Amelia Island ~ 1

4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
Barbara and son Nate caught on film ~ 4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida

Another place we visited on vacation was Fernandina Beach, across the border in Florida, on Amelia Island. Shea had spotted some turtles here when she spent a day at the beach with friends. Because Tim is crazy about turtles we had to come see them! This place isn’t a nature sanctuary, and we found the close proximity of nature to civilization a little strange.

4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida

We were taking turns using the camera this day, too, but Tim took most of the pictures as I recall…

4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida

With a special pass recreational vehicles are allowed on this beach.

4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ gopher tortoise, Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ gopher tortoise, Amelia Island, Florida
4.8.12 ~ Amelia Island, Georgia
4.8.12 ~ gopher tortoise, Amelia Island, Florida

A few more pictures from Amelia Island tomorrow…

second blooming

fishhook cactus by Gary M. Stolz

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming that comes when you finish the life of the emotions and of personal relations; and suddenly you find – at the age of fifty, say – that a whole new life has opened before you, filled with things you can think about, study, or read about. … It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you.
~ Agatha Christie
(Women’s Words: The Columbia Book of Quotations by Women)

in a flower bell curled

New London, Connecticut
lilium medeoloides, taller than Janet
7.2.10 ~ Connecticut College Arboretum
New London, Connecticut

Now the meadow was full of flowers and dragonflies and we really enjoyed our few minutes there, but the sun was hot and we longed for the cool shade again. So we left the meadow on the other side, and wandered through the woods for a while until we stumbled across the woodland garden we found in May. No Cheshire cat to host us this time, and no other visitors. There wasn’t as much blooming as there was on our earlier visit, except for tall meadow rue, wild leek and lilium medeoloides. But the rue and lily were so lovely they more than made up for the lack of other blooms!!! In the picture above, Janet is examining an insect who was busy devouring the lily’s leaves.

lilium medeoloides ~ 7.2.10 ~ New London, Connecticut
lilium medeoloides
lilium medeoloides ~ 7.2.10 ~ New London, Connecticut
lilium medeoloides

The woods were made for the hunters of dreams,
The brooks for the fishers of song;
To the hunters who hunt for the gunless game
The streams and the woods belong.
There are thoughts that moan from the soul of pine
And thoughts in a flower bell curled;
And the thoughts that are blown with the scent of the fern
Are as new and as old as the world.

~ Sam Walter Foss
(A Trail for All Seasons: Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail in Words & Pictures)

7.2.10 ~ New London, Connecticut
tall meadow rue
7.2.10 ~ New London, Connecticut
wild leek

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.
~ Edna St. Vincent Millay
(Afternoon on a Hill)

On our way back to the exit we spotted a cactus with a few yellow blooms left on it! And, yes, we then headed for Ruby Tuesday again for those luscious strawberry lemonades! Looking forward to Shakespeare-in-the-Arboretum next week…

7.2.10 ~ New London, Connecticut
prickly pear cactus