Monday, April 3, 2017

Monday, April 3, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2003, during Mattie's one year old birthday party! Mattie found the party concept a bit overwhelming and there were several moments he and I had to go upstairs to re-group. Nonetheless, Mattie had an ELMO themed party with my parents, his cousins and close friends. Mattie was in LOVE with Elmo. Mattie listened to Sesame Street while playing. As he was a multi-tasker. But when he heard Elmo on the TV, he would stop in his tracks. No playing was going on while Elmo was on the screen. Elmo got Mattie's undivided attention. 


Quote of the day: The only love that I really believe in is a mother’s love for her children. ~ Karl Lagerfeld

It is a sunny 80 degree day in Florida today, but VERY windy!

So windy that the kite surfers were out. 

We visited the Fern Forest Nature Center today. This 247.1-acre Designated Urban Wilderness Area takes its name from the abundance of ferns (more than 30 species) found on the property. It was this botanical richness that attracted the interest of scientists from Florida Atlantic University and Broward College, who in 1979 published an article called "A Tropical Fern Grotto in Broward County, Florida" in the American Fern Journal. "Vegetation in the area is complex, with swamp forest, hammocks, pinelands, and fallow fields," noted the article. The researchers indicated that they had discovered "over 200 species of plants, and the list grows with each visit," and characterized the site as "the last remaining stronghold of ferns in southeastern Florida." In fact, 10 plant communities have been identified within the nature center, making it one of the finest examples of preserved native plant communities in South Florida.

Despite its beautiful description, and I have no doubt it is a Florida treasure for research purposes, Fern Forest wasn't my favorite walking path that we have experienced. You could see no wildlife, yet the boardwalk was interesting but too short. You are surrounded by all sorts of maples, ferns, and vegetation, that changed depending upon how close you were walking near the swamp.  

Get a feeling for the maze like boardwalk? That is me in the distance.  

Our view from the boardwalk.

Look closely in the lower left part of this photo. You will see a black and yellow butterfly, it is called the zebra longwing butterfly. Butterflies were flying all around us in this nature center. 

A native of South Florida, the gumbo limbo tree is big and beautiful, with showy red bark and interesting branches low to the ground. It develops unusual red bark that peels back - reminiscent of sunburned skin - which gives gumbo limbo the nickname of "Tourist Tree."

These trees take up a lot of space with thick, low branches that stay near to the ground, so the tree fits best in a large yard.   

The wood is lightweight, soft and easily-carved - it used to be used to make carousel horses.  But in spite of these characteristics  of the wood, a gumbo limbo is considered one of the most wind-tolerant trees and can withstand hurricane winds.

We walked along the shore line in the water. The water was in the upper 70s, but we were surrounded by seaweed. It washes ashore by the bucket full. 

Can you see all the yellowish stuff? That is seaweed. In front of our hotel, they actually use a tractor to scoop it all up in the morning. But by the afternoon, it is piling right back up. 

This is Hillsboro Lighthouse in the distance. In 1901, Congress authorized the construction of the lighthouse as it stands today. According to the bill, "This light is very much needed by vessels bound through the Florida straits into the Gulf of Mexico or to the island of Cuba. Its erection will complete the chain of lights which extend from Jupiter Inlet to Tortugas, so that the navigator can make one light before losing sight of another."

We found this man-of-war while walking on the beach today. Its venomous tentacles can deliver a painful (and sometimes fatal) sting. Despite its outward appearance, the Portuguese man o' war is not a jellyfish but a siphonophore, which, unlike jellyfish, is not actually a single multicellular organism, but a colonial organism made up of specialized individual animals called zooids or polyps. These polyps are attached to one another and physiologically integrated to the extent that they are unable to survive independently, and therefore have to work together and function like a so-called individual animal.