Surprise!

Look what arrived in my mailbox this week.... a special package from Libby of Woodlands World. Everything made by hand... gorgeous!

An embroidered card of a Christmas tree embellished with sequins, elegant Lady Purple the Peg Doll, and a fluffy baby robin chick. Thank you Libby, I'm thrilled to bits!

Dashing through the snow....

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... but this was a TWO horse open sleigh.

The Birthplace of Speed

Ormond Beach has been known as The Birthplace of Speed since the first automobile races were held on the compacted sand beach.

On March 28, 1903, Ormond Beach was the site of a thrilling one mile race between pioneer auto builders.
The Hotel Ormond Challenge cup pitted Alexander Winton’s red "Bullet" against Ransom Olds' "Pirate". Winton’s "Bullet" won the race by two tenths of a second, the recorded time was 75 seconds at the mind-numbing speed of 48 mph.

A push start may be required....

Ormond Beach hosts an Antique and Classic car show during the Thanksgiving weekend. Proud car owners from all over Florida congregate in Fortunato Park to discuss spark plugs and to kick tires. (Figuratively speaking of course. If you actually attempted to kick a tire on one of these beauties, you'd be taken away in handcuffs!)

And the owners are just as smartly turned out as the cars.

Feeling Crabby?

Wherever you look on the beach at Ormond, there are small holes in the sand, and if you are patient, you'll see the resident sand crab doing his housework and carrying out extra sand. This is a small one, about 2 inches across the carapace.

But this bigger one was about 4 inches across, and was feeling quite belligerent about being disturbed.

He (or she?) was ready to stand and fight.

He waved his claws in the air in a threatening manner, and then quite sensibly decided that I was bigger than he was, and he scuttled away among the sea oats.

Let me introduce....

.... my new grandpuppy, the latest addition to the family.

Her name is TESSA, she is 4 months old, full of bounce, and she has taken up residence with YoungerSon and The Bride.

She has Poodle and Golden Retriever ancestry, and I'm told she is known as a Goldendooodle.

You can call her whatever you like, I just call her CUTE!

Back to Nature on a Wing and a Prayer

The Marine Science Center at Lighthouse Point Park in Ponce Inlet has a marvellous coastal wildlife rehabilitation programme. Their main patients are injured seabirds, manatees and turtles. We were lucky enough to be present at the release of 2 gulls and 4 brown pelicans that had been brought to the centre with injuries earlier this year, and had recovered enough to be returned to the wild.

The birds arrived at the beach in style riding on a golf cart, 2 huge pelicans squeezed into each large animal carrier, and a gull in each of the smaller carriers.

Everyone was instructed to stand well back to give the birds plenty of room, and the cages were opened. Watch out! Here they come!

A little confused as to what to do next. Why are all these humans staring at us?

But eventually all the birds waddled towards the water and stood there, probably assessing the situation, while the admiring crowd waited for some action.

These brown pelicans are surprisingly large, 42-54 inches in length, and weigh from 6-12 lbs and have a wingspan from 6 to 8.2 ft.

As soon as the gulls flapped their wings and took off, the pelicans got the message and followed. A huge cheer went up from the crowd.

Look closely and you can see them flying in the distance.

Great work by the dedicated Marine Science Center staff and volunteers.

On the Beach

The sandy beach at Ormond is different every morning, depending on the tide, the weather, the winds. Every morning we walked the seashore, but unfortunately, there's a huge volume of garbage washed up on the sand every day, especially after a stormy night and a high tide. We filled a couple of shopping bags with junk every day. The worst offenders were plastic water bottles and lids. And remnants of balloons attached to indestructible plastic ribbon, just waiting to wrap itself around the legs of seabirds.

The oceans of the world must be full of discarded plastic. How sad.

Sunrise over the Atlantic can be stunning.

Of course, The Space Cadet claims to do his best work by the ocean.

The Atlantic was a bit chilly, but that just makes me scream louder when the big wave hits.

When faced with acres and acres of sandy beach, it's compulsory to build a sand castle, isn't it? Spot was a great help. He carried the heavy buckets of sand and collected the shells for decoration.

And I valiantly defended the castle from the incoming tide, just like fabled King Canute.

Unfortunately, it was gone the next morning, washed away by the waves. Oh well.... easy come, easy go. I hear that Canute didn't have much success either.

Once the castle is built, it's a good excuse to catch up on a bit of light reading.

The view from our little Beach House at night, the full moon illuminating the water and the light of a fishing boat on the horizon.