Greeting Nature-Led Friends!
Suprise! Last week I was in Florida! I have now returned to my boggy delight that is the Pacific Northwest, but not without bringing you all some sunny pictures of interest, education and ominous warnings about where not to swim.
As one of my favorite Tom Waits songs goes, “We made feet for children’s shoes.” This one is now a youth size 5.
This plant is dressed for a party.
I scared this Tolkienesque palm tree Ent from walking away.
Another party plant having a ball!
Eeek, a spider!
The biggest spider I have ever seen in my life in the wild! It’s as big as my hand, and my hands are not small! Consequently, I just read this article from National Geographic about another similar spider that is making its home on the Eastern shores of the United States, the Joro spider (similar to this one, but more cold-tolerant.) https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/these-large-invasive-spiders-could-spread-throughout-us
Nope, definitely not going in that water.
Maybe when you go on vacation you like to relax, but to me, relaxing is a foreign concept I just can’t seem to gasp. It is my curious nature to always be on the prowl for new learning experiences. As part of my enjoyment in traveling to new places is to support the local work of fellow nature lovers. Here are two places I like to support every time I go to Florida:
Loggerhead Marinelife Center https://marinelife.org/
This turtle rescue organization is currently going through an expansion and remodel. There was only one sick turtle there at the time of our visit. I would assume current sick and injured turtles are being cared for elsewhere.
Busch Wildlife Sanctuary https://www.buschwildlife.org/
I love the phrase “cypress knees.” I don’t know why this one in the foreground looks like it’s giving me the finger though. Rude!
That’s it folks! I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Have a great rest of your week!
Do you have a favorite picture?
The Nature-led Life 
That spider is of the Nephila sp. Harmless to humans. And, yes , the webs have been collected for “silk” But that seems unfair to the spiders! Anyone interested can google spider silk used in clothing.
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Thank you, Dinah! I was wondering if anyone had actually tried to use it for silk. This spider was in a good place where I could appreciate it without worrying about running into its web. We get some pretty large brown house spiders and sometimes they run at you (to hide in your shadow) but its a bit unnerving.
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I love the palm roots best. Florida is actually somewhere I would like to go!
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Yes, I thought the roots were fun. It’s easy for me to imagine the tree walking around with roots like that.
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Hooray for your trip and all those very cool experiences. I really loved that footprint photo, and then there were just a whole bunch more cool images. Now you have me saying “cypress knees.” HA
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Ha,ha,ha. Thank you Tracy!
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Wow, I’ve never seen anything like those before – the plants and the spider! Amazing!
The Florida plants really do seem like party animals, lol. We see nothing like those here in the u.k.
Thanks Melanie, fabulous post.
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Thank you, Lesley! One of my favorite parts about blogging is getting to see environments I may never get too.
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I’m wondering why the blue jay is in a cage–is it injured?
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Yes, this is a wildlife rescue and sanctuary. I could not tell what was wrong with it. I hope it is only a temporary visitor and it will get to heal and be released.
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Yes, it’s so heartbreaking to see a bird in a cage. But it’s good there are places to take injured animals.
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Good to se you posting again, Melanie. Awesome pics too, btw! Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you, Schingle! I think time moves differently in Blogland. I didn’t even miss a posting, but the last few weeks I’ve been so behind on visiting other blogs. It’s impossible to keep up!
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I’m drawn to the cute fox!
Sx
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Um no thank you to that spider! But everything else looks so cool. And the fox photo made me laugh because I literally said “Aw so cute!” and then scrolled to see your caption 😀
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Ha,ha,ha. Thank you!
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