White sand, swaying palm trees, and the birds

This week in Naples has zoomed by. Thanksgiving is looming and Christmas madness is peeking through here and there. Here in balmy Florida Xmas decorations went up in our community this week. Hard to swallow. The best part, and really the only part I should concentrate on, is that both occasions will mean we have family getting together.

Let's talk about our over 40 year old dieffenbachia plants, a very early anniversary gift from Mark, that we have taken with us literally everywhere we've lived, transported back and forth from summer and winter homes, even overnight fed-Xed once. Yes, I'm a teeny bit crazy where these plants are concerned. Realized last spring the two remaining plants were in a death spiral barely surviving yet another crackly dry, super cold winter and down to Florida they came to stay. The three, they reproduced another as I chopped and repotted a gangly one, live happily outside in our screened in lanai. and if they could speak they would shout, "We must stay here." Wish I'd thought to take a photo of the sad death rattle plants before we brought them down.

Beach bound again this week. It's my big nature fix here and five minutes away so I go quite often. And this visit also included a weird version of The Birds.

They gathered in the water in front of me and continued to grow in numbers until there were thousands. A feeding frenzy that went on for an hour without any movement elsewhere. Fishing boats showed up too to try their luck. And then a mass of seagulls plopped down in front of my chair to visit and watch the rest I guess. I felt as if I had a circus and parade just for me alone. You had to be there...

My osprey friend 

I continue to add activities here with yoga as the newest addition. I'm in "gentle" yoga class, plus restorative yoga, so you'd think it be easy, but it's some work for me. And I had to race out and buy a new mat and proper clothes. You know, the kind of pants that don't slide down and a top that stays put no matter what weird position you've got your torso, arms, and legs in. Gotta start somewhere...

my banyan tree walk

Much reading as usual happening, as well as some writing, more on that at a later date, and have to say quite excited about this book: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. Tiffany did a review on it on her blog - PopandBanter.com and I'm loving it so far. All about creativity and she writes so darn well. Also just discovered the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Love his writing! He is long gone from us, died in 1926, but sounds so contemporary it's eerie. I'll leave you with a quote.

The only journey is the one within.
Rainer Maria Rilke