wild gooseberry

I’ve talked about a very special place to me before here, Tybee Island. If I could, I’d live on the island and go to the beach every day and never leave (well, except to visit my family and friends.) It’s about my favorite place here and I’m so happy every time we go out.

I found another reason to love Tybee Island even more this 4th of July. A new family tradition has been established, 4th of July at Tybee! Well, it was actually on the 3rd, but it was close enough for us.

First of all, we had a pretty ride out across the salt marsh…

Then we were treated to a rare event for me here…a sunset without trees in the way!

We walked along the beach, enjoying the end of the day. Night spread out across the sky and then it was time for the fireworks! I have a “Fireworks” setting on my camera. This was the first time I had an opportunity to try it out. I think they turned out good and it was fun to try to capture them…

A new family tradition has been established…and another reason to love Tybee Island.

Well, a little delayed as I’ve been out enjoying Spring! (and working a lot of hours. Good thing I absolutely am in love with my job!)  It has been just lovely here, a much needed rest from the cold of this Winter. I know it gets colder in other places, but it’s so damp here, it makes it feel colder. Brrrr!

Last Saturday, on the first day of this new season, we loaded up the dogs and went for adventures…and findings of Spring.

These flowering bushes were everywhere.

A little visitor…

We were on the nearby Army post (it boasts a HUGE recreation area, acres upon acres of wild woods to explore). These trees were painted blue to indicate that military training could not take place nearby. The trees belong to the endangered species of woodpecker who calls these woods home. They are red-cockaded woodpeckers and I’ve seen them. This bird was the inspiration for Woody Woodpecker. The shape of his head looks exactly like them!
 

We found evidence of another little inhabitant recently present. This little perfect handprint of a racoon was about 2 inches wide…

We had on our rubber adventure boots on (also known as Dairy boots.) It was a good thing. We’ve had lots of flooding of the Ogeechee and Canoochee rivers this Winter. Some of the places we wished to adventure had water too deep for us to wade through. One of these places was in front of us, when Hildegard decided to lead the pack. She swam to the other side of this little now-island and waited for us to join.

Not even Georgia Rose swam over there and what surprised us was that Hildy hates deep water. I think she started out before she realized how deep it was and just had to keep going. We called to her and tried to get her to come back. Once she realized we weren’t going to join, the doggie drama started.

She cried and whined and whined and cried and finally, we had to say “goodbye” and pretended to walk away. That did the trick and after several false starts (and more drama!) she finally made her way back.

Her swim over was a lot less spashier than the swim back.

Our family reunited, we ventured on.

The ever present palmies…

and the baby palms…

Nearby, we also found a nursery for a bamboo forest…

Finally, we came upon a lovely little swamp. We rested here and enjoyed the view.

Things got a little too adventurous for us after this point. Unbeknownst to us, we had some company. The Three Little Pigs decided to get a drink of water and the Big Bad Wolf had to chase them. Well, actually, Georgia Rose  started the chase (she still has her hunting tendencies) and Hildy tried to herd them. I was afraid Mama Boar would be closeby, but thankfully, these piggies were just old enough to be out by themselves. After what seemed an eternity, and much echoing of piggy squealing and doggie barking, the dogs made their way back and we quickly left the area. (Well, as quickly as an almost 11 year old German Shepherd who thinks she’s still a puppy can walk after very ambitious running.) I think of the boar as Orcs (Lord of the Rings). It isn’t a coincidence that they are often depicted as swine-headed.

Home, safe and sound once again, we had a lovely Spring gift in our own back yard.

The first duckies of Spring…

As many of you know, I am a transplanted California poppy. I miss the desert, the wide open spaces, the big sky. Here, in Coastal Georgia, there are places that you can only see the sky if you look straight up…and sometimes not even then! It is rare that I get to see a real, honest to goodness sunset.

Imagine my delight when, a few weeks ago, we were out in a less wooded area where the sky was much larger than it is where we live. We were just going into a restaurant to eat dinner, when this beauty showed up for us…

Please excuse the power lines…I was too excited to try for a picture without them.

You’ll remember the little ducky I just posted about yesterday. The poor little one whose foot was so badly injured by a 3-barbed fishing lure with a rag hooked onto it. Here she is when we found her behind our house on September 27th…

We thought the barb had deformed her web between the middle and left toe. When we released her, the webbing was just a little pink lump under her foot. We haven’t seen her again…

Well, today, I  had a surprise!!! Sweetie has returned to us! She’s stayed away these couple of weeks, healing and mustering up her courage to come back to our yard. I thought I saw her this morning, but her foot looked so good, I thought it couldn’t be her. But how many duckies who looked like her could have the same injury? Turns out, it IS her!!! She has two little freckles on her middle toe of her left foot…and that’s what I looked for today.

There is a dent across her toes from the main part of the barb, but she’s doing great! The webbing has unfolded back out and except for some slight pinkness and the obvious hole, is looking wonderful. I tossed seeds and bread and popcorn out so she would know it’s ok to come back (and so I could get some pictures!)

Oh, welcome back, sweet Sweetie! It made my heart absolutely soar to see you today.

As most of you who read this little blog know, my sweet man and I live by a lovely little lake (ok, it’s probably technically a pond, but it has the word “lake” in its name!) We have ducks who often visit us and sometimes we put out seeds or old bread or stale popcorn (but that is a rare happening since we love our popcorn!)

A couple of weeks ago, we were in the kitchen and Joshua looked out of the window. “What is that duck doing?” he asked. I looked and it seemed like the duck was eating something grey.

“Is she eating another bird?!” he asked.

That’s sure what it looked like.

We went out to see. No, it wasn’t a bird…it was a piece of dirty rag. The poor ducky had a fishing lure stuck in her foot and one of the barbs had hooked onto an old rag and she was trying to get it off.

Wanting to help, but knowing the wrong move would get the duck to go back to the water, I prayed that I’d be able to catch her. Then I got some popcorn (not stale, but the good stuff. It was Kettle Corn from the Boy Scouts, freshly popped.) We tossed the popcorn out and I walked near the ducks (there were two there, the injured one and a friend.) She was thankfully a popcorn lover too and didn’t seem to notice that I was right there. Just then, I snagged her! I felt bad I tricked her, but I was able to catch her and hold on while she flapped her wings a few seconds. Joshua helped me hold onto her and we got her inside.

Further inspection of her foot showed us that this barb had been in a long time. Her foot had actually grown around two of the barbs and they were deeply embedded in her webbing. Poor baby.

Her toe was under the heavy main part from which the three barbs branched off. There were holes on the right side of her foot as well, from where the barbs had once been and she had been able to get them off of that side of her foot. Her foot must have been completely closed then.

It was a Sunday afternoon and the vet’s office was closed. They do have emergency 24 on-call service, but we tried to help on our own. We were able to get the rag and one barb clipped off, but it was apparent that we’d need more help. We called the vet and met her 10 minutes later.

I didn’t get a chance to take pictures at the vet’s office because it took all 4 of us (we two and the vet plus her assistant) to manipulate the duck’s foot in the right position and to use the tools and to keep the duck calm. The assistant held the ducky, I patted the duck’s head and help keep her calm, while the vet and Joshua got the remaining barbs out of her skin. It took half an hour. The vet said she would be fine to place back in the lake now since there was no sign of infection.

This ducky was SO good, such a sweet, calm little duck. We nicknamed her Sweetie.

After we returned home, we took Sweetie back to the lake. We were on our neighbor’s deck and took her out of our cat’s carrier. We had some more Kettle Corn ready and she munched  a few pieces and then headed back to the water. She had a bit of a limp when she walked, but she was no longer bogged down by that heavy lure and rag.

And then she did what duckies do…she swam away.

We’ve kept a lookout, but haven’t seen her since. Most likely, she’s too scared to come back (her friend took off when we nabbed her and we haven’t seen that duck in our yard since, either.) Maybe one day she’ll be brave enough to come back…maybe she’ll remember we have good popcorn!

Until then, Sweetie, good luck and thank you for being such a sweetie.

As far as the expense of the emergency visit, I told Joshua that this money would come back to us for our good deed. Somehow, we would get it back in unexpected ways. We were expecting a bill of over $100, but when we received it, it was considerably less ($77). The following week, $52 unexpectedly was returned to us in overpay on my Dillard’s credit card. I believe the other $25 will find its way to us. If not, then it was still worth it to help this sweet ducky lead the life she was meant to and except for man’s harm, would have already.

But also, for man’s kindness, she has been helped.

My husband and I were recently invited to a celebration of the museum’s grand re-opening at Ft. Screven, near the Tybee Island Lighthouse we love so much.  It was a lovely dinner and tour of the museum and while we were eating in the cool ocean breeze, we were able to see a sunset on one side of us and a moon rise over the ocean on the other side. It was magical.

Equally magical was our moonlit walk afterward. The moon was only one day past from being full and the night was perfect for a walk. We walked probably two miles down the beach, listening to the waves break and enjoying the coolness of the air. We occasionally would greet other nighttime walkers, but for the most part, we were alone with the waves, the breeze and the moon.

A more perfect night could not be imagined and a more perfect feeling of total contentment could not be hoped for.

…by the beautiful sea.

Finally, dear friends, I have time to post our visit to the beach from a couple of weeks ago. We enjoy going to Tybee Island, a small island on the other side of Savannah. It’s usually pretty quiet (in fact, this visit was the busiest we have seen it in three years!) and the island itself is very quaint…sweet little cottages everywhere. I’ll have to take more pictures of the island itself sometime.

For now, let’s go to the beach and take a walk.

The sea oats, under which sea turtles lay their eggs, are shimmering golden in the late summer sun…

One our most special places (where some of our dear Georgia friends work) is the Tybee Island Light. I will eventually be creating a separate posting for the lighthouse itself, with a bit of its history. For now, just know that it is a most lovely and special place to us.

Off we go for our walk!

My sweet husband…very relaxed in his shorts and flip flops.

For me, it’s sunscreen, sunscreen, more sunscreen…and a good hat.

Beach boy…

Thank you for coming along with us! Until next time…lots of loves to you all.

Last week we went to the ocean. We visited our friends at the lighthouse and had a lovely lunch and then a walk on the beach. I am looking forward to sharing those pictures with you, but the drive out to Tybee Island is worth a posting of its own.

Coastal Georgia is riddled with salt marshes, beautiful expanses of grass set in brackish water (a mixture of salt and fresh water.)  In the summer, these marshes are the greener than green. I also love them because it gives me a chance to see the sky better without all the trees in my way.

Here are some pictures of the drive out to the beach of Tybee Island…

The picture’s a little fuzzy, but this is a Palmetto tree. This is a most beloved type of tree in this area.

Right before we got on the island, there were these cute little boats in the river waiting for adventures.

We’re almost to the beach! Next post, we’ll be there!

We took the dogs and went out to the Ft. Stewart recreation area last week.  It started out being a little more adventurous than we had anticipated. Come along and find out why…

It was a warm morning, but not hot, just perfect for taking the doggies out for a play time. It had been raining the week before and everything was lush and green.

We were greeted by an unusual bird. It seemed to have a swallow tail, but I had never seen a swallow here. We’ll have to look it up and find out what it was…

We saw many beautiful trees and vines, and we had a fungus among us…or many, actually…

We were on the second bridge when we saw Her…can you see?

Let’s look a little closer…

See her now?

We estimated her to be about 6 feet long. She kept an eye on us just as much as we did on her. We were about 20 feet above her, and we kept it that way.

We all stayed to the path after encountering this beauty.

We walked along, glad for the insect repellent. We had tried another path, but the mosquitoes were too happy to see us, even with the repellent. Along the larger path, they weren’t such a bother.

We looked down into our fairyland, but with alligators more active and the mosquitoes…we just took a picture.

The Ogeechee river was just as pretty as it always has been. We didn’t go down to see it, though. Keeping to the path!

After resting on the bridge for a time, we headed back down the road.

We turned off onto another road we know. None of us were ready to go home quite yet.

We saw some old, old friends…

Some new little friends were making their home on the bark of the old friends…

Bright green moss, soft as velvet, also greeted us here.

The Spanish moss swayed in the breeze and it was peacefully quiet.

This is a resting place. A quiet place.

Other paths called to us…but some are best saved for Winter walks.

Anyway…some of us were getting tired…

So, homeward bound, we headed back. One last old friend was there to say “until next time.”

Until next time.

…again.

It’s raining pretty hard now. It’s about the fourth day of thunder storms and lots of rain. Wish I could send some of this out to you in California!

The lake isn’t too close…yet.

The ducks  are happy.