Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2003, during Mattie's first birthday party. That was quite the event. It was a party with just family but noise and groups of people were not Mattie's forte back then. It was all absolutely overwhelming for Mattie and he was crying and rather unhappy. Thankfully it was one of the better weather birthdays that he had and we were able to go outside, do activities and have cake.
Quote of the day: Real grief is not healed by time ... if time does anything, it deepens our grief. The longer we live, the more fully we become aware of who she was for us, and the more intimately we experience what her love meant for us. Real, deep love is, as you know, very unobtrusive, seemingly easy and obvious, and so present that we take it for granted. Therefore, it is only in retrospect -- or better, in memory -- that we fully realize its power and depth. Yes, indeed, love often makes itself visible in pain. ~ Henri Nouwen
Last night in honor of Mattie's 13th birthday, a glorious Mattie Moon was shining in the sky over Sanibel Island, FL. Peter captured this wonderful moon!
This is the causeway that we have to take from our hotel to drive into Sanibel Island. Our Hotel is literally right outside the Island. However, this is the ONLY way onto Sanibel Island and there is a $6 toll each time you enter.
Clearly Sanibel and Captiva are a boaters paradise. While going over the causeway, you can see boats for as far as the eye can see!
We decided to visit the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge today. The name alone to me is absolutely adorable. But yes indeed this refuge was named after its founder!
Jay Norwood Darling (political cartoonist and founder of the National Wildlife Federation) was instrumental in the effort to block
the sale of a parcel of environmentally valuable land to developers on Sanibel
Island. At Darling's urging, President Harry S. Truman signed an Executive
Order creating the Sanibel National Wildlife Refuge in 1945.
The refuge was renamed in 1967 in honor of the pioneer
conservationist. The refuge consists of over 6,400 acres of mangrove forest,
submerged seagrass beds, cordgrass marshes, and West Indian hardwood hammocks.
Approximately 2,800 acres of the refuge are designated by Congress as a Federal
Wilderness Area.
The refuge was created to safeguard and enhance the pristine
wildlife habitat of Sanibel Island, to protect endangered and threatened
species, and to provide feeding, nesting, and roosting areas for migratory
birds. Today, the refuge provides important habitat to over 245 species of
birds.
The Refuge is truly peaceful and filled with incredible wildlife! I am SO grateful to the ranger today who suggested that instead of walking 5 to 8 miles, to consider paying $5 and taking our car into the Refuge and then walking whatever parts we wanted to in between. That was outstanding advice because we could never have covered the distance we did by car! The heat, humidity, and intense sun would have killed us first. I will some of the highlights of what we saw today....................................................
We saw lots of Mangroves, which are referred to as walking trees. Because they literally look like they are sprouting little feet and taking off.
Mangroves serve very important functions in the ecology of
South Florida. Mangroves have a high ecological role as nursery grounds and as
a physical habitat for a wide variety of vertebrates and invertebrates. They
recycle nutrients and the nutrient mass balance of estuarine ecosystems.
Mangrove leaves, wood, roots, and detrital material provide essential food
chain resources, and provide habitat for many wildlife including mammals,
birds, reptiles, amphibians, and arthropods. Mangroves have a special ecological
function for endangered species, threatened species, and species of special
concern. They also serve as storm buffers; their roots stabilize shorelines and
fine substrates, reducing potential turbidity and enhancing water clarity. One
of the greatest values of mangroves swamps in Florida is their aesthetic
appeal.
Through the mangroves was this wonderful open area of water. If you stopped for a bit and watched closely, you would be entertained by flying fish! The theory is that the fish fly up and out of the water because they are trying to remove the sand and dirt that accumulates in their gills. Sand and dirt which is obtained from them swimming at bottom of the water way. As they jump out of the water, they are jumping sideways. Kind of like when we get water in our ears, we are shaking our heads to the side to remove the water. This is the fish equivalent.
This Black Snake photo has a story to it! Naturally! While we were driving, Peter saw the snake dead on the road. So we pulled the car over and got out to check on the snake. Ironically we weren't the only ones doing this. Frankly I hate snakes, but Mattie LOVED them. So I went along with the process. Peter picked up the dead snake and moved him onto the sand. We snapped a photo of it because this would have been a sighting Mattie would have absolutely loved and if he were with me, would most likely have taken the dead snake home with us.
We saw cormorants.
Peter spotted a Belted Kingfisher. Kingfishers spend much of their time perched alone
along the edges of streams, lakes, and estuaries, searching for small fish.
They also fly quickly up and down rivers and shorelines giving loud rattling
calls. They hunt either by plunging directly from a perch, or by hovering over
the water, bill downward, before diving after a fish they’ve spotted.
This flock of birds are all comprised of Willets. Piercing calls and distinctive wing markings make the
otherwise subdued Willet one of the most conspicuous large shorebirds. In the breeding season, these birds are brownish in color, but in the colder months, they are nonbreeding and grey. As seen here!
This was a first for us! We got to see a Reddish Egret. The ranger nicknamed him "George." Reddish Egrets are a medium to large heron who live in shallow salt water. They are very active foragers, often seen
running, jumping, and spinning in pursuit of fish.
One of the largest North American birds, the American White
Pelican is majestic in the air. The birds soar with incredible steadiness on
broad, white-and-black wings. Their large heads and huge, heavy bills give them
a prehistoric look. On the water they dip their pouched bills to scoop up fish,
or tip-up like an oversized dabbling duck.
We walked the Shell Mound Trail, which was filled with mangroves. But the wonderful part about this trail, is we got to see Ospreys up close! Peter and I have only seen these birds of prey from a distance, so when we saw these large birds we had no idea what we were looking at until we looked them up!
Osprey -- Unique among North American raptors for its diet of live
fish and ability to dive into water to catch them, Ospreys are common sights soaring
over shorelines, patrolling waterways, and standing on their huge stick nests,
white heads gleaming. These large, rangy hawks do well around humans and have
rebounded in numbers following the ban on the pesticide DDT. Hunting Ospreys
are a picture of concentration, diving with feet outstretched and yellow eyes
sighting straight along their talons.
A close up of the Osprey
I end tonight's posting with a reflection from my mom about Mattie's 13th birthday (which she sent to me on April 4th):
It is Mattie's 13th Birthday and he should be here with us
to celebrate the occasion. But he is not! That is the natural order of life.
Grandchildren outlive their grandparents.
But when the natural order is disrupted,
then a philosophical
understanding of his life is the only way to make the pain bearable and
less incomprehensible. My heart takes over, heavy though it may be and laden
with pain, commanding my mind to
remember with gladness the seven wonderful years that Mattie gave us when he
was alive. It is better to have had Mattie in our lives for seven years than to
have never known the magic of that angelic child. Happy Birthday Mattie! We love you!
You are remembered today and always!!
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