Thanks Bill! Those photos were taken in an area off the main park road named "
Pa-Hay-Okee," a Seminole word meaning "grassy river" - a term that is, quite accurately, often used to describe the everglades as a whole. There is a boardwalk and an elevated platform that gives a somewhat rare glimpse of the everglades from above the treeline - a natural choice for taking in the sunset!
Literally, before human development changed the course of the water flow (there are now, and for at least the past ten years have been, ongoing efforts to restore the natural flow of water), the entire southern half of the state, from Lake Okeechobee down to Florida Bay (the last bit of mainland before you hit the Florida Keys) was, from the eastern coast to the western, one massive, but shallow and slow-moving, river!
I say "slow-moving" because the water only travels approximately ½ of a mile (0.8 kilometer) per day! In fact, one of the ways you can orient yourself in the environment (even if you've got no sun) is to put something that floats in the water, mark the location with a stick, watch it for a couple of hours (you're lost - what else are you gonna do?
), mark the final location with a stick and you've got a reliable north-south vector as the "river" always flows south. From any point in the everglades; walking south, north, or west won't do much good as there are vast expanses of nothing but swamp -- but, as the majority of Florida's east coast is highly developed, if you head east - you'll eventually hit civilization (or something like it
).
Simply avoid drowning, and dehydration (both of those are common perils), getting bitten by a water moccasin (cottonmouth), coral snake, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, American alligator, American crocodile, bull shark (no joke!), black bear, or Florida panther (critically endangered), and sheltering under a
Manchineel tree (the Spanish explorers named it "la manzanilla de muerte" or "little apple of death") and you'll be fine!
The water in the background of this picture is only about 5 or 6 inches deep, and most of the everglades is like this, with occasional punctuations of deep holes formed by limestone erosion (a mostly natural process) and "islands," with foundations of ancient coral reefs, where sediment was able to accumulate and allowed the ubiquitous
bald cypress trees to take hold.
If any of you gents ever decide to visit South Florida, I'd be happy to give you the "insider" tour!
I got up very early as I needed to do a couple of things before heading out. At the market, another whole section of the indoor section has been closed for two years, with £30 Million assigned to be squandered/back-pocketed on renovations, followed by huge rent increases, which will price out the few remaining traders
Our Cake Man is particularly badly affected, as his stall is now cut off, with no passing trade
After reporting this to Tool Man, he decided he needed to assess the situation, and taking me with him meant that he had a chance of more cake. While we chewed that fat with Our Cake Man, I surrendered to the inevitable, and purchased Tool Man's favourite 'School Slab', who then decided to treat himself to a family-size egg custard. Back at the stall, I showed off the Pals Lambsfoot to the assembled regulars, before Tool Man quickly consumed almost all of the School Slab, the entire custard, quickly followed by a bag of custard doughnuts, of which I saw only the empty bag, and 2 samosas and some mushroom bhajis. Even by Tool Man standards, Tool Man was being very greedy (and I'm sure I only saw a fraction of what he ate)!
Hope you can get a good night sleep tonight.
. Been an absolutely beautiful winter and POWW. Snow storm on Badger Show weekend 
Thanks buddy, I was in bed five minutes after posting, and slept like a log! 
I don't know how he does it! 
I love my new Lamb Paul, inevitably it makes me think of the kindness of the good friends who sent it my way, and the spirit of the Guardians 
I hope everyone has had a good week 
I think my sleep apnoea must have gotten worse, as I can't seem to stop falling asleep at the moment 
