Motorcycle Ride to Pine Island

As we came across the bridge onto Pine Island, we saw that they were still working on the new bridge.  We wondered if the entire road was being widened.  If so, what will happen to all the little houses and shops just across the bridge in the small town of Matlache.

The road is dotted with shops and restaurants, all clustered nearly on top of the road.

It's like they had a contest to see who could produce the most colorful storefront.

Past the village of Matlache, all evidence of town disappeared as we entered an area where the wetlands are being restored.  On a bike, your senses are all involved.  Here the smell of decaying foliage was very strong.

We turned north at the end of the road.  The north end of Pine Island is dotted with nurseries.  The swamp smell was replaced by orange blossom smell.  

It is always hard to believe a tall palm tree is supported by such a tiny root system.  Yet, they withstand hurricane force winds occasionally, as Pine Island is a barrier island.

Bokeela, another small village, sits at the far north end of the island.

Captain Don's Fish Restaurant is an extremely popular place.  In the middle of the day on a Wednesday, we had to wait for a table.

Our friends, Fran and Patti, were our companions for this trip.

Another day in paradise!  We are happy to be back in Florida, if only for a few days this trip.

Kolomoki Mounds and Providence Canyon State Parks

Sunday morning in SW Georgia dawned bright and sunny but cold.  We decided to take our visitors from Michigan to brunch at one of our favorite places for real southern cooking, Magnolia's on Main in Blakely.

It looks like a residence and is in a residential neighborhood, but the food is genuine southern cooking.  Even trying only a tiny bit of everything on the buffet racked up the calories, and the desserts were too divine to pass up, so we all vowed to eat nothing more for the rest of the day.  To do penance, we even took a couple of walks.

First stop, Kolomoki Mounds State Park.  We first stopped by Kolomaki Lake, where the water was high and muddy from our past week of rain.

The Temple Mound is the highest mound of the five on the site.

At the museum, a partially excavated mound offers a glimpse into the history of the Kolomoki and of the excavation of burial sites.

Mom and I had seen the movie on prior visits, so we sat on the porch in the sun while our guests enjoyed the show.

We weren't too far from Providence Canyon, so we decided to take our guest by another local site.  The official word is that the canyons were formed when the steep land was farmed. 

The canyons are really beautiful with the multiple colored layers.  Clearly, they are still in an advancing stage as the fencing around the canyon has been moved back several feet from our last visit.

We all enjoyed the walk along the rim of the canyon, and another visitor took a picture for us to remember.

Spring has Sprung in SW Georgia

This may be the earliest we have ever seen the azaleas in bloom around Lake Eufaula.  We started seeing a few blooms a week or so ago, but now they are all fully in bloom.

The Japanese Magnolia are nearly done blooming, but the spirea are starting - see the white plant at the base of the Magnolia.

It is strange to see the spring flowers when some trees are still bare of leaves and some Christmas decorations are still hanging.

The annual tour of antebellum mansions in the city of Eufuala is the first week in April.  Usually this coincides with azalea and dogwood blooms.  This year, the azalea at least will be long finished with their blooms.

Carolina Creeper

Lorapetalum

Red Bud

Cherry

Hyacinth

Camelia

and freshly plowed fields all tell us the groundhog was right - at least for SW Georgia.

Sun setting over Lake Eufaula

Nearly every day, nature provides this show.  We never tire of watching the sun go down over the lake, and can't seem to stop taking pictures of it.  Every evening is different and every one seems more beautiful than the last.

A Stormy Night in Georgia

It's been stormy and windy all day with white caps on the water and wind out of the south.  The good side of this is the wind is warm.

The warm weather has brought out spring blooms early.  I saw my first iris in bloom this morning, and some of the azaleas are even blooming.

After watching the waves hammer the docks for hours, we suddenly saw big black clouds headed our way.  In the next 20 minutes, we saw the rain gauge fill to the one inch mark.  

Now we're back to more wind out of the south, but no more rain.  It's supposed to get colder next week.  The farmers will be happy for that.  They've been worried about the lack of cold weather and what it means for the bug population.

Within about 30 seconds, the wind shifted to the north, typical of a tornado pattern.  Sure enough, the power went out and we sat in the semi-dark for several hours.  We feel fortunate that all we had was a brief reminder of how dependent we are on the grid.  Other places in Georgia got hammered much worse tonight.

Georgia on Dwellable

Lemons and Coincidences

We knew we had a lot of lemons on our "satsuma" tree when we left Georgia and headed down to Florida a month or so ago.  We weren't thinking about them too much as we had invited the whole neighborhood to come and pick all they wanted.  However, when we got back up here, we realized that our lemon crop was bigger than our neighborhood could handle.

The ground under the tree was littered with lemons that had fallen.

The top of the tree was still covered with lemons.

Some were even low enough and on the outside of the tree where I could reach them without the tree attacking me (citrus is notorious for its thorns).

Ron helped me pick up the fallen lemons for the compost pile.

Then, coincidentally, my friend Karen sent me this email:

 All it is.....is a frozen lemon
> 
> Many professionals in restaurants and eateries are using or consuming
> the entire lemon and nothing is wasted. How can you use the whole
> lemon without waste?
> 
> Simple.. place the washed lemon in the freezer section of your
> refrigerator. Once the lemon is frozen, get your grater, and shred the
> whole lemon (no need to peel it) and sprinkle it on top of your
> foods.
> 
> Sprinkle it to your vegetable salad, ice cream, soup, cereals,
> noodles, spaghetti sauce, rice, sushi, fish dishes, whisky.... the
> list is endless.
> 
> All of the foods will unexpectedly have a wonderful taste, something
> that you may have never tasted before. Most likely, you only think of
> lemon juice and vitamin C. Not anymore.
> 
> Now that you've learned this lemon secret, you can use lemon even in
> instant cup noodles.
> 
> What's the major advantage of using the whole lemon other than
> preventing waste and adding new taste to your dishes?
> 
> Well, you see lemon peels contain as much as 5 to 10 times more
> vitamins than the lemon juice itself. And yes, that's what you've been
> wasting.
> 
> But from now on, by following this simple procedure of freezing the
> whole lemon, then grating it on top of your dishes, you can consume
> all of those nutrients and get even healthier.
> 
> It's also good that lemon peels are health rejuvenators in eradicating
> toxic elements in the body.
> 
> So place your washed lemon in your freezer, and then grate it on your
> meal every day. It is a key to make your foods tastier and you get to
> live healthier and longer! That's the lemon secret! Better late than
> never, right? The surprising benefits of lemon!Lemon (Citrus) is a
> miraculous product to kill cancer cells.
> It is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy.
> 
> 
> Why do we not know about that? Because there are laboratories
> interested in making a synthetic version that will bring them huge
> profits.
> 
> You can now help a friend in need by letting him/her know that lemon
> juice is beneficial in preventing the disease. Its taste is pleasant
> and it does not produce the horrific effects of chemotherapy.
> 
> How many people will die while this closely guarded secret is kept, so
> as not to jeopardize the beneficial multimillionaires large
> corporations?
> 
> As you know, the lemon tree is known for its varieties of lemons and limes.
> 
> You can eat the fruit in different ways: you can eat the pulp, juice
> press, prepare drinks, sorbets, pastries, etc... It is credited with
> many virtues, but the most interesting is the effect it produces on
> cysts and tumors.
> 
> This plant is a proven remedy against cancers of all types. Some say
> it is very useful in all variants of cancer. It is considered also as
> an anti microbial spectrum against bacterial infections and fungi,
> effective against internal parasites and worms, it regulates blood
> pressure which is too high and an antidepressant, combats stress
> and nervous disorders.
> 
> The source of this information is fascinating: it comes from one of
> the largest drug manufacturers in the world, says that after more than
> 20 laboratory tests since 1970, the extracts revealed that It destroys
> the malignant cells in 12 cancers, including colon, breast, prostate,
> lung and pancreas...
> 
> The compounds of this tree showed 10,000 times better than the product
> Adriamycin, a drug normally used chemotherapeutic in the world,
> slowing the growth of cancer cells.
> 
> 
> And what is even more astonishing: this type of therapy with lemon
> extract only destroys malignant cancer cells and it does not affect
> healthy cells. So, give those lemons a good wash, freeze them and
> grate
> them. Your whole body will love you for it!!!!!
> 
> Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly.

Which inspired me to pick a couple of dozen and freeze them!  I have gotten into natural salves and tinctures and will not do more experimenting to see how I can add lemon parts and pieces to my recipes!

Out of Alaska to Florida

My folks arrived in Florida on Saturday, January 12, 2013.  After weeks of being more or less shut in by the weather, they started enjoying swimming in the outdoor pool,

and dipping their feet in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dick and I decided to go snorkeling,

But even though the water was pretty warm, we couldn't see a thing because the waves stirred up so much sand.

Meanwhile, Ron looked for treasure using his metal detector.  He did find one earring and tons of pop tops.

 Dick doesn't like snakes - so the many stuffed snakes at the Linger Lodge made him anxious.

We did have a nice walk in the sun there.

Dick has worked an entire jigsaw puzzle in his spare time.

We're going out tomorrow to see the Lipizzaner training sessions, then on to our homes in Georgia on Sunday.