Paradise

Our Pensacola Beach paradise and its gorgeous white sand at Casino Beach. Other than to reduce the resolution of the photo for my blog, there was no Photoshop tweaking of any sort - no whitening, lightening, contrasting...nada. Click to enlarge the photo. It really is this pretty here. You can see why we are devastated when we think how the oil spill will affect us, our homes, our food, businesses, and future generations.

To read more about what scientists are predicting in the aftermath of the spill, click HERE.

Bands on the Beach - May 4

Tim Jackson's Mr. Big performed at Bands on the Beach last night. The vocals were fabulous.


As you can see on the horizon, it was still somewhat hazy, but everyone was happy to attend the first Tuesday evening 'Bands' event of the season.

Mrs. Mary Drees was there with most of her family.

Little Maci Drees is blowing bubbles of love all the way around the world to her dad, Matt, who deployed for the third time on March 12th and is currently in Iraq.

Lila Cox brother, Gary, was in town and had an opportunity to enjoy the evening with us.

Who is that cool dude?

Yummmmmm!

Ahhhh, I love to watch people dancing. I don't care if they are eight or 80. Folks simply look happy when they are dancing, especially when they are dancing on the beach.

I have to say the crowd was a bit more subdued than usual. It was nice to have a distraction from the oil spill situation, but that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach just won't go away.

Patty and Robert!

Playing with bubbles.

Our beautiful Pensacola Beach...

A day at the beach

It was such a lovely day at the beach. The waves were still high, even at Pensacola Pass, but sediment was settling.


One of the few boats out today, sailing between Ft. Pickens and NAS. It was a bit hazy due to the humidity, but still a beautiful sight to our eyes.

After the storm

Heavy storms lingered through most of the night, so I walked outside this morning to check on my plants.

As you can see, the tomatoes I planted last month are doing very well. I put two grape tomato plants in the top of the planter and a Roma tomato plant in the bottom of the upside-down planter.

The plants are still loaded with yellow blooms and tiny tomatoes (grape tomatoes in this photo) have formed.


The ligustrum took a hit and it looked like it had snowed on some areas of the pine straw. But for the most part things looked clean and healthy on what's turning out to be a beautiful spring day.

I'm heading out to Ft. Pickens to breath in some fresh air and enjoy the view before the oil spill impacts us.

Another rainy day

We had another rainy day at the beach, punctuated with rounds of thunder and lightning. Generally it wouldn't bother me since I'd be forced to catch up with housework or paperwork. Now, however, with the oil spill drifting closer, it is painful to be closed in and unable to spend time at the beach.


Small containers of herbs which need to repotted or put in the ground wait patiently on the patio.

Fishing ban

Just a quick update for my blog readers who may live farther away:

"NOAA is restricting fishing for a minimum of ten days in federal waters most affected by the BP oil spill, largely between Louisiana state waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River to waters off Florida's Pensacola Bay. The closure is effective immediately."

For a local news story, please click HERE.

Gray day

This morning's patrol -- my first turtle patrol of the year -- was fairly uneventful. Gray day, gray sea, foggy and humid, with very high surf which spilled across to the road in some areas as you can see.


Not far into Ft. Pickens Area of Gulf Islands National Seashore, areas where some of the endangered and threatened birds such as Piping Plovers are nesting have been sectioned off and posted.

If you click on the photo to enlarge it you can see that although this site is set back from the Gulf a hundred and fifty feet or more, the tide is high enough and the island low enough to experience a overwash at least a third of the way into the nesting area.

While the eggs/chicks can survive a short-lived/quickly draining overwash, visualize how an oily sheen washing across the same area might affect these eggs and tiny chicks.

Clean up day at the beach!

Groups are being organized to help clean up the beach tomorrow, May 2, at both Santa Rosa and Ft. Pickens areas of Gulf Islands National Seashore. This is something that you can do to help.

Starting at 11:00 a.m., you can meet at either the Opal Beach gulfside pavilion to help clean the beaches at Santa Rosa, or at Battery Worth to help out at Ft. Pickens. Volunteers plan to work until 3:00 or 4:00 p.m.

Please be prepared by bringing gloves, trash bags, drinking water, and sunscreen. We will be picking up wood, plastic, or any debris which might get mixed up with oil and make clean-up efforts more difficult.

Also, it is very important that you only walk to the beach in designated areas. Nesting season is already underway within the park and tiny piping plover eggs/chicks -- an endangered species --are everywhere. You will notice the speed limit within Ft. Pickens has been reduced to 20 mph due to the nesting birds.

If you plan to go to Ft. Pickens, please identify yourself at the entrance as being there to volunteer for the beach clean-up and you will be allowed in if you do not have a pass.

An angry sea

The Gulf water looks as angry as we feel today. The rough weather we experienced this winter seemed to cause more erosion than usual at the beach. Now, at high tide, the water laps at the sand fencing and walkways.

Praying for paradise

You can probably imagine the amount of e-mails I've received during the past few days from people who love this little piece of paradise and are concerned about the situation. As most everyone knows by now, it is not a matter of if the oil spill will move this way, but when it will arrive.

Until now I haven't written anything about it on my blog. I have always tried to keep my blog upbeat and positive, dedicated to sharing the beauty of our barrier island with others who can't be here on a full time basis. The last couple of days I've been too depressed to post because I can't come up with anything positive to say about the situation. Things are going to change for us -- soon.

Every time I think things can't get worse, they do. The Mobile Press-Register is reporting that a confidential government report on the unfolding oil spill now fears the well could become an "unchecked gusher shooting millions of gallons of oil per day into the Gulf". This afternoon the Governor of Florida issued a state of emergency for the counties of Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay and Gulf.

In regard to our marine life and waterfowl, you may click HERE to read the list of approximately 400 species that are now threatened by the oil spill

My first sea turtle patrol is scheduled for Sunday morning. I have no idea what, if anything, I will see at that point. As with other catastrophic events, it takes a while to process the enormity of the situation and deal with the helplessness of knowing there is really nothing we can do...except cry and pray for paradise.

Birthday boy!

Look who turned 8 years old today! Panama Jack (a/k/a PJ - a/k/a P-Pup) may be middle aged, but cute as ever.

Slowing the pace

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. "

~~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

Shifting sands

Ahhhh....the beach is beginning to rebuild after the winter erosion. Hopefully this area will even out much more in the next month, giving our turtles more room -- and higher ground -- to nest. Let's keep our fingers crossed that no storms come our way this year!

Rain day

Although we're having a rain day, I can't complain. First of all, we need the rain. Secondly, the weather has been so gorgeous that I have a couple of extra photos to share from earlier in the week.

I love the contrast of the sand and grass beds in the sound. Of course you absolutely have to watchful for small sting rays buried in the sand if you decide to walk out to the grass beds to fish.

Turtle Patrol!!!

Sea turtle patrol time has finally arrived! We had our meeting last night at Naval Live Oaks and schedules are being finalized. Patrols start on May 1!


For those of you who are new to my blog, we begin our beach patrol before sunrise scouting for tracks like those above which I photographed last year. If we are lucky, we find a nest.

Can you imagine the energy expended by a 250 lb. sea turtle, suddenly weighed down by gravity as she comes ashore, pulling her body forward inches at a time by her flippers, digging a nest, disguising it by throwing sand over it with her flippers...then crawling back to the sea!


Sometimes it turns out to be a false crawl, sometimes we do find a nest, and sometimes the poor mama turtles pulls herself halfway across the island before finding the perfect spot to lay her eggs.

My patrols are a magical experience indeed and I can't wait to share them with all my blog followers again this year!

Another Knock Out season!

Wow! I couldn't be happier with the Knock Out roses in my yard. Despite what can be a harsh environment when it comes to salt and wind exposure, they have consistently been top-performers! They have been insect and fungus resistant also, not to mention that I have rarely done any dead-heading.

If you are looking for a little pizazz and color for your yard out here on the island, something that will attract butterflies and hummingbirds, I vote for both the Weeping Bottlebrush tree and Knock Out roses.

Grass beds in the sound

We haven't had rain in quite a while and the wind has been blowing from just about every direction except north, so water on the sound side is very clear, especially at low tide. You can distinctly see the outline of grass beds in Santa Rosa Sound - good fishing spots.

Just a couple of months 'til my stepdaughter and son-in-law arrive for a visit. I can almost taste their wonderful, fresh redfish and trout dinners now!

Searching for Cobia

Searching for Cobia! I love watching boats running along the coast, searching for signs of Cobia in April. You may click HERE to see photos of a few successful fishermen/women with their catch.

Going green!

Everywhere you turn, folks are 'going green' these days. Now our beaches appear to be going green too! How funny to see this little fellow hanging out on the sound-side beach this afternoon. It was so gorgeous that apparently even the anoles were coming out to catch some rays.

Exploring

Mr. Morrie Drees, a local gentleman whom I've enjoyed getting to know in the past year or so, is very knowledgeable about the area, its history, wildlife and plants. I could listen to him talk all afternoon. When he offered to take my husband and me for a hike to an area once inhabited by Native Americans, we jumped at the opportunity. The view was amazing from the higher vantage point to which we hiked.


Though artifacts are long gone or long buried, we scouted out plants such as this Hastate Leaf Dock (Heart-winged Sorrel)...


And beautiful wildflowers such as this Spiderwort...

One Spiderwort plant produces a multitude of short-lived blooms each day. If you look closely you can see that some of the petals were already curling up, though it was only mid-day.

Thank you so much for a great adventure, Mr. Drees!