January 29th, 2020

 Joy and I did our photo safari this week on a Tuesday instead of our usual Thursday due to our crazy schedules.  So after her early morning doc appointment and my killer Pilates class off we went.

We headed south this time to the town of Englewood to a place I have never been and Joy hadn't visited in quite a while.  The Manasota Scrub Preserve.  It was really nice.

The entrance was via a boardwalk and the greeter at the boardwalk was an incredibly noisy bird that took us forever to find. We could hear it but not see it.  From the sound of the bird it should have been the size of a pterodactyl.  Joy is the one who finally spied the little bugger who was not nearly as large as it's voice.  Looked like some sort of quail.  It's name should be Really Loud Bird.  Who knows, maybe that's what quail means.  I did not manage to get a decent shot of the bird but I did get the pretty boardwalk entrance

Shortly thereafter the boardwalk ended and the path became a series of very pretty and well marked trails with zero sign of feral hogs (to our great relief!)  

It was primarily a foliage photo shoot this time.  We saw a lot of birds and bees and dragonflies but I didn't capture a single dang one.  They just move too fast for me to get the lens focused.  I really need to work on that. 

It was a pretty day, sunshiney and the middle place between warm and cool.  We both wore shorts but also sweatshirts and were perfectly comfortable for most of the hike.  Eventually we both took the sweatshirts off to tie 'round our waists.  Which is one of the great things about sweatshirts.  The tie around the waist thing always works perfectly.  It might look funny, but it works great.  By the time we finished the hike, I had my sweatshirt back on.

It was an interesting place to wander. There were bodies of water, some clear, some swampy, endless varieties of foliage, some shady bits some sunny parts and all in all an absolutely beautiful place to walk.  There were quite a number of plants/shrubs/trees that were on the verge of blooming.  So in short order it will be wild with colour and fragrance.  For now there were only just a few already open.

There were a surprising number of benches inviting anyone to have a seat and enjoy the view and while we did not partake, it's always nice to see.  There were also remarkably few people.  In fact, we passed two groups on our way in and that was it.  The end.  So we never felt crowded or pressured to "move along". We like to go at our own pace and since we stop constantly to take photos (or at least consider taking photos) our pace is mostly rather slow.

Eventually we found ourselves back at the beginning and set out to run a few errands followed by lunch.  Joy chose pizza and because she is a sweetie, she always orders a large enough pizza for us to share AND for me to have leftovers for breakfast the next day.

It was an excellent breakfast :)

It was also a great hike, some good pictures and, as always, just fun spending time with my sister.  It really is the little things in life that mean the most.