Austin

The trip to Austin was fun.

We ate lots of delicious Tex-Mex cuisine.



We visited old friends. One of Rayne's friends collects, grows, and sells cacti and other succulents. He had multiple greenhouses filled with the most amazing plants! Of course, the only time I nearly tripped was in the cactus greenhouse.






We wandered around some shopping areas. My favorite store was called Uncommon Objects, and was the coolest antique store I've ever been in. Each area of the store presented a perfectly arranged tableau.



Austin has loads of unique, progressive shops, like this one, that sells all environmentally friendly products for the home. We saw their products (paper towels, toilet paper, and hand soap) in nearby restaurants.

We also went to Barton Springs, the famous (and gigantic) spring in the middle of the city. Actually, the spring area was created by the systematic damming of the Colorado River, so it's actually a spring run that's been cemented in. We went swimming -- in November! The water is sixty-some degrees. It felt wonderful.



On another day, in a different part of the park (and river), we went canoeing (actually, it's a reservoir called Lady Bird Lake that was created by another dam). By this point the shutter button had fallen off my camera (I'm hard on these things!), so I didn't take photos. But it was a magnificent day. We paddled in the late afternoon light up the river, toward the downtown skyline. We saw the new, "green" city hall, and slid under a bridge right as a freight train went by.

The rumors are true: Austin is a pretty cool place. (I'll get a new button for my camera soon.)

Just Call Me "Director"

I just found out that I'm on the board of directors of a newly formed non-profit organization my friend Alex is starting in the Virgin Islands. That is, I knew I would be on the board of directors, but I just found out we are officially formed! It's pretty exciting. Alex is a master scuba diver, urban planner, and environmental scientist extraordinaire. She created the organization, Nautical Farms, Inc., to grow coral in order to repopulate the decimated reefs of the U.S. Virgin Islands and simultaneously conduct environmental education, which as far as I can tell doesn't really exist down there. It's going to be awesome.

I was generously given a digital camera by Mindy, and I'm stoked to start using it. I haven't taken any photos yet, because I've been too busy. But this weekend I'm going to Austin, and I'm planning to see some of the nature-y stuff around there. I've never been to Austin. The last time I was in Texas I was hospitalized for the first time ever, so I've avoided the state since then. This trip should be more fun.

Summer, We Hardly Knew Ye

OK, I admit I'm only a little sorry summer is over. I was tired of sleeping in my living room -- especially because I recently bought new, soft sheets that I wanted to enjoy on my bed -- and there is nothing I despise more than roaches, which thrive in the heat and humidity. Plus I'm tired of wearing the same thing all the time and I want to start riding my bike to work more, which I refuse to do from about June to September.

But it is a little bittersweet to say goodbye to fresh Silver Queen corn on the cob, field peas, and boiled peanuts, not to mention a quiet college town (the students came back at the end of August).

That said, the past couple of weeks have brought us beautiful weather here. Some kind of cool breeze floated down from Canada, bringing with it clear, crisp skies and mild temperatures (the 70s). As a final farewell to summer, this weekend I went with Rayne to the Ichetucknee Springs State Park, at the north end of the river. It was idyllic. I wasn't in a great mood when we got there, but by the time we left I felt completely, utterly, blissfully happy. Not to sound hokey, but I think there's something really healing in those waters, and I don't mean the nutrient-fed algae.

After we were done swimming, we sat on the ground near the spring, enjoying the sunlight filtering through the trees and the hypnotizing turquoise of the water. I idly noticed a slight rustling in the nearby erosion-exposed, leaf-covered roots of tree on the shoreline. Curious, I kept watching, eventually seeing a snake slide silently into the water. S/he swam rapidly along the bottom toward the spring run. It was so cool! I've only ever seen a snake swim at the surface of water. Two bass chased it, either trying to scare it away or catch scraps from its meals. It was about four feet long and skinny, with dark-gray or brown blotches all down its body. I think it was either a brown water snake or midland water snake.

Poaching Hawks

This year I've noticed an unusual preponderance of hawks in Gainesville. Everywhere I go, it seems, I hear them screaming, or whatever it is called, or see them circling or perching. There's at least one hawk that lives near my house, at least one in my parents' neighborhood, and a couple in another neighborhood where I spend a lot of time.

But the best hawk-watching is at work. I have a large picture window in my cubicle that looks out onto a sort of yard outside our building. A pair of hawks lives nearby, and they like to hang out on the telephone poles, telephone wires, and trees right outside my window, cleaning their beaks, ignoring angry swooping mockingbirds, and turning their heads 180 degrees. They eat insects at the base of the poles and fly around looking for rodents or whatever. They're magnificent.

Photo by Kim

I think they're red-shouldered hawks, and I'm pretty sure they're a mated pair. Their nest is near the top of a pine tree near our parking lot, about 70 feet up. I don't have any [poached] photos of the nest, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Around May I heard some chicks peeping! But I never saw them fledge. I wonder what happened to them. Did they make it? Do they live nearby?

Photo by Kim

I have a theory about why hawks are so ubiquitous in Gainesville this year. Here it is: This fall there was a huge crop of acorns, bigger than anyone I know from North Florida can remember it being. I postulate that the population of squirrels therefore exploded, and that the hawks chowed on the squirrels, meaning more of them mated successfully, and more of those chicks survived. Anyway, it's all I got.

Photo by Jen

I never "got" birdwatching until a couple of years ago. Before that, I was all, who cares about birds? But there's nothing like living in L.A. for two years to remind you what's so amazing about North Florida. A couple of years ago I started spending a lot of my free time canoeing on various Florida rivers and paying close attention to wildlife. The more I learned, the more in awe of birds I was. There's something very satisfying about paying careful attention to the plants and animals of a place. I'm not sure I can articulate it more clearly than saying it just makes me feel more alive.


Note: I still don't have a camera, as you can see. These photos were poached from my co-workers. (Thanks!) Until I get another digital camera, I'll try to keep the blog up as much as I can with other people's photos.

Sad News

I think I finally managed to break my digital camera. The blog is on a hiatus until I win the lottery.

Also...

Kim just showed me how to stitch a panorama together in Photoshop. If you click on it it gets bigger.


In this photo I am standing with a "world famous" banana daquiri at some weird tourist trap called Mountaintop, which is, you guessed it, at the top of a mountain.

That's Magen's Bay down below, and you can see the side bits of some hurricane (Gustav?) blowing quickly through in the background. Magen's Bay, incidentally, is named after the daughter of some famous Florida guy named Fairchild (can't figure out his first name...). The Fairchilds, who created the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in South Florida, lived in St. Thomas, or had a house there, and have bequeathed a large swath of property to the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands to preserve in perpetuity. Alex said this land is actually totally neglected -- there is no management plan -- and no public outreach and education, which is sad.

Back, with Gills

I have returned from my trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands.


I visited my friend Alex, who lives on St. Thomas. She is a scuba instructor and got me my open-water certification!

Scuba diving is amazing. Breathing underwater and coming close to all of these otherwise inaccessible plants and animals is indescribably cool.

We also went snorkeling about three different times, once after we took a kayak out in a bay on a beautiful day.






It's unbelievably beautiful there.



Then I left. :(


Thanks, Alex and Ed!