Peachy Keen

 

Peachy Keen, an adjective meaning extremely good or exactly right.

My blog break was good but not exactly 'peachy keen'. We are still working on that! lol

But the term came to mind when I saw this Mourning Dove.

I was convinced it was something special because of it's soft peachy colors.

It was just gorgeous.

We took this hike at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve from the Pruitt trailhead on a very windy day. 

It was around 70 degrees so it wasn't cold but it was extremely blustery.

One good thing about it was we walked into the wind so that when we turned around, the wind blew us back to our vehicle. 

That's a good thing when you are tired!

We saw several American Kestrels that day.

They have such rich colors with the soft light of a cloudy day.

And one of my favorite photos to take are the 'winter trees'. 

The grasses were all a burnt orange too.

I hope your holiday week has been good. 

What did I miss? 🚘

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE ! 

December JOY!

 I have to admit to having so much fun this month that I need to take a break! I'm going to wish you all a Very Merry Season of JOY and step away from my computer for a couple of weeks.

Of course I want to share some of the sightings from my hikes this week.

Several people got to enjoy seeing this young deer! There's a lady sitting at the picnic table and 2 people on bikes and I'm at the top of the hill with my camera!

But of course, he really wants to cross the trail right now!

WHEW! He made it just in time!

I sure love watching scenes like this along the Marjorie Carr Cross Florida Greenway. 

It really is a glorious time of the year to live in Florida. The weather is beautiful and I'm spending more and more time outdoors in nature. 

Enjoy December and everything that means the most to you.

Happy Holidays from Florida!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE ! 

Winter Hiking...Come on along!

 

Winter hiking is the best here in Florida, as you can imagine!

A 'bird' ornament high in the pine tree! It's REAL!

And some Reindeer Moss!

 Temps were in the 60s and 70s for these hikes....perfect!

And there are some trails that I have to save for the cooler weather. Walking down in the canal diggings is too hot in the summertime. I can hike in hotter temps as long as I have a bit of a breeze but in these low areas it's hard to 'catch a breeze'!

This is a section between the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway paved trail and Shangri-La.

It's very peaceful and I love these big old limestone formations. 

I know I've shown them to you before but I still love to share.

You can imagine faces and animal shapes in some of the rocks.

When I got back up to the higher trail, I spotted an American Kestrel.

I thought it was perfectly posed and took a lot of photos on the perch.

But then it took off flying to snag a Dragonfly in it's talons!

So then I took another group of photos. 

Time to stand still and watch the Kestrel eat lunch!

I was ready for a break anyway!

Amazing!

Nature has outdone herself this winter with red berries!

What a fabulous day for a wintertime hike in Florida!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE !  

Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway

 

I wanted to dedicate this post to the Greenway and share some of my favorite photos from my hikes there.

Of course I spent hours looking at 'favorite pics'!

I've been hiking the greenway for almost 10 years so I had trouble deciding which to share.

Please click on the link HERE to read the facebook page started by the Greenway Guardians. Duke Energy is proposing a project to build high voltage power lines THROUGH the Greenway! As you can imagine this would be disastrous to wildlife, birds, wildflowers and plants. Thanks go those fighting to preserve the Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. 

And join me down memory lane as I share a few of my sightings.

White tailed Deer

Bald Eagle

One of my favorite sightings!

Fox Squirrel

These squirrels can be spotted all through the Greenway. My girlfriend saw one a couple of weeks ago and said it was the largest one she had ever seen! I'm still on the look out for that one!

Barred Owl

Florida Scrub Jay

The Greenway habitat is very important for this rare bird!

Red headed Woodpeckers up on the hill!

I've named this hill the Bluebird of Happiness Hill!

Eastern Bluebirds

Gopher Tortoise

Longspurred Mint

One of my favorite sightings was this Florida Bobcat. I'll include a link to the bobcat story HERE in case you missed it!

Florida Bobcat

What a treasure this Greenway is to our community and to our state of Florida.

49th Ave Trailhead 

I've met people from all over the country (and the world) that visit Florida and walk or ride bikes on the Greenway. It is a treasure worth preserving!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

  and Mosaic Monday HERE !