Passive or Proactive...what are you?

Link: Expelled No Intelligence Allowed

Explanation to follow tonight - but first!...I'm going to enjoy the tepid, almost balmy temperatures outdoors and go for a long walk with my beloved. See ya'll later!

...several hours later.

By the way, last week, my Word of the Day taught me at long last, what "dot dot dot" is officially called: An ellipsis!

So,now we both know. (Don't you feel better about yourself?)

Not only have I enjoyed a lovely walk in the interim, but had it capped with a dinner date at Canyon Creek to boot! Spoiled rotten I am and I know it. It was most enjoyable to fellowship around the table with all our kids again - a tradition fast approaching extinction as each one enters adulthood. *sigh*

But I promised an explanation of this odd, seemingly 'out of the blue' post and I shall preface it with an anecdote of my past.

Many years ago I treated the kids to a day at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto.

It began with an elaborate, limited-time special exhibit on dinosaurs. It was a fascinating & serious thrill marred only by the overt and shameless propagation of the evolution theory. The "silence" of any other plausible theory in this display was deafening - at least for those with ears to hear it. I remember feeling angry that my childrens' innocence was being thus manipulated. The attendant for this exhibit merely shrugged his shoulders when queried. This bugged me even more.

In England this past summer, where I had the privilege of attending the remarkable C.S. Lewis Summer Institute to sit under the tutelage of many fine scholars of both Oxford and Cambridge - aka two institutions of the finest "seats of learning", Darwinism reared it's ugly head once again. Let me quickly clarify that it was exposed but not supported by this conference.

My naive notion that our civilized society of the free west had at least put it in its proper place - that of being only one of the theories about the origin of life - was painfully dispelled.

On the contrary, I discovered that a certain Richard Dawkins, today's foremost militant atheist is defending the outdated Darwinian worldview with a belligerence that borders on hysterical. In the media, he is commonly referred to as Darwin's Rottweiler.

Do yourself a huge favour...pour yourself a drink, sit down and watch the video.

Then press the link above, do some research and think about in which camp you belong, the passive or proactive one.

Expelled Trailer

Going - going - gone...

Just one question.   What's with a 'civilized' society that goes to absurd lengths to protect the asexual turtle egg from harm but can slaughter a human being without any penalty up to moments before his birth???   God have mercy on us here in the 'free' west.

Same deal here.  An injured coromant rec'd plenty of attention and concern from the beach public.  Someone was fiercely standing guard over it until the wildlife protection agency could be summoned to pick it up and nurse it back to health.   I'm all for stewardship of environment and natural habitat but when it comes to regard for human life - where's the balance?

Sorry, more wave photography.  I couldn't help myself.

A vast expanse of rippled sand testifies to our wind today.

Oops.   More shots featuring ocean.  What can I say?  It features rather large in my idea of a great holiday.

Sandcastle shots I am posting strictly for the pleasure of my friend Lilly.  Enjoy!  :)

Kinda reminiscent of Lord of the Rings for some odd reason.  Helm's Deep maybe?

Art and Jackie - parents of our crazy cousin Kelly.  What a nice addition to our company this week.

And now the day is done.  Time to head for home and start that unfortunate thing called packing.

Making its circuit

I absolutely love the ocean.   

Art and Jackie took us out for a fancy steak dinner last night but before loading into the van for that fine adventure, we seized the chance to catch another sunset.  

All good things come to an end.

I know that and I gladly accept returning to a new normal once again.

But I will really miss the ocean just the same.

I love walking in it and watching it.  

I love the way the waves roar and foam and roll over in great green/blue curls. 

Sometimes its very calm but the wind today was enough to bring out the surfers and wind boarders in full force.   The kite enthusiasts are a special breed and because of the great expanse of this beach - plentiful as well.  

I don't always have the camera attached to me but will make a serious effort to capture that craft on film before I have to leave these sights behind me.  

The water temperature may have broken 60 degrees (a die-hard imperialist :) at long last. People are slowly venturing beyond their kneecaps into the froth now.

A heated pool at 86 degrees is by far more appealing for the swimming fix.   This pool is covered with a lunai or fine screening - which allows us to open up a whole wall of glass sliding doors (about 25 feet long) to get that lovin' 'outdoor living' feeling.  

Not quite the same as camping but an agreeable compromise in my estimation!

One morning I left the house at 6:30am to catch a sunrise.  

I had to drive down the road a bit to find a good clearing on the bay side of the island where the sun first makes its daily appearance. 

The picture below is one of three bridges I need to travel to get off the south end of the island. It would have been better to take the pedestrian walk to the peak of this bridge to catch it rising over the bay but I chickened out.

Traffic is heavy enough at that time of day to make me re-think the wisdom of putting myself at risk like that.  So to all those who like to chide me for "living life on the edge", take note!

A sunrise is every bit as beautiful as a sunset; perhaps even more so because it bestows light instead of darkness.  On the other hand, the stars of a black clear night are the express gift of a sunset.  Those with eyes to see are blessed either way aren't they? 

The heavens declare the glory of God;  the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  

Day after day they pour forth speech;  night after night they display knowledge.  

There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.  

Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.  

Uh-huh.  Oh yeah.  Quite right.   

The two crazy ones

This final week away brought our last group of new visitors including our "baby" girl Catherine and her crazy cousin Kelly with her parents.  Since mom is away visiting elsewhere for about five days - it's just been the six of us roaming the house, the beach, the pool and the unforgettable Miromar outdoor shopping complex.  

There really is nothing like two winter weary teenagers to spice up the dynamics of our home away from home!  They just biked off to get the coveted henna tattoo this morning and Kelly has graciously allowed me to use some of her pictures for this blog post.

With the assistance of some poor passerby on the beach - they took a series of action photos in the setting sun.  

Would you believe they've even managed to finagle me into making a trip to the local thrift store for some juicy finds? 

Oh, the beautiful bells of St.Peter's are tolling again as I write this!

(There's also someone around here who practices the bagpipes at random times thru-out the day.  I enjoyed listening to him tho' it helps that he was obviously an accomplished musician. Memories of my kids in their 1rst year on string instruments rise unbidden to mind :)

Such are the inner courts of the Miromar Outdoor Shopping complex.  One cannot really believe the magnitude of it's size or variety of venue's -- suffice to say that you cannot possibly see it all in a day.  Did someone say there was a recession here in the USA?  

Where?  

The poolwater was so dismally neglected that the maintenance people didn't even have to add their weekly chemicals.  That all changed when Catherine and Kelly arrived.  

Within the first half hour I had to gently remind them to respect the fact that perhaps our neighbours weren't quite as thrilled to see them unwind as we were. 

They have the tower room at the front of the house with the spiral staircase.  Squeals of delight alerted me to the idea that they kinda liked their private little perch.

A lot of sand toys and beach paraphernalia finally saw the light of day.  Who says there's an age limit for that past-time?  The attention this little sand kingdom attracted suggests otherwise.  

We have certainly been blessed with premium beach walking weather but I don't see anyone swimming in the ocean yet.  I suppose that starts in March - we are just at the start of the busiest vacationing season. 

Here comes the sun...

This is an account of one of my walks with grand-daughter Elyse.  

She is a three month-old-beauty with tender teething gums (we think) or perhaps a wee thing who knows already what home is and what home is not.  At any rate - she has proven to be an outdoor-sy type who enjoys cruising the quiet back-streets with anyone interested in taking her.  I took my camera this time wanting to capture this fascinating tree I spotted on an earlier outing & share the find with you on this blog.  

So here we are, about to embark on the 4:30pm Save Mom's Sanity walk of the day.

We live in a house off the (in)famous Estero Blvd; a two-lane ocean-front highway running north/south across the island.  The only way on and off this island is by a two lane bridge on either end.   There are absolutely no shortcuts or detours to be found.   Every side street running east/west off this highway are posted as dead-ends or NO OUTLETS (as above).   

That is not merely a ploy to keep the local streets clear of traffic - I've walked enough of them by now to know that this is indeed the case.  The suburbia off Estero is a mad maze of streets without rhyme or reason - where's the dang compass when you need one?

EVERYONE for miles around comes to the beach on sunny days.   The highway starts looking more like a game of bumper cars by late morning and unhappily stays that way for the remainder of the day.   Forget about running that quick errand to Publix! -- unless you take a picnic basket of course and are content to spend it trailing behind the pedestrians on the sidewalk next to you.  :)   It's been so frustrating that I might even resign myself to doing as the Europeans do and start using that rental bike with the big 50's style basket on the front!  

Well, this is typical!   The stroller hasn't even made it off our own street before L'il Lysie is sawing logs.  So much for my grandiose plans of introducing her to the joys of tree identification and appreciation. 

This is our home away from home; a one floor bungalow the sprawls all over the place save for a little tower room at the front with the spiral staircase.  I confess to being somewhat disappointed at first glance - particularly with its proximity to this ridiculous highway - but I'm over it now.  

Yeah.  Yeah.  You wouldn't put up with my whining anyway :)

The landscape around these parts doesn't impress me much.  Or expressed more graciously:  

It makes me ever more thankful for the variety of four-seasons and its effect on the landscape.  

I love the ocean but I'm content to come visit it once in a while and leave it at that. 

Below is the massive multi-stem of a ficus.  Fig-tree.  I think.  I cannot say with any authority but that remains my semi-educated guess.  

 What does it matter anyway? - Lysie is sound asleep.

But THIS is the baby I came to photograph!  Look at this fine speciman of Robinson Crusoe distinction!  It has the dark leaf of a fig but the bark of one of my fav's, the London Plane.  Half of it seemed to surface a few feet away from the main trunk - a monstrous sideways shoot.  Is there an educated guess out there as to its true identity?

Wouldn't this be a perfect tree to grow up with?

I'm so glad the hurricanes of late haven't taken it down.  Not that I think something this massive could ever be uprooted but then I speak in ignorance - I've never had to 'batten down the hatches' and secure my home from 200mph gale-force winds either.  

There's a Lutheran church (St.Peter's?) nearby with a wondrous bell-tolling spire that plays a hymn like melody every noon and supper hour.   *sigh*  I would dearly love to wake up every morning to the sound of bells.  England was a remarkable experience in that regard. 

I'd also love to know the history of the tradition of bell-tolling.   

By rights, I should just walk there and see if a human being could enlighten me.  

By jove, I think I've just given myself a new mission.  

(Little Einsteins anyone?)  LOL

Everyone flies a flag.  Okay.  Every other one flies a flag.

Canadians can learn a thing or two regarding properly placed patriotism.

To be world renowned for passivity doesn't exactly give me any warm and fuzzy feelings. 

I nearly choke on the hypocrisy of my 'people' singing their national anthem at the hockey games....."I stand on guard for thee?"  Oh please, don't get me started.

Eh?

I think the tree above is a Norfolk Pine.  I do recall this as a greenhouse plant - deep green and coniferous.  I couldn't keep my house-plants alive for all the sweet talk in the world.  

Shucks, it's a good thing my grand-daughter continues to sleep and I don't expose this ignorance of mine.

I think this palm tree is called the Royal Palm.  I wish I knew why - but I don't.  :)

This over exposed picture doesn't do any justice to the beautiful and unusual torquoise green and span of these palm leaves.  I asked the neighbour if they could identify it but alas - her ignorance was even greater than mine.  Imagine that.

Most of the houses on and near the beach are on stilts.    Their "basement" area double up as a  car port and/or sitting area.  Kinda smart actually.  Hurricanes are still a constant threat here and flooding is the inevitable consequence.   

Gecko's abound.  We've seen a few cockroaches too.   Except in polite company, they are referred to as"Palmetto bugs".   We had a "Palm rat" come visit one night too.  But looking at the what the trap caught confirms that a rat is really just a rat - unless it's Ratatouille of course!

Turning back up our quiet street.  Quiet is a relative term of course.   Looking straight down this street you will see the ocean lapping along the ever popular seven mile beach of pristine luxurious sand.   But here I am, yapping away while supper beckons!  

Pier posing for grandmarmie's camera.  Oh how I miss my Jules.

An elderly woman down our street has been feeding these uhm...egrets? and old bearded blue herons for several years.  She purportedly knows them individually by name, they will come to her door and take the sardines right from her hand.   

Another day is done.  

Thanks for coming along - company is always a pleasure.