Fort Pierce and Vero Beach

           Fort Pierce is much different from Jacksonville Beach.  The homes are more modest, and the neighborhoods more like bedroom communities.  It’s also warmer, which works for me!

 

           This has been a wonderful place to strengthen my ankle.  It’s very flat, hardly even a small grade never mind a hill, so it’s relatively easy to walk.  I’ve worked up to a mile and a half or more a day very quickly.  Though my ankle is still a bit sore, it doesn’t get worse as I walk.  Day by day it’s easier to cover the distance.  What’s even better is that finally I feel like I can go WWOOFing soon.

 

           As I’ve walked, I’ve relished the many tropical plants and flowers that line the streets and adorn the yards, as I’ve enjoyed the birdsong emanating from the trees. 

  Most are common birds such as jays, but their songs are welcome to my ears, and some I'm not familiar with, but are fascinating to both watch and listen to--and sometimes find.

There are several birds in that tree, but very hard to find.

 

          

 

You can barely see the bird hidden behind the leaves slightly right of center top.

 

These could be grackles.  You see them everywhere (except in the trees), but their song is sweet, unlike the common grackle.

 

 

 Eileen and I have spent time at the beach, where I’ve walked in the sand, sat and watched the waves from the comfort of a folding chair, and enjoyed the sun on my skin, and the many birds flocking on the shore, and I loved watching the tiny plovers challenging the waves.

 

          What I haven’t done is taken my sketch pad with me, and there are so many things I could draw—gulls, terns, plovers, shells, and people, as well as the beautiful cloud formations.  So far, it’s been in the back of my car since I left Maine. I’m going to have to remedy that soon; there are far too many things that catch my attention to keep putting them on the back burner.  

 

           I have taken several pictures, though, such as a banyan tree that Eileen showed me.  Now THIS is a worthy subject for a sketch!

Banyan tree.  The picture doesn't show how complex, huge, and magnificent it is.

            And of course there’s always the difference in architecture that so fascinates me.  Most of the houses are single-level, garage on the side, boxes.  Perhaps I should have saved my allusion to Pete Seeger’s “Little Boxes” for Florida, because there really is “a green one, and a pink one, and a blue one, and a yellow one” and they’re all made out of stucco and they all look much the same.  ...But not all.  I found one house that I loved, done in the Spanish style, and admired it greatly.  It definitely stands out from its neighbors, unique and grand. 

 

On to Florida!

           After stopping for two or three days in Conyers, Georgia, to see my friend Beverly, I set out for Florida—and just in time, too, as the weather changed and temperatures dropped.  I’ll save my Georgia adventures for another time, as Bev extracted a promise from me to come back--soon. 

 

           As I entered Florida, just across the state line, the highway was lined with newly planted small palm trees, well braced, set in front of hardwood and evergreens that grow naturally along the roadways.  I suppose this is supposed to impress the tourists, but to me it just looked silly.  Since highways are not conducive to picture taking, I wasn’t able to snap any photos, but I did manage to find an article about FloridaDOT’s multi-million dollar program.  It’s astonishing what bureaucrats will do with taxpayer money.

 

           First stop:  Jacksonville Beach.  I’ve known the Dressers for several years. They come to Maine every summer and are active in church, which is where I met them.  Claudia is a talented and accomplished artist, and her home evidences her hand everywhere.  I would never have thought to make a collage of Old Masters as she did, on the walls of the bathroom off the room where I slept.  Truly stunning!

 

Guest bathroom with the Great Masters.

Detail of the background

A wall of Picasso.  Who could ask for more?

            Then there was the beach.  Oh, yes!  This truly is Florida!  Palm trees and other tropical plants growing everywhere, the walk to the beach is as lovely as the sand and water.

 

This palm towered above the 6 foot hedge.  How beautiful!

Lovely flowers still bloom even in January.

We walked past this quiet pool on the way to the beach.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we crossed over the little footbridge, the ocean stretched out along the beach inviting a walk. 

Footbridge to another world.

 

 

Sophie, Claudia’s Golden Retriever, romped and played as we walked in the silver sand.  Is there anything so joyous as a dog?  

 

  

           It's fascinating to see how architecture and building change geographically. In Florida, apparently it's no big deal to knock down a house and then completely rebuild, rather than adding on or remodeling.  I saw a sterling example of this on our walk.   In the beginning, three modest houses stood side by side.  The first picture shows the original style. The house to its left was completely demolished, and is now being replaced by a larger structure.  To its left is a new structure that used to look like the one two doors down.  It, too, was leveled and a new house built on the site.  The new house, now much classier, sold for over a million dollars.  Call me a farm girl, but I can't imagine paying over that much for a house when I could buy all kinds of land in the country and populate it with livestock.

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was blessed to be there when Ciara, Claudia and Bill’s daughter, was visiting with her husband.

Ciara, Christian, and, of course, Sophie

           It’s hard to believe that I’ve know Ciara since she was in her late teens. For that matter, it’s hard to believe the years pass so swiftly that I’m always surprised at how long I’ve known so many people in my life.  Ciara and I talked about all kinds of things—homeopathy, diet, alternative health, kefir, GMOs, vaccines. Mostly health related, but sometimes observations on the politics of the day, sometimes comparisons on living in Maine compared to the rest of the Eastern seaboard. When she and Christian left on New Year’s Eve, I was sad to see her go.

 

           I left New Year’s Day, the rain falling like tears as I reluctantly left for the next stage of my journey.  It’s always hard to leave friends, even when the future invites.