Tag: spring

Okefenokee Swamp ~ 2

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

Cypress knees (above) are woody projections sent above the normal water level in the root of a cypress tree, usually seen in swamps. They may help to provide oxygen to the trees and may help to support and stabilize the cypress trees in the soft, muddy soil.

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

Not the best photo of a dragonfly (below), but enough to make out how different it looks from most of the dragonflies I see up here in the north…

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

Spanish moss (below) is a bromeliad that hangs from oak or cypress trees. The plant has no roots and absorbs nutrients and water from the air and rainfall.

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

Spanish moss hangs from the cypress like old lace-pewter veils.
~ Barbara Hurd
(Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs & Human Imagination)

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

photos by Tim Rodgers

Okefenokee Swamp ~ 1

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

If there were Druids whose temples were the oak groves, my temple is the swamp.
~ Henry David Thoreau
(Journal)

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

On the night of a full moon, April 6, we took an enchanting sunset cruise on a small skiff into the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. There had been a natural fire, started by lightning, about a year ago.

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

In southern Georgia and northern Florida there is a very special place, one of the oldest and best preserved freshwater systems in America. Native Americans called it Okefenoka, meaning “Land of the Trembling Earth.” Now this place, where earth, air, fire and water continuously reform the landscape, is preserved within the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, created in 1937 to protect wildlife and for you to explore.
~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

Can you spot the alligator eyeing us in the next picture?

4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia
4.6.12 ~ Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia

photos by Tim Rodgers

Amelia Island ~ 1

4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
Barbara and son Nate caught on film ~ 4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida

Another place we visited on vacation was Fernandina Beach, across the border in Florida, on Amelia Island. Shea had spotted some turtles here when she spent a day at the beach with friends. Because Tim is crazy about turtles we had to come see them! This place isn’t a nature sanctuary, and we found the close proximity of nature to civilization a little strange.

4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida

We were taking turns using the camera this day, too, but Tim took most of the pictures as I recall…

4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida

With a special pass recreational vehicles are allowed on this beach.

4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ gopher tortoise, Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ gopher tortoise, Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ gopher tortoise, Amelia Island, Florida

A few more pictures from Amelia Island tomorrow…

Cumberland Island ~ 4

4.9.12 ~ St. Marys, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ wild turkey ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
whelk egg case ~ 4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ tufted titmouse ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ bonaparte’s gull ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ turkey vulture ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

This is the end of the Cumberland Island National Seashore pictures…  Stay tuned for pictures of other places!

Cumberland Island ~ 3

4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
tufted titmouse ~ 4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
a little nest builder ~ 4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
female and male cardinals ~ 4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
baltimore oriole ~ 4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

Still more pictures coming!

Cumberland Island ~ 2

4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

More wildlife from Cumberland Island National Seashore… I should also mention that we only visited a small portion of the island – perhaps in the future we will allow more time in our plans for further exploration of its charms…

The crab below was on the Atlantic side of the island.

4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

The crabs above were on the Cumberland Sound side of the island.

Cumerland Sound ~ 4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
a mummified fish? ~ 4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

We weren’t sure if the barnacle-encrusted horseshoe crab (above) was alive until its tail moved. When we took a peek underneath its shell it started moving swiftly away from us.

4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

Methinks the horseshoe crab was relieved when we finally left the scene.

Cumberland Island ~ 1

4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

Between the four of us (Nate, Shea, Tim & me) we took well over a thousand pictures with the new camera over our five-day visit to Georgia. We kept taking turns getting shots and spent several evenings dazzled in front of the TV screen watching the digital slideshow of the day’s pictures. It’s been difficult to choose which ones to share here on the blog!

4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

Starting off here with our day at Cumberland Island National Seashore, a 45-minute ferry ride from St. Marys, Georgia. Nate had the camera for most of this day so the majority of the shots are probably his. It’s hard to remember who had the camera when, but, he most definitely took the one of the tiny lizard puffing out his throat (above) and we are all blown away over how well it came out!

4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

We had hoped to see the wild horses but all we got to see of them was their droppings and hoof-prints. However, the island was teeming with wildlife everywhere we looked, so there wasn’t much room for disappointment.

4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
Atlantic Ocean ~ 4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia
4.9.12 ~ Cumberland Island, Georgia

I will be posting more photos as time allows…

one sweet world

Image of earth from space: NASA

One sweet world
Around this star is spinning
One sweet world
And in her breath I’m swimming
And here we will rest in peace
~ Dave Matthews
♫ (One Sweet World) ♫

The earth itself assures us it is a living entity. Deep below surface one can hear its slow pulse, feel its vibrant rhythm. The great breathing mountains expand and contract. The vast sage desert undulates with almost imperceptible tides like the oceans. From the very beginning, throughout all its cataclysmic upthrusts and deep sea submergences, the planet Earth seems to have maintained an ordered rhythm.
~ Frank Waters
(Mountain Dialogues)