First, let me try to avoid infringing on this brilliant book title. Yes, this is a book, with whimsical photos of the author and her chickens alongside recipes for garden-influenced cocktails (get it?). And it was the inspiration for a weekend party hosted by old friends in Atlanta. But more on that, below. Braver than […]
Tag: Florida
Inventory Swap for Post-vaccine Life
I know I’ve mentioned this a thousand times, but when we packed up the trailer and took off on March 20, 2020, we had no idea what the world would look like in a few weeks or months—let alone a year. This old tune probably sounds tedious to you because you were in the same […]
Gold Head Branch
Need to be close to a populated area but want the feel of nature? Once again, you can count on Florida state parks. We’re less than an hour away from Tracy’s sister in Gainesville, but our state park, Gold Head Branch, sits on a longleaf pine-covered, sandy set of acres, with a ravine in the […]
Family Therapy, Retail Therapy, Storms!
We came to this state park (Gold Head Branch) as our final stop in Florida to visit with Tracy’s sister; that’s pretty much how we began this five-month run in Florida back in November (pic from that wonderful visit, below). The Family Damned if Darci isn’t still working way too much, though, so today instead […]
Banjo Visits the Fairchild Oak
We drove a short bit yesterday to see one of the South’s oldest trees: a live oak that’s 400 to 600 years old. It has survived hurricanes, fires, floods and, as a nearby sign says, “the follies of man.” It was named in the 1960s after a botanist who loved it, and its current caretaker […]
A Surprise at Tomoka
Here’s the promised post about our final Florida state park on the coast, Tomoka State Park, against the Halifax River which runs along the Atlantic—right above Daytona. Our campsite is in the thickest of woods, which you can tell from Tracy’s view here at the edge of the site. What can he possibly be looking […]
When the Wow Is Ho Hum
Just about this time a couple of years ago, Tracy and I were sitting in his living room in Maryland, watching the YouTube channel of Airstreamers we liked to watch. They were pulling into this exact Florida state park we’re in now (Tomoka, north of Daytona). On the TV, as this couple backed their trailer […]
What Is This?
This, my friends, is an empty beach. It’s the beach at the entrance to Sebastian Inlet State Park. This is my view of the beach when I look south. See anybody? No! This also is a beach, albeit a very small one. It’s one of several at the boat-launch end of the state park. This […]
A Few Perfect Moments
I’ve been sad lately, thinking about a friend who’s been unexpectedly diagnosed with stage IV cancer. The fact that I can’t get on a plane or zip up in my car to see her is also like a gong echoing a reminder that I haven’t seen my son since May. Our one-year anniversary of living […]
Other Critters at Blue Spring
It’s been warm here in central Florida during the day, and the manatees haven’t been in the spring hardly at all. The sign at the entrance to the park read, ”101 manatees” the first day we entered, but today it said, ”3.” There’s nothing for them to eat in the spring; they swim up it […]
