Birds Above and Alligators Below

We went to the Alligator Farm in St. Augustine to see the birds in the natural bird sanctuary with many of the large birds nesting each year.   It is a beautifully landscaped zoo with wooden walkways, water ponds for all the alligators and crocodiles, and palm trees overhead, creating a tropical paradise experience.

Farewell to the Sunrise

Every day is a different day Our month of sunrises is concluding today.  These are yesterday's spectacle.  The intensity of the coral pinks and reds on the water was an experience. I had thought that sunsets would be more intense than sunrises, and find science is right.  They are equally wonderful.  The beautiful skies concluded with great cloud cover that brought in winds and rain.   View this email in your browser

Finding Feathers at the Fountain of Youth

St. Augustine boasts a long history  - Ponce de Leon landed in 1513.  As children we learned about his landing and discovery of the Fountain of Youth.  We visited the site yesterday.  It bills itself as Florida's oldest attraction. The site is the oldest successful European settlement in the U.S.  In the 1930's it was discovered to be the burial site of native American aboriginals known as the Timucua.  A bonus was a  flock of peacocks who inhabit the grounds.   Facebook Twitter Website

Florida's Sunrise

This was yesterday's sunrise as it bounced off the sky looking north along the beach and then looking towards the sun as it rose in the sky.  The pinky coral colour was very pronounced. The progression of the day in pictures went:  Before Sun, Sun's Up, Surf's Up, Sails Up... I was told by a boater yesterday that this is unusual to have such windy weather and such waves.  He wasn't able to launch his boat because of the winds.  There were a few hardy athletes out on the water. I wondered about those trademark names like Kleenex and Windex as I was walking through the grocery store.  Here's my answer: An eponym is someone or something whose name is or is thought to be the source of something's name (such as a city, country, era, or product); alternately it can be used to refer to the name of something that is based on or derived from someone or something else's name. Albert Einstein is the eponym of the element einsteinium; conversely, einsteinium is an eponym of Albert Einstein. Active Trademarks Often Used Generically Alka Seltzer AstroTurf Band Aid Beer Nuts Benzedrine Boogie Board Breathalyzer Brillo Pad BVDs Chapstick (Chap Stick) Cheerios Claymation Coke (Coca Cola) Cola (Coca Cola) Cool-Aid (Kool-Aid) Cuisinart Demerol Ditto Machine Dixie Cups Dumpster Erector Set Fiberglass (Fiberglas) Fig Newtons Freon Frisbee Green Stamp Hacky Sack Hi-lighter (Hi-Liter) Hoover Hula-Hoop Jacuzzi Jeep Jello (Jell-O) Jockey Shorts Kitty Litter Kleenex Laundromat Levi's Life Savers Mace Magic Marker Microchip Novocain Oreo Palm Pilot Parcheesi (replacing the generic word "Pachisi") Ping Pong (replacing the generic term "Table Tennis") Play-Doh Plexiglas Polaroid Pop Tart Popsicle Post-It Note Q-Tip Rollerblade Roller Derby Scotch Tape Scrabble Sellotape Sheetrock Skivvies Styrofoam Super Glue Teflon Teleprompter (TelePrompTer) Teletype Teva Thermos TV Dinner Tylenol UNIX Valium Vaseline Velcro Walkman Welcome Wagon White Out (Wite-Out) Wiffle Ball Windbreaker X-Acto Knife Xerox View this email in your browser

New Year's Drop Off

Drop Off

This is the day after all the celebrations that started well before Christmas in November and end on New Year's Day  We might be looking ahead to Twelfth Night (Jan 5) and Epiphany (Jan 6) in some cultures with a strong religious orientation.  Here in North America, it all goes quiet.

It turns out that Costa Rica is full of early January celebrations.  The Palmares Fiestas starts the first week of January and is "two weeks of concerts, bullfighting, folklore dancing and general debauchery".  The first week also has the Coffee Cup:  "a much-anticipated, week-long juniour tennis tournament.  And there's the Alajuelita Fiestas - "an oxcart parade and party to honour the Black Christ of Esquipulas, Alajuela." So there's no end of fun in Costa Rica, no cliff after January 1st.

Perhaps it is time to schedule for next year's after-Christmas holiday in Costa Rica.

The two images today were taken in St. Augustine Florida, a lovely historic town.  The oldest house museum complex has historical houses surrounded with courtyards, gardens, and statues. St. Augustine gardens have clear Spanish influences in architecture and design.