Summer of Bugs

"Red bug" bites, fire ant bites, the two huge yellow corn spiders, leaf-footed bugs, orange dog caterpillar, Hercules beetle, and now October brings us ...

Red Velvet Ants.

It has definitely been a summer of bugs that are new to me!

 

On my way to the mailbox yesterday, I encountered this zigzagging across the sand.

(By the time I could get my camera she had disappeared into the grass and this is a photo from a website called DesertUSA. There is lots more info there if you would like to visit.)

 

 

 

She is not really an ant at all but a wingless wasp with such a painful sting that her other name is Cow Killer. And she is big! An inch to one and a half inches ( 2.5 - 4 cm) long!

Even more exciting, the velvet ants come in other bright colors including royal blue, orange, and gray.

I kid you not!

 

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The Town of Fernandina Beach

Fernandina Beach is on Amelia Island on the northern border of Florida. The whole island is only 13 miles long and mostly 2 miles wide so Fernandina is pretty much Amelia Island.

The historic downtown has lovely old homes and businesses, with its streets ending in the Atlantic Ocean.

After its first inhabitants, the Timucuan Indians, it became known as the Isle of 8 Flags, with eight nations' flags flying over it since 1562: France, Spain (twice), Great Britain, the Patriots of Amelia Island, the Green Cross of Florida, Mexico, the Confederate States of America, and the United States. It is the only town in the U.S. that has flown eight different flags.

 

 

Two of those flags were pirate flags, a theme that seems to be still going.

The most famous pirate was Luis Aury who landed with three ships and proclaimed himself ruler of the island. It became a pirate haven and the location of much buried treasure.

And it took the U.S. Navy to finally roust him out.

 

Shiver me timbers! I'm not sure the U.S. Navy knows about it, but plenty of pirates are still around and about.

 

We bought apples for lunch from Freddy, who makes his way along the Main Street peddling fruit early in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did some window shopping. Lots of interesting art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I kind of wanted to bring this southern Santa home. Somehow flamingos instead of reindeer and flipflops and shorts instead of fur-lined coat and boots are very appealing for my first southern Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for all your kind comments about my accident.

Although I have to continue to have the tape sutures in place for a few more days, I was very happy to have the stitches over my eye removed this morning.

 

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American Beach

American Beach is located on Amelia Island off the Atlantic coast of Florida and Georgia. It's a lovely, idyllic place where horses and camping are still allowed on the beach, the surf drowns out conversation, and the only other sounds are the gulls screeching from the air.

 

In years gone by, this beach was a bustling and busy holiday place, one of the few beaches on the East Coast open for African Americans to enjoy the sun and the sea.

Unwelcome on segregated white beaches, Black families flocked to the welcoming resorts of American Beach beginning in 1935.

When desegregation finally took place in the 1960s and modern development threatened American Beach, a champion arose in an unlikely person: MaVynnee Betsch.

 

 

Ms. Betsch was an internationally known Black opera singer who came to be called "the beach lady" when she gave up her career and returned home to save the community and her beloved beach.

She was so dedicated to the water, the flora and the fauna that she lived the rest of her life mostly outside, on the beach she loved.

 

The Beach Lady wore her hair in a 6-foot long dread lock, and kept her fingernails on one hand up to 16 inches long! She protected them by wearing a plastic bag over her hand.

 

 

 

She named the highest dune in Florida NaNa and eventually a 10-acre area was preserved as a national park.

Today some of the old resorts and beach homes on American Beach are still owned by the same Black families but, of course, people of all races are welcome there now.

 

 

 

 

I've never seen so many rules posted on a beach before as the giant board in the parking lot for American Beach.

Our favorite rule:

"Horses shall not be allowed in public showers or cabana areas."

Okay then!

 

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This Is Why I Don't Skydive

 

I got up this morning,

headed for the bathroom,

fell over an exercise bike,

and crashed head first into the French doors on the deck,

6 feet away from my side of the bed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have several stitches in a 3.5 inch gash in my head, a muscle relaxer for my neck, shoulder and upper back, and some pain pills.

My glasses are broken but they can be fixed. Just not today.

As we were leaving the emergency clinic, where he had been a model of sympathy and support, my beloved said:

" Took that corner a little wide there, didn't you?"

It really hurts when I laugh.

 

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Drop Zone

.

When we visited my mom in Florida a new restaurant had just opened at the very small airport in town. They served fresh local food, a varying menu depending on what was available locally that day, and opened to rave reviews.

 

That alone would have beckoned us to visit, but the main attraction is this: you can sit out on the deck while you eat, watch sky divers jump from a plane, fall through the sky, and land just a few yards from your table.

 

Before we even sat down, we looked up into the sky full of a dozen or more colorful canopies that had just been released from a small plane at an altitude of about 12,500 feet. Jumpers at this airport have an incredible view of the Atlantic Ocean and coastline from the sky.

The divers fall at the rate of 115 mph for about a minute before their chute opens and soon we could make out the the forms of the divers themselves as they floated toward the earth.

 

Some did complete flips over and over in the air, to the applause of those watching.

 

 

A first jump, a tandem jump where you are tethered to an instructor, costs about $200. If you want a video to prove you did it, it costs a lot more!

Solo jumps for the experienced cost about $25 per jump and they make about 10 jumps per day.

The beautiful canopies cost upwards of $2500.

 

 

 

My sister and I both thought we would like to try it, although I probably would have to be (gently, I would hope!) pushed out of the plane when it comes right down to it. There are only 8 deaths out of a million jumps per year, comforting statistics, I thought, until I was reminded that I am a person who can trip over the toe of my own shoe.

Best to stay on the ground, I guess, but it sure was fun to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

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Shrimp Boats Is A-Comin'!

 

During a lull in the " 1,000 year rain" Sunday we dashed out to walk the battery in Beautfort. The shrimp festival there was cancelled because of the weather so we pretty much had the waterfront to ourselves.

 

The Gracie Belle, a family shrimp boat, was moored along the sea wall and to the right you can see where the water came over it at high tide earlier in the morning.

 

That usually happens only in a hurricane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had only seen shrimp boats from a distance so this was an exciting chance to see one close up.

 

 

Beaufort Bridge -- and all we saw of the sun before the deluge began again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last night I got my second up close look at a shrimp boat, a much larger and newer commercial one. We were having fish and chips on the dock of an old oyster factory when the Reilly Morgan came in with the day's catch.

 

 

In 1912 an oyster factory was built on a bed of shells from the oysters being shucked. In 1920 a dining room was added and oysters were served up on the spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today Hudson's fleet brings in a thousand pounds of shrimp a day and 70,000 lbs of shrimp and 250,000 raw oysters a year are served right there on the docks.

If you'd like to hear the song referred to in the title of the post, click here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kZnRmcvdu1A

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What Happened to September?

What is now being called the "1,000 year rain" (meaning it won't happen again for another 1,000 years we hope) follows the "hottest summer in history" in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. (I don't believe my arrival in the South has anything to do with all this record-breaking weather.)

In fact, we are faring quite nicely with only a new lagoon in the front yard, and that is completely navigable. The water has crept up the sides of the causeway but not over to block access to our island. So far.

So, things are a bit soggy but all is well chez nous.

~~~~~~~~~

Now, what happened to September. Well, except for a few days at home to wash clothes, hug the four legged family members, and pack up the car, what happened to September was travel, north and south. The first part of the month was spent in Minnesota with my daughters and family, and the second part with family in Florida.

The reason to travel to Florida was a very special one. When I was in college and my sister in high school, our family hosted a student from Brazil. We were lucky -- it was a great match. We became like sisters and Cris returned for another stay a few years later. Although we have all kept in touch over the years, we have never had an opportunity to get together ... until September.

 

Maria Cristina was in the US for business and managed a side trip south to visit.

 

 

(Cris, my mom, me, my sister, Paul taking the photo. Only my dad is missing.)

 

2015

 

 

(Me, my husband Paul, Cris, my dad, my sister)

1975

We look just the same, right?!!

(me, Cris, my mom)

What a happy time it was!

Lots of reminiscing, laughs, tears, and catching up.

And we have all vowed that next time we are together, it will be in Rio de Janeiro!

 

PS. For most of September I was without wifi, so I'll soon be catching up on all your blogs that I missed last month.

I really missed my bloggy friends and all your doings!

 

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