Day Two in the Everglades

Here we are getting info on a snake on the road during our nature bike tour in the Everglades.  The volunteer ranger was incredibly knowledgeable so we learned a lot about the flora and fauna.  Development and agriculture are endangering the area.  It's such a complex issue with many stakeholders, but it's pretty clear that we need to protect these unique natural areas in our country or they will be gone forever.

The Everglades

This national park is the 3rd largest in the lower 48 states, covering 2500 square miles. Since we're staying in Homestead the closest entry point is the Ernest Coe Visitor Center.

It was rather overcast and chilly this morning but we bundled up and headed over to the visitor center in the Everglades just outside of Homestead.  We saw an excellent film about the history and ecology of the Everglades.  The ranger recommended two wildlife walks, the Anhinga Trail and the Mahogany Hammock.  They were very different.  The Anhinga trail is a half mile boardwalk through a very wet area.  It was teeming with water birds.  We don't have a long lens for the camera so we had to settle for photos of birds that would let us creep up close to them. The anhinga above was very tame.  Obviously he's very aware that he lives in a wildlife refuge. Unfortunately we were not able to get a photo of an anhinga drying its wings.  Anhingas and Cormorants are unable to waterproof their wings by producing oil the way ducks do.  They sit for long periods of time with their wings spread.

Here are two cormorants that were sitting at the side of the trail.  They allowed Dick to get very close with the camera.

There were at least 50 Black Vultures in the parking lot and the wetlands area.  They soared overhead and settled on the roofs of cars and RV's.  There was a sign in the parking area stating the birds do damage to cars.  We weren't sure if they peck at the paint or just scratch it with their claws.  Our minivan is so beat up at this point I don't think we would notice any Vulture damage.

We got back in the car and headed to the Mahogany Hammock trail which is about 15 miles further into the park.  Small changes in elevation determine what kind of vegetation grows in a particular area.  Because this trail is higher, it's much dryer allowing hardwoods such as mahogany to grow there.  The trail was a half mile boardwalk through a forest with large trees and ferns.

Tomorrow we are registered for a two and a half hour mountain bike ride through the Everglades.  I'll report back and let you know how it went.  If the weather warms up the way it is promised to do, we'll book a nature cruise for Tuesday.

On the knitting front, I've finished the oatmeal gansey and am about half way through the oatmeal striped cardi.  I have to put them in the mail tomorrow so I have my work cut out for me tonight.

I'm alive and well

Wow! It's been a long time.  I'm alive and well, just very busy.

I've been doing a lot of baby sweater knitting and have sold a number of them.  There was a Holiday Craft Fair at FUSP and along with selling three sweaters, I took orders for two more that must be finished by Christmas.  I worked feverishly this past week.  One is finished except for the buttons and the other is really coming along.  I don't have any photos to post at this time.  I'll get some up when I can photograph the finished projects, which has to be this coming Monday.  I am in Florida and the recipient is in NJ.  If I don't get to the post office by Monday I'll be toast.

We spent the last week cruising the Caribbean.  The trip was sponsored by The Nation magazine and there were many panels, lectures and ad hoc discussions.  Dinner table assignments were rotated each night and we got to meet a lot of interesting people from all over the US as well as a couple from Great Britain.  Howard Dean was along as well as Calvin Trillin and many of The Nation's regular writers.  Holland America always does a good job with the food and accommodations.  Since there is a major snow storm hitting the east coast from Washington, DC to Boston, we're very happy to be staying on in sunny Florida.  We're going to spend a few days exploring the Everglades and then meander up to Crystal River to take possession of the condo.  Right now the weather is sunny and 66 degrees. 

I'm going to sign off now because I have to get back to my knitting.

The Paper Bag Players

Saturday we took all four NJ grands to a performance by The Paper Bag Players at the NJ Performing Arts Center in Newark.  The Paper Bag Players is my favorite children's theater troupe.  Their skits are always funny, colorful and creative.  Every prop is made of brown paper or cardboard.  This performance, The Great Mummy Adventure, consisted of entirely new sketches.  While each vignette was amusing, what caught the children's fancy was a chicken that crossed the stage at three strategic moments, each time carrying an important, that is important to the plot, item under its wing.

I was somewhat saddened to see the Victoria Theater was not filled to capacity.  Usually these shows are sell-outs.  I'm wondering if the economy is keeping people home.

Years ago I took my children to see a performance of The Paper Bag Players in Manhattan.  Now, for the past four or five years I've been bringing the grandchildren.  What fun!

FUSP Craft Fair

I'm chairing this event this year and it's already causing angst and sleepless nights. I'm sure it will be fine once it actually takes place. My table will feature baby sweaters and I'm knitting feverishly to get as many finished as possible.

Other tables will feature homemade delicacies, pottery, jewelry, paintings and knitted objects. FUSP has many talented crafters and we will also have vendors from the area who are not members.

If you are in the area join us that day. It should be fun.

Phone Rage

I surprised myself the other day and I surprised DH as well. We were on the way home from a lovely lunch in NYC with our daughter. The Blue Water Grill in Union Square is one of my favorite restaurants. We stopped in the Strand Book Store to poke around and then headed to the 14 St. PATH station. We had an uneventful trip to Newark Penn Station where we found the NJ Transit Raritan Valley Line train waiting on its regular track. I was tired and grateful there were plenty of seats. We settled in, DH with his NY Times and I with my knitting.

We seemed to be surrounded by people talking on cell phones (what ever happened to texting--at least that's not loud and intrusive). Most were engaging in long conversations. One man in particular was shouting, not talking. I found myself getting increasingly irritated. We were about twenty minutes into the trip and he just did not stop. He seemed to get louder and louder. At one point he shouted into the phone, "Can you hear me?" I just couldn't stop myself; he had given me such a delicious opening. He was about two rows back on the other side of the aisle. I turned in my seat and shouted back at him, "We can all hear you, you're shouting." DH was mortified. The man began shouting back at me saying, "I ride the train every day, it's not 5 o'clock in the morning, etc." Everyone else in the train grew very quiet. He yelled again, "I do this on the train all the time." I then lost it and lowered myself to his level as I shouted back, "I feel sorry for anyone who has to commute on the same train as you." I was shaking with rage. DH quietly asked me to stop, pointing out that my behavior was as bad as the cell phone shouter. Of course, he was right. I hunkered down in my seat and resumed knitting.

When we arrived in Westfield and exited the train, I saw the conductor ahead on the platform. I approached him and asked if NJ Transit had a policy on cell phone use. He replied that there wasn't an official policy. I told him that we had a shouter in our car and he replied that he would walk back that way and check it out.

I'm still trying to figure out what set me off. It was incredibly loud and felt as if I were being assaulted. It had been a long day and I was tired. My hearing aids tend to amplify background noise and it becomes very irritating. But, it was so out of character for me. All I can think is that, "I was mad as hell and I wasn't going to take it any more." Unfortunately I ended up "taking it" all the way to Westfield. Sometimes you just can't fix it.

More Baby Sweaters and Etsy

Well, I've finished another baby sweater. This one is based on the Organic Guernsey by Fawn Pea. I've made it from wool yarn (Brunswick Germantown Worsted) that was gifted to me by a member of my church. I've researched it and it must be quite old. The mill, Brunswick Mills in Pickens, South Carolina, is long defunct. The yarn itself is in excellent condition and is springy and wooly in a pleasant way. It has flecks of green in it that don't show up too well in this photo. In keeping with the age of the wool, I've used buttons I purchased from the vintage button booth at the NJ Sheep Breeders Festival.
Here's a shot of the entire sweater.

So, you ask, what am I going to do with all of these baby sweaters? I no longer have a baby in the family small enough to wear any of them. The answer is I've opened an etsy shop. For those of you not in the knitting/handmade items world, etsy is a web site created to allow people to sell handmade and vintage items. You can see the site here: www.etsy.com and you can see my shop here: www.adoptionmswknits.etsy.com. In the meantime, six of the sweaters have been taken by a fellow knitter to sell at the craft fair to be held Thursday at her place of employment. That's tomorrow.

Since many these sweaters were made using copyrighted patterns, some of which explicitly forbade the commercial use of the pattern or the finished object, I will be donating any proceeds from their sale to The First Unitarian Society of Plainfield.

Selling items on etsy not only requires knitting skills. I'm going to have to work on my photography skills as well. Taking a good picture is really important to allow buyers to see the quality of the work. It will be a good experience for me as I really haven't mastered much more than "point and shoot" with our latest camera, a Nikon D40 SLR.