A Mother's Day Story

Mothering takes a lot of different forms from adopting animals, taking grandchildren in to rear, and our of course raising your own children.  In nature there is another whole world of mothering going on regardless if the offspring is a product of egg or live bearing.  Our latest venture into offspring rearing came in the gallery door via a story reader, in the form of a young squirrel which although probably not orphaned, had been captured by her cat which had already destroyed the nest and killed the other siblings.

After a couple of months inside she is now out in the big wide world, this canopy of Live Oak Trees which extends throughout our whole neighborhood.  This is the direction she has chosen after trials and tribulations in other directions to focus her existence.  She spends a lot of time in the neighboring yard because they have more exposed sand, which is covered with acorns (although they are mostly bad) for her to hide.  She can usually be spotted and distinguished from the other squirrels with the meticulous way she hides those nuts.  She is very, very through, digging a deep hole and covering for a long time then patting and smoothing the earth so that you would never know a nut was buried there.  I hope to get a video of that for you all to see, it's hilarious to watch.


We like for our children to come back for visits even though they are growing older and more independent.  Lacy (the Lucky One) is usually around for those visits in the morning and again in the evening.  She stays around more the days I am home because I often leave the back door partially open, and it is nothing to walk into the kitchen and have a squirrel land on my shoulder.  She still, if she can finagle it, likes to take a nap on the top of the kitchen fridge.


We like for our kids to have a balanced diet.  Lacy has lost some of her love of sweet potatoes and green beans that used to be a main stay with her and will only eat a little of that now.  She does still enjoy her fresh corn but likes pecans most of all, with sunflowers running a close second.  Unfortunately the sunflowers are like candy to them and you really don't want that to be their main diet.


When the Chickadees moved out we almost had Bluebirds move in but they found there was way too much traffic on our back patio with Lacy and us out there a lot in the  morning and early evening and finally gave up, moving on to another spot.  I will move the birdhouse a bit further from our back door soon.  


An invasion took place at the Port a couple of weekends ago.  We were invaded by the French.  In celebration of 450 years since Jean Ribault's landing on our shores a couple of French Tall Sailing Ships re-visted, but in a friendly non combative atmostphere.  The sunlight was doing a dramatic dance on the sides of the boats as I made my way to the docks to see the ships.


Although beautiful, they are somewhat small for the voyage across the Atlantic they had just made. I really wanted to see them under sail.  With their 10 pm arrival and departure that was not to be.


We had our own welcoming committee to greet them as two of our own Great White Egrets found the front sails a great place to hang out.


Definitely a French touch in the decorative accents on the ships.


Working hard on my painting it is nearing completion here with the addition of Moon Jellies, one of our own native species as well as the beautiful Green Turtle I chose to represent our Sea Turtles.  Now I had to decide on which species of fish I wanted to school below the turtle.


After researching a lot of fish I decided on the Blue Fish which does travel in schools and it not too bright to take away from the Sea Turtle which I wanted to retain the center of attention.  And now it is finished after working all weekend of Shrimp Festival, not even leaving to go check out the hundreds of booths on the streets.  It was a hot weekend anyway.  The painting is now personally delivered and hung on the walls of its new owners, overlooking the ocean below, which this is to represent.


We have a pair of beautiful orange headed Skinks on the back patio.  This fellow lives underneath the water fountain on the patio.  I have seen another one which is a bit larger on the other side of the patio, so who knows, we may have baby Skinks soon.  The short stubby tail they both have is a result of a near death experience.  Something grabbed them but as nature would have it they are able to detach the tail and leave it wiggling for the predator while they make a swift get away.


We are learning to see a lot going on in our backyard as we sit and wait for our little girl to come home from her busy day of gadding about.  A wren sits atop the ladder and sings his song seranading for anyone who will listen.  The whole family of Chickadees flit around us occasionally checking out their old home, a squirrel and a mockingbird have a squabble over territory up in the trees.  Its a whole world of survival into which we have freed our girl.  A large hawk has been frequenting the trees around us.  Bruce called one day to say the hawk had a squirrel in the neighbors yard.  It was a great relief to know it was not our girl.  Our squirrel, not being an island girl, has a little bit grayer coat and a darker area between her nose, and also has some light areas behind her ears.


It is a great relief to have her come back in the evening to sip a drink of water, nibble some food, hide more nuts, play a while, and then scramble up to her nest box to go to sleep.  Exciting life...waiting for the squirrel to come home, but actually more like an excuse to put the rat-race aside for a few minutes relaxation.


Having a wild squirrel around which is semi tame is fun but I don't think I will do it again.  Pondering about this one living in the wild will drive you to worry way too much about their very survival.


I found out that on Mother's Day one of the busiest places in town besides restaurants is the Nail Salons.  I, though, can get my own person pedicure right on my back patio.  First the big toe...


...then making sure the others get the proper attention.


Using her bottom teeth she then gently starts scraping the surface of the skin, my own personal dermabrasion.


Moving on to the fingernails next and the job is complete.


A pecan reward, then off to nap time.


Waking up is sometimes a slow process for both mother, who has to have her coffee, and young squirrels who always take an afternoon nap.  Bruce sent this out to friends and put this underneath "We purposely didn't choose a Beagle for a pet because we didn't want it howling at the moon, and then, -this happened".  Now, now, Bruce that is just a biiiigg squirrel yawn.


A little stretching and she is almost ready to come down from her front porch.


A squirrels life is busy, busy expending so much energy that a little down time is also in order.  Sometimes after a vigorous workout wrestling with our hands and running circles around our bodies and shoulders she will just plunk down and take a rest.  You can see the whitish area behind her ears in this pose.


But the time has come to search the beach for other mothers of the egg laying variety.  Turtle Season has begun.  May 2 was my first day to hit the beach.  A lot of beach renourishment has left the beach a bit different, certainly wider in this area.  The tides have been extremely high this week with the super moon and the usual high Spring Tide.  This was before high tide, when the water completely covered this all the way over the escarpment yesterday.



The Black Billed ducks which I seem to see every year are back.  It seems odd to me that I never see ducklings.


And wonder of all wonders we had our first Sea Turtle nest on May 2, my first day of Turtle Patrol, about two weeks earlier than usual.  It was a bit unusual as someone reported seeing it late the day before, but it was not there in the morning when Marie did her patrol.  This led us to think it could possibly be a turtle of a different kind than we have ever had, possibly a Kemps Ridley, the most endangered of them all.


It was definitely a small turtle, which they are, the smallest in fact.  The tracks were a bit odd although very similar to a Loggerhead.  We commented on the unusual qualities at the time.  Anyway we will closely monitor it to be sure.  If she laid once then she should lay another couple of times this season.  Maybe we can catch her because a photograph or DNA is the only way you can prove it is a Kemps to the FWC.

Back on the River

The last workshop of our workshop season came, and as we usually do, we like to take the group on the Amelia River Cruise for a good experience and to learn a bit of what our island is all about.  This time, it was a watercolor class taught by Ken Austin.  He must have worked those ladies too hard because only he and I made the cruise.  Workshop groups are each quite different, some wanting to get out and see the sights, and others just wanting to crash after a long, hard day of painting.

We were very lucky to find my favorite crew on board, Ellyn and Captain Pajama Dave.  I love going with them as it is so entertaining and not always predictable.  Sure they say some of the same things but they are flexible as are most artists and Ellyn is an artist herself.  I was taking photos of my favorite marina subject, the reflections, when Ellyn pointed out the Manatee in the water.  Do you see it?  She knew it was there because she put it there.  It was a sculpture she did herself and tossed into the he water.  When the tide is low as it was then you can see it stick its head up.  Very cool because real Manatees come to this area frequently and had been spotted there earlier that day when the tide was higher.  It is starting to cool down so the Manatees are migrating South and up into the rivers to get closer to the springs which feed into the rivers for the warmth that some of those springs provide.  Water coming out of the ground at 74 degrees feels good on a 35 degree morning.

There were many exciting reflections happening in the water as we loaded up for the now familiar trip for some of us, but always something new too, even if it is just the sunset which never exactly duplicates itself.

The water and the light was a good time for reflections from one of the shrimpboats we passed.

A first for me was that there was no big ship docked at the marina, leaving the concrete docks to give me some very unusual reflections.  If you did not know what this was you would never guess, don't you think?

With the blue sky and the railroad cars all lined up, I thought the shapes and the lines of the whole Rock Tenn Plant interesting.  I am still a bit mad at them over the smog I saw coming from their facility on the Cumberland Trip though.

I would really like to do kayak fishing sometime.  I think that would be great fun.  It have wondered if you caught a really big fish wouldn't it propel your kayak a bit?  That might be a little added adventure.

I don't think I realized just how big this shell midden is at the mouth of Eagan's Creek next to Tiger Bay Marina.  The big Egret was using it as a good vantage point to sit and hang out for a while.

A dilemma for this fisherman.  Should he risk his footing to reach for the net nearby to land his catch or just try lifting it out without dropping it in the water.  Those oyster shells are pretty sharp.  Sure wouldn't want to risk dropping that cigarette either.

The cooler weather has brought more of the gulls onto the leeward side of the island to roost for the night.  Part of the answer to the question "where do the gulls go at night when they leave the beach?"  The gull poop makes it look like the old rusty barge is decorated with a fringe all around the top.

A large flock of Brown Pelicans fly overhead looking for a place to spend the night also.  Ellyn was saying that they always fly in a "V", but she asked, "did we know why there were always more on one side than the other?"  No one knew of course.  She said it was "because there were more on one side than the other."  OK, now I spilled her punch line.  Pretend when you go on the cruise that you don't know the answer.

Captain Dave was able to get us in close enough and early enough to see the horses.  We had to bypass the cruise by the fort to have enough time with the shorter days to make it before the horses left to go into the tree line for the night.

A great Blue Heron was hanging out at the flats, and with the tide low, the oyster beds were sticking up out of the water letting you know that wading here would risk unseen hazards for your feet with the water higher.

This is my favorite tree to photograph.  The low sun always gives it an interesting shape and color highlighting its gnarly trunk and branches contrasting with the straight lines of the palm nearby.  With fall, some of the trees have lost their leaves but not the Live Oaks.  They will lose them partially nearer springtime but will not become totally bare.

With the shorter days it becomes a rush to get into the creek and out in time to see the sunset over the islands.  We see that we are running out of time as we see it through the silhouette of the trees along the creek.  The setting sun makes the palm look as if it is a large lamp putting out the light for the night ahead.

It is only minutes before it is gone behind the tree line.  The colors in the clear cloudless sky are ever-so-softly blended with the yellows, oranges finally fading toward purple with the blues from the sky in the mix.

We still have enough light to see if we can find any more horses or birds up the creek a ways.  The calmness of the water gives us nice reflections of the creek bank which seems to move with the hundreds of Fiddler Crabs which are swarming its edge waving their big pinchers in their violin playing imitation to attract the females.

The reflections are almost mirror-like, but not quite as there is enough of a breeze to keep that from happening.  The setting sun on the opposite side gives a pink glow to the Eastern sky as well.

The Spanish Moss and twisted branches of a downed tree give a spooky feeling to the almost Halloween time frame.

The blaze from the setting sun sets the water afire also as it peeps through the tree line.

A dad was trying to get his beautiful daughter's attention as he photographed her but she was more interested in the strange lady who was also photographing her at the same time.

Now the sun is almost gone as we race toward the river to try to catch its final dip below the horizon.

We do not make it completely out into the river channel, but this is a pretty view also, just not the long reflections in the water we like to find.

The other Amelia River Cruise boat passed us with a charter group having a good time on it.  The surprise from what had appeared as a clear sky from the creek found us some colorful clouds as some promised rain clouds are moving in from the Southwest.

It gave the delayed cruise by Fort Clinch a very special view.  I may have to frame this one to go on display at the fort itself.

The light was almost too dim and the motion of the boat too much to get the focus I would have liked; we got our last glimpse of color as we neared our home port on another lovely, perfect evening excursion on the Amelia River Cruise.  Thanks to Ellyn and Dave, our crew, for making it such an enjoyable trip.