Chinese Takeout: Day 906 The ABC's of the Swamp

Isn't she lovely?

Isn't he beautiful?! How I have missed the
furry beast! It was so good to see my boy again.
Ellie has been wonderful about keeping him
while I have been living in China. He doesn't
know it yet, but big adventures are in store for
him, too. Momma bought a new (to me) sailboat
and he will sail the high seas one day again, soon :)
Willis T. Cat. Cat. I <3 him.

This gurrrrrlllll! I don't even know what this was about!

Len and I met up with Ellie for dinner in downtown Ft. Myers, then it was a sleepover for Momma at her place- which meant we cleaned her apartment, swept the floors, did the dishes, rearranged her bedroom, and cleaned her closet!

It happens every time I come home to her, lol.

She is preparing for a big move this spring. First to Oregon, then to Japan this summer. Her entire life must fit in her car for the cross country drive. We made a Goodwill donation run, and dumped three garbage bags in the trash the next morning. She's off to a good start!

I never even made it to the beach when I was home this time,
but Ellie shared her latest sunset photo with me. She goes to the
beach nearly every day she has off work. It's her happy place :)

Ellie had a doctor's appointment the next morning, and it was
one of those Momma moments that I have missed the last several
years. Of course my girls are both adults now, but it's nice to know
they still occasionally want their Momma. I was reading in the
waiting room after she was called back, and a few minutes later,
she came to get me. It was like she was back in high school!
She wasn't feeling so good after her appointment, and
she really needed a heating pad. We improvised, and hit the
Taco Bell drive thru! A bean burrito never felt, (for her) or
tasted (for me) so good. There's no Taco Bell in Beijing.
(Momma did buy her a heating pad later in the day.)

Nothing will beat feeling 'punk' like a walk
in a swamp- just mother and daughter.

Armed with our 'ABC's Children's Checklist',
we set out on the trail for some bird watching.

The swamp was really beautiful, but we were
getting discouraged....not a bird or even a
damn gray squirrel to be found anywhere!

Then we met little ol' Lois...clearly we were not outfitted for the task!

She let us look through her binoculars at some baby alligators
frolicking in the swamp. This big boy was just sunbathing-
no binoculars needed, he was at least 10 feet long!

Not doing so hot on spying the wildlife, we identified
plants and trees instead, like P is for Pickerelwed.

L is for Lichens, which I did not know was a symbiotic
relationship between algae and fungus, growing on trees.
You learn something every day. It looks like paint splatters to me.

S is for Swamp Lily...

...and Strangler Fig, that binds around the Cypress trees.

Fortunately, the Strangler Fig does not kill its
host tree. It's fruit is a favorite of woodpeckers,
and we saw a P is for a Pileated Woodpecker
later in the day. He was so high up, we couldn't
get a photo of him.

The boardwalk was beautiful.

P is for a (Saw) Palmetto, and
a Pretty Girl <3

We took a detour out to the central marsh,

hoping to see a W for White Tailed Deer...

...we got nothin'. Though we did see three deer in a field
of potatoes on the drive back home!

We headed back in the swamp...see anything?

We felt like "eyes were upon" us, but I'll be damned if we could spot anything!

Then we spotted a G is for Green Heron, as still as a statue.

Next we saw an A is for Anhinga; things were looking up!

E is for (snowy) Egret, which we learned was
almost hunted to extinction for their elegant
breeding plumes which were sewn on to ladies'
hats in the early 1900's, at the height of the
Victorian Era. The Audubon Society stepped in
and stopped the wasteful slaughter, and the
Snowy Egret is the symbol of the NAS still today.