A Daring Adventure

Don't Hate Us. Unless You Already Do. Not That I Blame You.

Okay, so, you already know our family lives in Florida. And that we're visiting them before we head to China. And that James and I were high school sweethearts here in our Hometown.


A thousand years ago.

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth.


Some (most? almost all?) things here in sleepy little Hometown never change.  


The beach is always yummily inviting, and only a few steps away (as I said, don't hate me!):





Since it's only September (it doesn't get coolish here until about November), it's still warm out on the beach:





This next picture is pretty much a free (FREE!) ad for Nikon, which is both the kind of camera that I have AND the kind of lenses that I use, even though my favorite lens broke randomly a week or two ago and I had to mail it into Nikon AND THEY DON'T MAIL TO DPO ADDRESSES, so they won't mail it to me in Chengdu once they fix it. DARNIT.  


But, my current issues with Nikon notwithstanding, I just *love* my camera and my lenses.  Just look what they can do:





Oh yes, there are some fabulous photo opportunities in Florida.


Floridian sunrises are gorgeous, and worth waking up for:











Know what else? 


Florida wildlife wears weaponry on its face.  But is still pretty:





If you don't think that the above beak is "weaponry," then I invite you to get really close to that bird while holding something in your hand that it wants to eat. 


Let me know how that goes for you.


Here's another picture I've taken recently that I adore.  I call it "And This is Pretty Much What I Look Like From My Husband's Perspective ALL THE TIME:"






As for us, today is Thursday.  This weekend we will leave quiet little Hometown, FL and start our winding journey to Chengdu, China (our new post).  


We're making a few stops along the way for meetings here and happenings there, etc., so we're not going to get to post for, like, a whole 'nother week or something... but it's getting close.


It's getting realllllllllllly close.


And as interesting as travel/going to new places/experiencing new things is... it's hard to leave our Hometown and our families.  


Oh yes, it's VERY hard to leave.

Something Not At All Controversial!

(On MY BLOG!  Imagine that!)

Today, when James and I were going back to FSI after our lunch break (we go home at lunch to see the children, cook food for them and us, etc.) there were - and I mean this firmly - NO. PARKING. SPACES.


Not a single blessed one.

So for the first time ever at FSI, James was forced to parallel park around the outside of the main parking lot.  He was gnashing his teeth, but it had to be done, because we can't just drive around for a hundred million years and miss class.  I teasingly told him that we'd come back out to the lot later after class and find our car booted, but happily, that didn't happen.  We were blessed! 


And speaking of blessed, at some point soon winter will be over.  And before that happens, if I don't hurry up and post these pictures, I'll miss my chance.  And I have to post them, because they make me happy, and darnit all, we all need more happiness in our lives.  I can't even begin to describe how happy it makes me to look outside and watch our feathery and furry friends!
















I think I have one more set of these winter-y bird photos, and I'm sure I will inflict them upon you quite soon. 

In the meantime, have a wonderful week, and if you're a blogger, don't forget to stop by Stephanie's blog (Where in the World Am I?) and participate in this week's RoundUp about bathrooms overseas!

What a Wonderful World (or: Snow and Wildlife)!

[Quick RoundUp update:  Thank you so much, Nomads by Nature, for the wonderful RoundUp that you did yesterday!  Next week's RoundUp will be hosted by Becky at the blog Small Bits!  She's doing a Photo Round Up for this week, and you can read more about it here!]


As for us, the big news here this week was the SNOW! 


My younger son, Zachary, has been desperately praying for snow.  We're from Florida, you see, and so my guys just really haven't seen snow.


So when it started snowing this week, and the outside looked like this:





Zachary grabbed the snow shovel he had been dreaming of using and headed outside for some snowy-world sorts of fun!


Snow-starved children make excellent shovelers.  He shoveled the driveway.  He shoveled the sidewalk.  He even shoveled off the tree branches (I am not making this up). 


He shoveled and he shoveled, and then he collected all the snow he could find into a pile in the front yard, like so:





It's not the biggest pile in the world, is it?


But we must work with what we have, mustn't we?  Which ended up looking like this:






Not exactly enough snow to make a snowMAN... but more than enough snow to make a snowBLOB. 


It was the first ever snowANYTHING that he'd ever made.  And he wanted a carrot for its nose, but his royally sucky mom (Ahem.) didn't have any carrots to give to him.  So he used an Oreo for its mouth, raisins for its eyes, and sticks for its arms.  It sort of looks like something out of a Calvin and Hobbes snowman scene...but that's okay.


We were happy.  And we didn't ever want to come inside the house again.  We wanted to play out in the snow all day and all night.





In other news, over the last couple of weeks I had noticed that our backyard had lots of birds in it.  It also had a dilapidated bird feeder.  So I put two and two together and figured that the folks who lived in our rental house last had fed the birds. 

We like birds.  Birds are like flying flowers.  Plus, our family has never lived anywhere where there are beautiful songbirds that one can feed, so we headed over to Wild Birds Unlimited (the store SHOULD be called "Feed Birds Your Husband's Entire Paycheck") and bought some feeders and seed. 


The result?  Happy family (we have LOVED watching the birds!), and happy Virginia wildlife!  For behold:





And...

And...






The feeder shown in the pictures above is squirrel-proof, which means that after 12 hours of hanging, there's still some seed left in it.  Not a lot, mind you, but at least it's not empty yet.  For this is what the ancient feeder left behind by the other people who lived here looks like:





Whenever there's food in it, that feeder comes complete with its own squirrel.


Which is fine, actually, since we are a squirrel-liking sort of family.  We put food out for them, too.  But wowzers, folks... if we hadn't bought a squirrel-proof feeder, those tiny birds you see pictures of, above, wouldn't have any seed left over to eat! 


                                               ~    ~    ~

 

Also, I just have to thank each and every one of you wonderful folks who contributed your fantastic comments to my last post about language training at FSI.  I'm working on adding more information to what I've put up, and y'all's comments were just phenomenal.  You guys are such a blessing! 

Wings of Death (or: One Less Fish in the World)

The boys and I are still in Florida, hanging out at my parents' condo on the beach. 


Newz includes:  we have a contract on our house.  Mercifully, it's with a different family than the crazy psycho people from the other day.  The contract now goes into the ten day period within which they have inspections done to our house, etc.    


Also, my son Matthew has officially completed his Eagle Scout project and is awaiting his Eagle Scout Board of Review (almost like a really big and REALLY stressful job interview!) tonight (Tuesday) at 7 pm EST.  If he is passed at his Board of Review tonight by the Board members (folks from Council, the Church who hosts our Troop, and other adults in leadership capacities), he will be an Eagle Scout.  Updates later. 

 
In all honesty, being here at the condo has been almost all work and no play.  We haven't been down to the beach in DAYS.  Actually... we haven't been down to the beach since I took the last pictures I posted.  So I'm about to recycle some pictures here, because I can't NOT post these... 

~  ~  ~

     

Circling overhead, over the surf and beach, are the Osprey.  (Ospreys?)





The Ultimate Fish-Hunting Machine.  


Eyesight so sharp that this osprey can circle over the ocean at a height that is taller than my parents' seven story condominium... and then dive in a split second into the water at the speed of a bullet and grab an unfortunate fish.


I have never seen an osprey miss.  Once a fish is targeted, the fish is doomed.


Circling overhead, the osprey scans the sea:    





A fish is targeted.  The osprey begins its downward hurtle toward the ocean:





A moment before impact with the water (and the fish).  The talons are aimed down into the water, the head/eyes are focused on the fish, the wings are tucked behind the bird... almost like a feathered torpedo:





Splash!!






All we see are the tips of its wings sticking out from above the water, but you can be sure that talons are meeting fish.


And, indeed - the osprey is victorious: 
 
          

 


Like I said - I've never seen one miss.  

   


   


As the osprey rises from the water and begins to fly back to wherever the osprey calls home, it shakes the water off itself in mid-flight.  You'll see it sort of pause while flying and shake itself - almost like a wet dog does after a bath:  
   



    

As it was flying back to its nest, it passed by some random folks swimming around in the ocean: 



     

Had they just watched the osprey capture the fish?  I don't think they had.

It's so interesting.  With nature, life and death struggles happen all around, and most of the time they are unseen.  Even when they happen so very close to us.     

Don't Hate Me...

... Even though you would, like, TOTALLY have every reason to.


Nope, don't hate me.  Here in Florida.  With these views from my parents' condo.  Of the beach:



      

See the tracks in the sand - sort of like a car tire would make - that start in the water and come up to the beach and then go back down?   The tracks are on the left hand side of the picture (in the sand) and cross each other like an X?


Turtle tracks.  A lady turtle dragged her tired, heavily-pregnant self up out of the water, dug her deep nest (one flipper scoop of sand after another), laid her multiple dozens of eggs, covered her nest with sand (one flipper scoop of sand after another), and then dragged her exhausted-but-no-longer-pregnant self back into the ocean.  Right outside my parents' condo.  
 

We went down to the beach yesterday.  

There were shells: 

 


There were birds:
  



A great blue heron.    
  
 


A brown pelican.
  


     

An osprey.


There are waves:
   


    

And there are rocks in the surf:



  

Which would require surf adventurers to wear special protective footwear: 

   


   

The green-toed Vibram Five Fingered feet, above, would belong to my father.  Which means that my father has now succumbed to the Cyberbones Peer Pressure.  Although - full disclosure - I do have to tell you that he is having a terrible time with them because they are giving him wicked blisters on his heels.  But at low tide, there are serious rocks sticking up out of the water:



    

So feet must be prepared.


But it's okay!  We try to go down to the ocean at low tide, because...

Fun things live under the rocks.  (And you can see them if you're wearing a mask.  Which we, of course, DO.)



 

Things like...

 



Crabs.  

   
So you have to be careful!  Those things have claws!


Know why else you should be careful in the water?   Things even MORE dangerous than CRABS are out there.  Lurking in the water, ready to strike at any moment...
 




SHARKS.  See the scary dorsal fin sticking up out of the water?  Telltale sign it's a shark.


And it's not just ANY shark.  Oh no!  It's actually a...

Man-eating shark!

(I know... I know... *GROAN* right?)        

 

But it's okay.  No grandfathers were harmed in the making of this blog post!

When we'd been in the water long enough, we climbed the boardwalk back up to the condo:





And continued on with our day.  
 

My poor husband.  He's missing it all.  


Away in the middle of nowhere, training for something or other.  But - if Daddy doesn't work, we do not eat.  Right?  So the children and I are here, and he is not.     


Love you, Honey!  Thank you for being such a hard worker.  And when you DO get back here sometime, be careful.  The man-eating-shark is hungry. It strikes when you least expect it.  You've been warned. 


:)      

  

    

       
      

Mrs. Hobbs Takes a Vacation. And Some Pictures of Some Birds.

Did anyone else grow up watching Jimmy Stewart movies? 


Because I grew up watching:

and other movies just like it.


Let me clue you in.  Lovable Jimmy Stewart goes on a vacation, and part of the subplot is a thread about how he's DYING to birdwatch and see some great birds on vacation... but all he EVER seems to see is the same kind of (normal, everyday) bird...

The Barn Swallow.


So all throughout the movie, you hear him muttering in frustration, "Barn Swallow!"  each and every time he sees a bird.  The Barn Swallows.  They're everywhere.


Which meant that, growing up, my parents would QUOTE this.  We'd go somewhere, and see a pretty bird, and my mother would tell us all that it's probably a BARN SWALLOW, just like what always happened to poor Jimmy Stewart in this movie. 


Time goes by.


I grow up.


I arrive in Virginia two weeks ago.


My family is sick.  Drama happens.  My family is sick again.  I don't touch my camera for TWO WEEKS, until this morning, when I've absolutely HAD IT and I have to go outside and take pictures.


Upon exiting my Oakwoodish abode, I instantly see two birds.  Gorgeous!  Lovely!








I am thrilled and enchanted!









They're so pretty!  And so colorful!!

They even pose for me!  Who lucks out like that?

I am beside myself with joy.


I come back to my apartment.  I Oooohh! and Aaaaahh! over the pictures.  I crop and edit and pinch myself for my great good fortune.  Such pretty birds!  Such lovely colors!!


I get ready to start this blog post.  I know that I want to be able to tell you just exactly what these pretty birds are.  I Google "Virginia Birds" and start looking.

And then I find them.


(I think you know where this is going.)

And I hear my mother.  And Jimmy Stewart.  Both in my mind simultaneously:


BARN SWALLOW!!!!


I kid you not. 

(But what pretty little Barn Swallows they are!!) 


(And, for anyone who cares, these pictures were taken with my Nikon Nikkor 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 VRII lens,)