Expeditions & Small Town America

On a Thursday we went to Movies in the Park. We saw a documentary by the Florida Wildlife Corridor: Expedition - Everglades to Okefenokee.

The most interesting part of the film was to see the path of a Florida Brown Bear (skinny compared to those up North!) who roamed 500 miles in 2 months only stopped by the I4 Freeway (motorway to mini me's British friends).  On the I75, wildlife underpasses have almost completely stopped road kill.

A second film, 'The Forgotten Coast' (about the Florida panhandle) premiered Thursday the 12 November and will be on public television (WUSF; Channel 16.1 here in Mad Beach) the following Thursday.

The next Saturday it was up early for mini me and swimmy - off to Shell Key (nearby barrier island and wildlife refuge) for a beach clean up.  Swimmy's loggerhead friends nest there, so a clean-up is imperative for next year's turtle season. More pics here.

Shell Key is an 'E' shaped sand spit in the delta of Tampa Bay - the second largest delta after the mouth of the Mississippi River - and this island is constantly shifting and changing. 30 years ago Shell Key didn't exist; today the sand has moved to form a [rather rocky and rough] land bridge to other nearby islands and dredged 'finger' lands of waterfront homes. Needless to say this is causing some controversy amongst homeowners and conservationists.

Our turtle season is done, but just south over the Skyway Bridge at Anna Maria Island, there is still a nest as of the 8th November! At night we can see the lights of Anna Maria - so not far from us.

Wondering what a local does on a Florida weekend? Well first it was the City's annual Deputy Sheriff's Appreciation Party Saturday afternoon  Here's the Deputies, each got a goodies bag of candies labeled things like 'Gum, for helping to keep us together' and 'Hershey's Kiss's to remember our appreciation.' Food and live music were the order of the day.

Setting up - see bridge in background

Sunday was the 3rd Annual Gulf Beaches Historical Museum's fundraiser: The Chowder Challenge. Chowder of course being historically what local fisherman made of the  spare bits after fillleting their catch. 22 local restaurants brew up their best seafood chowder and for $15 one gets to sample each (in a small cup) and vote for the one you find the tastiest. The winner receives The Golden Laddle Award to hang in their restaurant lobby for a year.  Hubby and I volunteered to sell tickets for drinks and homemade desserts - which are a bit extra cash - this is a fundraiser after all. Live music, good grub, kids and dogs both welcome.

Yup, gray windy, circa 75 degrees - perfect Chowder weather!

To top off the weekend, we borrowed the 2002 movie 'Sunshine State' from our local library.  This was a 'Movie in the Park' feature where we got rained out recently.  Sunshine State, with Angela Bassett and Timothy Hutton, is about a small Florida seaside town threatened with development (never mind it was filmed mainly in the center of Florida with no beach whatsoever). The first hour of the flick will give you an idea of what living in a Florida beach community is like, but sadly the movie just stops -- no real ending at all (something my London book club has been experiencing and complaining of lately). The upside is our small local library has a great inter-library loan program and we got the movie for free.

Tourist season has now begun; the roads fill up with Canadian and then northern states' license plates (a few Alaskans even), and it becomes hard to get a table in a restaurant. We are under a 'Beach Hazard Statement' for Red Tide; fortunately we have not felt the impact to date. Sharks continue to make the news -- and they can be tracked in the Gulf waters here.

And a few beach sights:

Nothing stops this mobility scooter!

Moon reflection off runnel
looks like a torch (AE=flashlight)

Sunsets vary so much - never ceases to amaze me!