Free Range Friday ~ From Florida

I didn't really cook much this week, or it didn't seem very interesting when I did. Maybe it was but it pales in comparison to photos my brother made sure I saw of a meal he and a buddy made the other night. Sort of a brotherly love torture thing. All the food photos were taken by Robert Bowman - I stole them. It's the least I could do.

Stone crab claws and my happy brother Jonny

With corn on the cob, Robert says no GMO's were used here. He hopes.

And hash browns

Yes yes, I get the picture. You owe me so bad, Jonny!

Jonny told me he felt like a tick after this meal. A full tick. Good.

Prepping the strawberries for the strawberry shortcake dessert. I want to go to Robert's for dinner. Right now.

Beauty!

I haven't seen, let alone eaten, stone crab claws for many, many years. When we lived near the beach growing up in Florida, Jonny would catch them, take one claw and toss them back in, which is the sustainable way to do it. My Dad was a good teacher and cool about food before the word foodie was ever invented. He was cool about a lot of things in the natural world. Thanks, Dad! You can read all about harvesting stone crabs here. In the article it mentions that recreational crabbing is done with snorkels or scuba, but we just caught them in the surf, no equipment except quick hands and a bucket.

What else is going on? This rooster has a flock of hens he keeps in line across the street on Housesitting Hill. I can see why, he's gorgeous!

Across the road from Seabourne - on the water side - we saw this duck. His feet have serious claws, including a spur on the back. You can't see it here but on his head, that dark line is a crest of short feathers. He only put it up a couple of times and it was quite impressive. I couldn't decide if he was beautiful or ugly, but he was all about friendly. I think he's been fed by humans and we were empty handed. Sorry, Duck!

The moon last night. I don't know how it could be more full, but tonight it will be official so don't forget to look up!

Happy Valentine's Day to all who live in my heart!

"All my friends and lovers, what if we're a 1000 miles apart?

There's no distance in the heart, it's got you covered."

from an old Cowboy tune

Have a fearless Friday! Do something faithfully.

Tracking Sharks (the in-the-water kind)

My brother turned me on to this site that tracks tagged sharks around the world last night, and I've been playing with it ever since. There are lots of variables possible for choosing what to see and how to see it. Of course, I could read a help section, but why do that when clicking possibilities makes it all an oh wow surprise?

Even though the moon was one day from completely full - meaning tonight will be completely full - this Hunter moon, this Blood moon, this (my favorite) Sanguine moon caught me completely as it rose almost centered in my window. The moon and the earth dance doesn't always synchronize in this perfect frame, but when they do, I'm pulled like the tides to go and greet our Mistress of the Night. Or, in this case, very early evening. Yet another reason to be grateful that the dock 'o the bay is back in place.

Depending on where you are in the world, you could experience this tonight, the last lunar eclipse of the year.

Have a watchful, whimsical and wakeful Wednesday. Do something wider.

The Wolf Moon and other ramblings

Last night was the apex of the Wolf Moon. I got a message from Dakity that it was big, it was beautiful and that I should be in my yard taking photos. In my yard, there was no moon in the sky. A long wait of  about 30 more minutes saw la bella luna crest my hill in its glory. By then it was only barely tinged with yellow, but it was still beautiful. Very beautiful. I did a little moon dance and howled a bit in honor of being lunarly blessed.

A fitting ending for a day that started like this:

Well, it wasn't really quite like that, but by the time I got to that shot, I was a little retina sun blasted and couldn't really see to adjust the settings - so what the camera took wasn't truly what was going on. It was more like this; lovely but not as dramatic. 

Hey, I'm only the person behind the curtain...

In other big Culebra news (to me; and being the center of my own universe and all...it's big news) my hot sauce is finally back on the cart again, making it look a lot more normal to me. You know how you might take out a favorite chair or piece of well used kitchen equipment for some reason, the gaping hole it leaves, even if it goes unnoticed by many others? That's how the cart has been feeling to me. Now its balance is back~! And pssssst...all you people with orders? They really will be in the mail either today or tomorrow!

Aren't they pretty?

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Don't forget to mark your calendar for this Sunday and the Trae tu Silla event. Trae tu silla means Bring Your Seat and that is for real. This is going to be held at the theater by the airport...you get there by driving down the RUNWAY side of the airport road. After the speed bump, you'll go about a half a block, keeping an eye to your left. There are entrance gates and that's where you'll turn in. Bring your seat or something to put your seat on, beverages, snacks, whatever you like and spend an afternoon with friends and neighbors watching a variety of performances. What sort? I'm not exactly sure, but I'm ready to be surprised. All I know is I've heard it is going to be good, it's free and it's different. What's not to like?

Sunday January 23 ~ 2:00 - 4:00

I'm not at all sure how it got to be this late in January already. The year is almost 1/12 over with...wow! I know it really is winter because I'm eating Mary Jane's. And that means George and Jane are here. Because I, who never ate a Mary Jane in my life - because the package and candy itself sort of scared me (this is from the same company that makes Necco wafers, those off true colors discs that taste like flavored chalk and...well, just take a close look at Mary Jane) will eat them when they come from George. He makes them friendly and somehow, they don't taste anything like they look, if handed to me by George. Otherwise, don't even try to get me to eat one.

And no, my name is not Mary Jane

There, now you know everything I know. Yes, sometimes it really is as simple as it seems to live here. And so am I.

Have a thankful Thursday! Do something timely.

Sunset Moonshine

(This, of course, was supposed to already be here, but technical difficulties prevailed. We're back in biz this morning)

I'm not even sure what happened to yesterday...it was one of those "I'm tired" days that I rarely ever have, but so it was, the upshot was the day getting lost in a low grumble. Until sunset. A nap, a long walk with the dogs, a shower, a little dinner and I felt like I'd climbed right out of my dusty self into light. Stepping out on the balcony to watch the sunset just took me into a higher dimension that lasted the rest of the night...when dreams took over what the day left undone.

This view from one balcony

led me to the side balcony...

 

Where I wanted to learn how to fly...

 

closer and closer to the moon

 

so I did...

 

Can you see the profiles of the man and woman kissing in the moon? I hope so! Have a moon shadow Tuesday! Do something radiant.

From the moon to the music

Last night's full moon kept getting caught in the trees. It was blindingly bright, scattering leaf reflections like sparkler firefly stars.

Dawn's colors - a subtle flare on sky and water that wasn't really subtle at all...

As I was lugging my now fixed dinghy engine (thank you Keekay - spelled wrong, heart right) down the yard, I saw 3 black parrots up in the acacia tree. The camera was only feet away but they flew before I could capture them digitally. The hummingbird was too far in shadow, the sugar quit too flit obsessed. And the thrush, I'd really like to shoot. So it was back to my I'm-never-tired-of-them pelicans.

A Culebra Sunday on the water. It's going to be a good day.

Full Moon Follies

A friend of mine is coming home. Well, as much as home is home to those of us who roam, and this friend is a far flung roamer. So I need to be on another island in a week and a half and the best way to get there is by boat (best meaning not paying the price of a ticket to Europe by flying 15 miles). I headed to the bar and had one great offer. As sailors know though, one offer needs plan B and C and maybe D as a back up. I'd heard some friends of mine were out at Dakity and I knew they'd be headed in the right direction so I turned to the mouth of the bay in a gusty wind and headed in that direction.

The waves were bouncy and the wind was brisk, but because I was headed in exactly the right direction, I only got misted, not splashed. And the farther I went, the more fun it became, a reminder of old days on sailing ships far out to sea. Of course, this was my imagination, but I have a good one. I thought about a time off the coast of southern Spain when a force 8 was blowing and we'd lost one out of two engines and there was no hidey hole ...except maybe there was...this little town slightly tucked into the coast where maybe we could tie up. Capt. Frank took off in the dinghy while I drove the boat with an untried helper along for the ride. We drove in big circles around the slight bay, wind howling, waves high. I could look not so far to shore and see people lining up on the wharf, watching us. I looked out to sea and watched container ships coming in to escape the storm. Timing my circles around container ships with one engine...terrifying but incredibly exhilarating...in some weird way. Then along comes Frank in the dinghy, with two others. New trick pony...can't stop, must not run over them, must make it work. We did it! And then, knowing we had a place to go, bless those boys, we came in and lashed up beside a pristine sailboat that had just been finished for charter...so brave, so kind that man! And this giant of a Spaniard pulled me over the rail and hugged me saying, 'You're safe now.' I was pretty sure, despite my lack of religion, that he was truly an angel, and of course started sobbing - which lasted a minute until laughter took over and someone handed me a glass of wine and everything was good.

And THAT was why I was laughing all the way out to Dakity, even though plan B didn't work out - but maybe plan E... I forgot about why I'd had to come ashore, my arm that decided it was older than my mind and brought me to Culebra. Taking another friend to the Seabourne dock, bouncing off and away made me forget more...I remember this sort of fun! It kept me laughing most of the way back. And singing loud songs until I hit my own dock and saw people I knew coming down to get their own dinghy to their boat. As I headed up the path home the guy started singing the song I was singing when I came in....life is good.

On a full moon late afternoon. With a post I'll later on think, should I post this? But instead, I will and hope you are having a great full moon day and night of your own.