Florida got its European start with Ponce de Leon when he put ashore in 1513. He was looking for the legendary Fountain of Youth. He didn’t find it, but found flowers like this one, and since he landed during Spain’s Feast of the Flowers (the Easter season), he named the place Florida, meaning “flowery.”
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| Suwannee River |
I crossed the Suwannee River well upstream from where it
drains into the Gulf of Mexico. Stephen
Foster’s beloved tune is what makes it famous.
But he changed the name to Swannee because he feared people would
mispronounce the “u.” Actually, he never
saw the Suwannee River. He just needed a
river with two syllables for the title.
For this he is honored in this part of the country with namesake
museums, motels and restaurants.
At just twenty feet above sea level, the shores of Suwannee River reveal the foundation of the “flowery” state—its hollowed out limestone where water sinks and water rises.
Some Spanish moss lives in pleasant surrounds where its days come and go without desire to leave. It is particular where it lives, and pleasant surroundings govern its happiness, where it thrives in a long established home. Other moss likes freedom from crowds and goes where the wind slides it along power lines to new and interesting places.
I am in Tallahassee and will take a day off tomorrow to see
the state capital before pedaling on to Mariana, DeFuniak Springs, Milton, and
Pensacola.
Beautiful! I love those moss hanging from trees. Your trip reminded me of the only trip I made a long time ago to Sarasota, Florida. I stored some moss on the ground and some white sand in plastic bags and brought home. The moss is gone, but I still have the sand.
ReplyDeleteThe white sand that I've seen every day, wherever the ground is disturbed just few inches deep, is as if Santa Monica Beach were, in some future epic, sprinkled with soil and a forest grew there.
DeleteLovely and intriguing photos... and interpretations... I love the moss too... whenever I see that... though power line moss I think is not as common... and soon will be riding a bike. Glad you will have a day to relax and view the city... I'm just home from a lecture you would have come to, if you were here, and it was one of my favorites, in the geology seminar series, the Bridge lecture was cancelled... and though the geology lecture had no topic I looked up the speaker and all her work focuses on Mars. So it was a fantastic odyssey through Spirit Rover and Opportunity, with many, many photos from the rovers...she said it had eyes and at the same height as hers... since t was 5 1/2 feet tall... I liked the personal excitement and exploratory feeling of her talk, as if she were walking on Mars herself, though she's at JPL mostly very involved day to day, up to the minute in the projects. Our long form poetry and prose went great today... Tim and Jonathan and I.. very interesting writing. I love these workshops too. Wish I could be there with moss and river rise for a few hours and you here... maybe someday technology will do that too somehow... look forward to projecting your photos - and blog posts on our TV and sharing hopefully with Liz and Rick tomorrow. I love all your tid-bits of history and "footnotes" to your bicycle trip... and of course we missed you last night at our salon... see our salon click here
ReplyDeleteSo much fun having Neil McCarthy here along with the other four features... Look forward to YOUR future return salon! Meanwhile we'll project your blog an photos here...
Rolling moss gathers no stones. It rolls on a power line, a chicken fence, cell phone tower, or the right shoulder of a paved road. Sure it could fall onto a bicyclist, I hope it does.
DeleteI'm so impressed with your on the fly blog. I'll tap you for tips when you return. Don't push yourself too hard, just your peddles.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy, Dalton; you have a blog or blogs. Just go to blogspot.com and select a template. I use "Simple" template, because it's, well, simple.
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