves with unusual grace.

Each time I visit the "lake house" in Florida, I get a glimpse of wildlife new to me, particularly bird

Nancy Sullivan relaxing on porch

life, and I call for the photographer to record a scene to add to the memories of Florida lake country. Porch sitting is a pastime in this part of the world, and I've been part of it for the 39 years I've visited here. Several tall rockers, a wood swing, and an overhead fan attest to this relaxed southern way of life. The Sullivan porch has been occupied most of our week-long visit where we've been catapulted into the midst of this long-legged wildlife and have experienced our own "disconnect" from concentrated thinking for a spell.

MORE SERENDIPITY

Luzette Kincaid Musen and 

daughter Megan

Most of the time, serendipity comes to us when we veer off course and explore unfamiliar territory. While driving to central Florida recently, we left I-75 and followed US 27 to High Springs, Florida, a town of approximately 5500 people that is a destination for nature enthusiasts, which proved to be the site of serendipity. Once an important railroad center, the town now attracts sports people who enjoy fishing, scuba diving, swimming, canoeing, and tubing. Ichetucknee Springs State Park, fifteen miles north of High Springs, is a site of natural wilderness along the spring-fed Ichetucknee River; Blue Springs runs into the Santa Fe River; Ginnie Springs includes nine springs; Poe Springs Park, located five miles west of High Springs, is also on the Santa Fe River. Six miles north of High Springs, one of Florida's first state parks, O'Leno State Park, still maintains the old buildings and a suspension bridge the CCC built over the Santa Fe River back in the 1930's.

We had been to the town several times for lunch at the Great Outdoors Restaurant, but on this jaunt, we decided to walk the main streets of High Springs to shop for a gift. We wandered into a place called "Buffalo Girl Soaps" that offered all natural bath and body products, aromatherapy, and organic skin care and knew immediately that we had found more serendipity. Megan, the young woman who welcomed us, is the daughter of shop owner, Luzette Kincaid Musen, who had been in business seventeen years. Her products include handmade batches of soap of 100 percent goat's milk and quality essential oils, natural clays, minerals, and wildcrafted herbs. The scent in this small shop tucked away in High Springs conjured up visions of relaxing in warm waters scented with lavender, rose geranium, and "mint tingle" soaps.

Interior of Buffalo Girl Soaps

Luzette Musen writes a blog and in it, she mentions that she maintains the products in her shop because she likes "the smells from growing up in the South...mossy green of the creek; warm dirt in a fresh-tilled garden, the heavy sweetness of vanilla in her grandmother's custard pie... These smells are wild, sometimes untamed, and on the adventurous side," she says. Her leitmotif is: "Start with natural ingredients. Be wild, untamed, and always stay adventurous."

While we chatted with Megan, Luzette arrived. As she is a former biology teacher, she and my companion Vickie Sullivan, who is a botanist, began a discussion about plant biology and discovered similar interests in the use of natural products for general health care. Minutes passed, and our arrival time in central Florida stretched further away. When we discovered that Luzette and her daughter had just returned from Washington, D.C. and had participated in the Women's March, moments became almost an hour before we left the shop. We learned that most participants in this event had chartered buses and the march was, as expected of women, beautifully organized.

Although we didn't visit the historic Priest Theatre on First Street, built in 1910, we discovered that it had once been a place where vaudeville and traveling acts were performed. The theater had featured performers Smiley Burnett, who worked with Gene Autry; Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger; and Lash La Rue, a television star who performed with his whip. Today, the theater features three shows weekly. Performances are held on a raised stage with an arched opening and two columns on both sides and stairs on opposite sides of the stage that lead to the actors' dressing rooms. It will accommodate several hundred theatre-goers.

Although High Springs offered more vistas to explore, we were two hours behind schedule and scurried away carrying the scent of serendipity with us and vowing to return to this small paradise off the beaten trail of the busy interstate.

 

MAKING THE MOST OF BLANK SPACES…

Many people who’re classified as “hobbyists” are authentic artists and artisans who care more about their art or craft than they do about high-powered marketing. Marilyn (“Toni”) Blackwell is one of those gifted artists. While in Florida last week, I visited with her several times and toured what she calls her “comfort zone” in Babson Park, Florida. Toni was featured on one of my blogs a few years ago, but after touring her home the other day, I decided that her skills weren’t confined to decorating the note cards, glassware, vases, candles, and terra cotta pots that I had written about -- she even has a penchant for organizing personal objects, like jewelry, clothing, and scarves, in an artistic way.

Some of the photographs here show how she uses her organizational talents to arrange closets, shelves, and racks that reflect her appreciation for beautiful objects.

Toni also uses her decorative art skills by dressing in unique clothing and wearing bright jewelry that she has inherited, collected, or designed. She creates many of her earrings and bracelets, sometimes decorating dress sandals, and wears all of them with more flair than less artistic people would exhibit.


Toni is a native “Yankee” from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and a transplanted Floridian who graduated from Webber International University in Babson Park and worked as an administrative assistant to executives at Florida Power Corporation (now Progress Energy) for thirty five years before retiring in 2002.

After taking an art course that taught her “one stroke painting,” Toni began working on terra cotta pottery; however, she now uses her technique on most any blank surfaces she finds while scouring for objects at flea markets and crafts stores – glasses, pitchers, trays...she even eyes blank walls that might be made brighter with murals and has painted several in Florida homes. Her primary subjects are flowers and plants, which she paints using acrylics, but she has become interested in a technique similar to watercolor technique that utilizes acrylics on larger canvasses than her glassware and pottery.


We enjoyed the tour that shows Toni’s decorative talents and brought home a pitcher to add to our collection of a flower pot, a breakfast tray, and a Florida palm painted on a wood surface that we have in our Sewanee home. We’ve used the breakfast tray to transfer food from the kitchen down to the dining area for several years, and the colors haven’t diminished from cleaning. The vivid red, yellow, and purple flowers are a better wake-up call than a cup of Louisiana coffee!


This blog’s photographs are included because they may be helpful as a “how-to” visual for people who have trouble making the most of space in their closets and on shelves. One of the closets occupies the space that was a former bedroom, but I didn’t photograph the closet, so readers can’t see how many changes of clothing Toni owns!


Toni attributes her love of beautiful things and her sense of color to her paternal grandmother, “Gacky” Thomas, who nurtured Toni’s (her first grandchild) interest in aesthetics, flamboyant clothing and jewelry.