Candid Florida

Sister Sal and I were slightly above sea level at the Writing Below Sea Level workshop, nestled in the branches of silk bay trees at The Treehouse, an inspirational rental property where the Matanzas Inlet meets the sea at Summer Haven, south of St. Augustine.
With noted Florida novelist Connie May Fowler as our guide, we [...]

It was a dark and stormy night…well, perhaps not so stormy, but certainly threatening for the rains that befell us earlier in the day to shower down again as my sister Sal and I swept through the streets of old St. Augustine with Maria, our personal pirate from Ghost Tours of St. Augustine.
Now I’ve meandered [...]

Making a late trip to Micanopy, I arrived at Paynes Prairie State Park mindful of sunset’s approach. A wander along Lake Wauberg to the symphony of Archie Carr’s favorite frogs brought memories flooding back of gentler times before the gators chased the swimmers away and the parking lot was still full to overflow. I settled [...]

Sunlight illuminates each strand of a longleaf pine’s wiry crown, dappling the lawns and mulch with patches of shadow and light. There is an earthy smell to the air, cast up by the rumbling fountain before me that masks the sound of road noise beyond. Crows quarrel in the treetops. This is a quiet retreat [...]

The warming effect of Lake Jesup, shallow and broad, preserved the fruits of growers labor in Oviedo, where Black Hammock is an important historical agricultural district. What a delight to see giant grapefruit dripping from trees in residental yards and to pick tangerines from my friend Joan’s tree. More than 30% of Florida’s crops were [...]