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A Stroll On Estero: Encountering Sand Sculptures One Grain At A Time
We decided that we would give Sanibel Island a rest for a day. Besides, we’d save $6.00 for not taking the Causeway Bridge. No, it was time we crossed another bridge (free) from Fort Myers to Fort Myers Beach. When we did, we found ourselves in another world. This wasn’t Wal-Mart country. This was the…
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The Albatross And The Vulture
What’s it like to float upon misty air? Way up there upon winds of turbulence, where your wings tame them, as a cowboy does the wild Stallion. –Dara Reidyr from “On Flying“ Four hours ago, I was finishing my iced coffee at the Java Cafe in the Outlet Mall. Even with the AC, the plastic…
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Holiday Time In Fort Myers/Mais ou sont les neiges d’antan?*
“I don’t know Doc, I just seem a little disoriented lately. Maybe it’s the time of year? Maybe I should stay away from the egg nog…” –Notation in the files of Dr. Hugh Roebottom, Psychiatrist, on the recent session with Patrick Egan. It’s a pretty Christmas wreath. I’m looking a one of the prettiest plastic…
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Listless In Fort Myers: The Harsh Realities Of Wintering In Paradise
I’m sitting on the wooden walkway, on a green metal bench, sipping an iced coffee. I’m watching a Cessna single-engine plane pull an advertising banner across the slightly blue hazy sky. The banner is telling us to shop at the Tanger Outlet Mall. I look around and realize that this is the mall I’m in…
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Farther Along The Beach, Among The Periwinkles, There Are Things Unseen
I’ve finally arrived at the island that is known around the world for its seashells. I’m unloading the car in the parking lot of Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel Island. The sun is beating against my back and seems intense enough to melt the polyester fibers in my shoulder seams. I enter the Men’s restroom to…
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Every Grain Of Sand
“There lived a singer in France of old By the tideless dolorous midland sea. In a land of sand and ruin and gold There shone one woman and none but she.” –Algernon Swinburne “I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea Sometimes I turn, there’s someone there, other times it’s only me.…
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My Three Palms
It’s the second morning, the second sunrise, of our third day–at our winter home. I just got out of bed, it’s 8:56 am and the thermometer on the wall over my head reads 85.6 F. Mmmmmm. Should I read something into this? The sun set yesterday on our first full day at the Siesta Bay…
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My Grave Nightmare: A Halloween Story
Was it a day in full blinding sun or a night in deep gloomy shadows? Was I asleep? Awake? I don’t remember. No, it was both. I wandered about in my dream with my eyes open, my dream that quickly became a nightmare. What I looked upon were reflections of my darkest thoughts and fears.…
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Evening Reflections On The Fountain Of Youth
[Ponce de Leon seeks the Fountain] Tomorrow, October 31st , I’m going to post my Halloween blog. I’ve been saying it’s going to be scary. I hope it is. It is a description, mostly fiction, of my fear of graveyards and the hours after midnight when dreams go dark as ink and visions are bleak…
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I Dreamed I Saw Saint Augustine
It was going to be a great day. I even had a ready-made title for this blog. I was going to life a song title by the one and only, Bob Dylan. We only had about 120 miles to drive from Brunswick to St. Augustine, FL. That’s not even enough to break a sweat–that would come…