All Fired Up to Kayak and No Where to Go….Sea Eagle Woes

Sparky thought she would kayak the Braden River this weekend.  Nice temps, not too hot, so down to the landing she went, Jiggs Landing, about a half mile from her house. Normally, it takes about 8 minutes to inflate the kayak, fasten the seat in, throw in the necessary supplies and set out on the water.

But something wasn't quite right…Sparky was distracted, (no surprise there, laughs E.) and after inflating one side of the kayak and then the other, she went to the car to get the rest of her stuff---food, water, paddle, etc. She came back and darned if one side of the kayak wasn't inflated. Hm-m-mmm…must have forgotten to push the valve stem up so it would hold air or something like that. She pumped it up again. Went to pick up her paddle, which was laying on the ground, looked back at the kayak, and the one side was deflated again.

What the heck??!!!!!  Sparky examined the kayak closely. Pumped it up again, and this time, watched the side chamber slowly deflate again. She couldn't hear any air leaking, so examined the sides very closely…..

AHA! One of the side seams had a portion of the seam completely open.  There was at least a six inch seam opening. WEIRD! The glue looked like it had completely dissolved in the one section. The rest of the seam was firmly and solidly attached. Sparky has pushed up the kayak skin so the gap can be REALLY seen!

Sparky was VERY upset!!! But at least the opening was easily seen NOW and discovered BEFORE getting out on the river, which has alligators in it, aggressive ones this time of year.  Sparky COULD have gone kayaking with a SLO-O-W leak, and lost air out on the water. Could have been much worse…..

Back home she went…She decided to call Inflatable Boats 4 Less, which is a company that is a distributor for Sea Eagle, and the company she had purchased the kayak from two years ago. Sparky had a blog about sitting on the porch at the RV park in the keys, waiting for her kayak to come back then. That boat has seen a LOT of action since then, but not so much since we settled in Bradenton. No matter….Tim and Crystal, the owners of Inflatable Boats 4 Less, were very surprised that the seam opened up, they said that was very unusual. They asked for photos to be sent, and they researched the purchase date. Sparky was very happy to find out that the boat was still under warranty! By the way, Sea Eagles have a THREE year warranty, folks! Woo hoo!

After sending some photos of the seam opening, Tim quickly got back to Sparky, said he had called Sea Eagle, sent them the photos and they were going to send out a brand new hull with a new, updated design at no charge. All Sparky had to do was cut out the DES label with the boat's registration number on it, rendering the kayak useless to repair so she wouldn't get a second boat out of the deal. AWESOME! In less than a few days, Sparky's new 2014 Sea Eagle 385 kayak hull arrived….YAY! There's one year left on the warranty on the new hull, so that's good.

Awesome service from Tim and Crystal…Thanks, guys! Sparky is back out on the river!

Followup note: The next time Sparky went out on the river in the new hull, before embarking, a fisherman came up to her, looked at her boat and said, "Just want you to know, ma'am, that three VERY aggressive male alligators are fighting over there (and he pointed in the direction towards the dam at Jigg's Landing) and you might want to make sure you don't go over in that direction."  Sparky was thinking, "Well of COURSE I want to go over there and see if I can get some photos of some gators duking it out!" But Eldy was with her, helping her unload, and SOME sense prevailed as Sparky resisted the urge to head in that direction after Eldy left the parking lot.  She looked to see if he was watching, and then decided, "Ya know….maybe it isn't such a good idea to go gator hunting in a rubber boat."  Sea Eagle says you can take a claw hammer to the boat and it won't rip the fabric but gator teeth might be another story.  Dang, I wish I had a hard shell kayak! says Sparky.

The Braden River is a beautiful paddle---some old houses along the river banks, some long stretches without any houses to be seen, and some nice wildlife along the way--today, juvenile great blue herons, a BIG turtle in the water…..

Some pretty leaves coming out on the trees…You would have laughed to see Sparky trying to angle her kayak in and around this tree to get a shot of this one overhanging branch. The wind kept blowing the Sea Eagle around, that thing turns on a dime. She'd position herself, the wind would come up, blow the kayak out of range and Sparky would maneuver herself back into position…Only to be blown out again and the camera couldn't focus. By the fifth time maneuvering, Sparky was cussing up a storm. Gotta get that shot! Bound and determined…Finally….

Now, it doesn't look all that special, especially with a camera phone…Oh, well…Sparky just loves taking photos of just about anything and everything….Time to go looking for some photo pops! See ya later…..

A Shimmy Mob? Count Eldo In!

"Hey, El, wanna go see the pops concert at the ball park this weekend?"

"Sure…why not?"  But wait a minute….

"Hey, El, did you see the shimmy mob/belly dancing event advertised in the paper for the Nokomis Beach drum circle Saturday night?"

Eldo perked up….Sparky knew the answer to the next question…."Hm-m-m-m-mmmm…Let me guess the answer to this next question. "Which would you rather go see--the pops concert at the ball park or the belly dancing at the beach?"  Well, DUH! Eldo would rather go see the belly dancing at the beach. Silly Sparky for even asking….

So we went…It was not quite what we thought it would be. A large group of belly dancers, around 30 or more, wearing purple "Shimmy Mob" tee shirts showed up to perform, and the usual cast of characters at the Siesta Key drum circle showed up to promote World Belly Dancing Day. There was the "Jester", a retired school teacher…. 

There was the "Shaman" as we like to call him, the guy with the cream colored bowler hat who has a terrific physique for his age who does the "blessing" ritual of getting the dancing circle ready….and the scarf lady, all previously showcased in previous drum circle blogs…Tonight, it had sort of a lackluster feel to it. The shaman didn't do nearly as much incantation as he normally does, and the jester removed himself to the outside of the circle entirely and watched the rest of the proceedings from up in the lifeguard tower after a brief exhortation to watch the sun set which doesn't really set, as he explained, moving around the circle attempting to educate the crowd.

There were PLENTY of people there all right….

But the belly dancing was just ONE group dance, where the dancers were performing the same choreographed dance in 165 cities all over the country at the same time, 6:30 PM… The dancers were there to raise money for women's shelters, a wonderful cause.

After they finished, they were done, and the usual throng of people clogged up the center circle standing around talking to each other and taking photos of the drummers. The wonderful hoop dancers that use to come last year and the year before were not there, and the people who love to dance in their exotic costumes and really get down to the beat weren't there. We feel lucky that we've seen some really really cool drum circles over the past couple of years. Guess the word has gotten out on how cool they were and although the throngs of people show up each time, the performers are few and far between now. Part of that we think is due to the lack of etiquette shown by the bystanders. There's a reason a large circle is drawn. Bystanders are supposed to stay on the outside of the circle and let the performers do their thing on the inside of the circle. There's no room for them to do their hoop magic, for the scarf/sword lady to do her dancing to the beat, so the really interesting skilled performers seem to be staying away for now…..

Sparky went down to the water's edge for a little while to watch the skimboard surfers do their thing in the good waves curling into the beach. One of the guys did a 360 degree turnarounds on their board in these little waves. They were quite good and fun to watch!

We didn't want to stay any longer at the drum circle so we headed over to the North and South Jetty at Venice, not too far away….Good sightings there, but not the belly dancing kind….(Sigh, says E.)

A lone dolphin swimming out and away from the jetty…….A great blue heron waiting for leftovers…..

A fisherman hoping for a catch of some sort….

A beautiful end to a beautiful day…Time to go home, E…………………...

Diverse Sarasota/Bradenton!

But living in the Sarasota area makes that very easy to do…One of Sparky's friends from up north said just the other day, "I feel like I'm living in the wrong location! We still have the heat on and are wearing winter jackets!" Come on down, Jeannie…Retire down here in beautiful, sunny Sarasota or the more affordable Bradenton and come see all that there is to do!

We ate breakfast at the Gulf Gate Cafe and Tiki Bar this morning….Didn't spot any dolphins…The food is just OK for breakfast, but boy, what a view! As seen through Sparky's morning beverage of choice.

And there's been sand dredged to expand the beach, so there's a lot more beach to walk afterwards, should you feel so inclined.

We usually head over to the Anna Maria Island City Pier after breakfast to see what wildlife is showing itself. There always seems to be something in the water to see! Today it was several dolphins swimming and diving and a lone dolphin stealing the bait fish off the ends of the fishermen's rods,

along with a pair of snowy egrets waiting for handouts…..

The egrets get a lot of shrimp to eat from the fishermen….They have named some of the birds who frequent the joint…Stewie and Huey were these two…..Sparky resisted asking, "Is there a Dewey and Louie? Or a Dewy, Cheatem, and Howe?" She was in a silly mood. No wine involved.

Sparky saw some cow nose rays gliding by---too wavy and murky today to get a good photo….

Off to downtown Sarasota for the Farmer's Market and a terrific craft fair going on…The amateur piano players were out, but they didn't seem like amateurs. There was some awesome piano scores being played all over town. If you've been reading the blog, you  might have seen the one about there are six artistically painted pianos with built in dehumidifiers in them placed all around Sarasota for several months and anybody can stop and play. Lots of people do! A lot of beautiful music was being played downtown today….

Some artists were out doing their thing…..

Sparky stopped at the arts and craft show and talked to a lady who had very eclectic stuff. It turns out she was a dumpster diver, a purveyor of all things recyclable and trashed…All her art was made from discarded objects from all over the world, bits and pieces of class, metal, and tons of broken objects from her travels and made into funky looking, yet functional pieces. She calls her art "artful necessaries from the finest trash." The name of her booth was "A Pain in My Glass." As Sparky was typing this, she first put a pain in my "ass" unintentionally! Guess that's the whole idea, so you won't forget her booth's name. Cynthia Linden is the artist and calls herself a "trashologist." She was very interesting to talk to, and shared a cute story about how when she first moved to where she is now, she saw the neighbor's house being renovated and a big dumpster outside the house. She saw them leave, thought they were leaving for up north and decided since she hadn't officially met them yet, she'd check out the dumpster while they were gone. While she was IN the dumpster, the neighbors returned, and she couldn't find a good time to exit while they were there. Finally, she poked her head out of the dumpster, at which point they saw her emerge, she introduced herself, and what she did for a living, and now they are the best of friends. Quite the first impression of your neighbor, eh?  Sparky bought a little angel.

By the way, Cynthia's email address starts with "reality bytes….."  A interesting lady with wit and cool pieces of art. Respectfully, Sparky did not take any photos to show you what cool pieces and parts she put together to make things, but a lot of stained glass mixed in with everything you could possibly imagine. Kinda funky, but Sparky really liked her work. (Ummmm….glad Sparky didn't buy anything bigger than this little angel, says a relieved E.) Sparky has trouble convincing Eldy of a home purchase now and then, but he has to admit, that the house has turned out nicely so far. But Sparky hasn't put her stamp of individuality in the decorating department quite yet. She's waiting for the right moment and the right funky piece to add some additional touches. (Uh-oh! And that's all I'm gonna say, says E.)

On to the next event today…The Harvey Milk Festival in downtown Sarasota….A festival honoring the first openly gay mayor of San Francisco AND the diversity of the Sarasota community….It coexisted side by side with the farmer's market, the craft show and had food trucks galore, which caught Sparky's eye. Sparky was more interested in the food trucks than she was in the music entertainment which was so LOUD, it was PAINFUL! After a blah couple of chicken tacos, with eardrums pulsing and the sound booming from the ridiculously loud speakers causing Sparky some significant ear pain, we decided to take our leave…...

Down to Siesta Key Beach for the 2014 Dig the Beach Volleyball Tournament! Problem was, we waited too late in the day to go see it. Eldy couldn't find a parking space, the lot was full, the side streets were full. So he dropped Sparky off, she took some photos, and Eldy missed all the action. (Well, PHOOEY! says E. I hate it when I miss seeing a talented bunch of women play beach volleyball.) And he hates it when he misses those thonged bikini bottoms and those itsy bitsy bikini tops. We all know that's the REAL reason he's keenly disappointed today….lol……

On the way home, we saw horses at the beach! Kids riding bareback into deep water with guides leading the horses, we didn't know that was offered here, too.  They basically lead the horses with the young riders along the beach for a few yards, into the water up to the horse's chest, then back out to the beach for a photo opp. Each horse has a guide to walk them and then stay with the riders as the horses briefly swim. The little kids were thoroughly enjoying it. Down the road from the horses was this cool bus, the Surfer Bus.

The Surfer Bus has a huge supply of rental kayaks for use. Don't know how much, Sparky doesn't need one. She just got a replacement Sea Eagle 385-- more about that on another day.

We managed to pack in a LOT of stuff today, and there was lots more to choose from besides all that. It's amazing how many visitors are still here in the area. Must be a lot of Europeans with families doing the tourist thing. The beach was FULL today. The restaurants seem to be quite busy, too. Not much of a slowdown going on even after the snowbirds have left. Plenty of tourists are still coming, especially to Anna Maria Island.

A great day, jam packed, time to slow down and relax for the rest of the day…..Bye for now!

The Last Couple of Days…A Mongoose Gets Loose!

Sparky's been teaching nearly every day to have some extra money for trips this summer. Sorry, no photos for this part, privacy issues for school kids, parental permission, stuff like that….

Kindergarten…..It was Cowboy Day, er, Cowgirl Day…Sparky had a great time going along reading stories with a Texas drawl and wearing a big ten gallon hat borrowed from the classroom teacher for a little while….It was fun to urge the little ones to "get along little doggies!" C'mon, cowgirls and cowboys, saddle up your horses, it's CHOW time!"  A LOT of the kids had on cowboy hats, or chaps or bandanas, and the teachers gave out metal sheriff stars for good behavior. The kindergarten teachers even tried to teach the kids to line dance. THAT was interesting! Kids going every which way and loose!

Another day this week was wacky Wednesday. Some of the staff really get into these theme days….This is one of the wonderful special education program teacher aides, Miss Stox…She followed the theme days every day this week. She has the patience of Job with the kids. She's great!

We special education teachers are a little wacky, don't you know! Gotta have a lot of heart and spirit to work with special needs kids.

Sparky subbed in a first grade classroom the next to the last day of school. Everything was going as well as could be expected, with kids at an all time high energy level, when Sparky introduced a lesson on popcorn which was going to be served later that morning. The object of the lesson was to first explore a piece of popcorn--a kernel, with the senses. OK, kids…what do your eyes tell you when you see the kernel? What do your ears tell you?  "Uh, Mrs. Sprinkles, (the kids hadn't got Mrs. Sparks down yet)…I just dropped the kernel in my ear and I can't get it out."   Sparky says, reassuringly, "Oh, you probably actually dropped it on the floor honey, don't worry about it. "   "No, it's really, it's in there, I can feel it!" the little girl says, remarkably calm. Sparky is starting to feel not so calm. She's thinking, oh, boy….this is not going to be good….Sent the little girl down to the clinic….Sparky checked in later…. "Oh, yes. There really was a kernel inside her ear. She's going to have to be sent home and taken to the doctor or the E.R. where they will suction it out."   Yikes! Thankfully, parents weren't too upset. These things happen all the time says the nurse…Don't worry about it…..The teacher won't be upset…Sigh….says Sparky. But she still worried….

OK, so we move along to visiting the second grade classrooms as a preview for the first graders to familiarize themselves with their possible teacher for next year. Parade around the second grade classrooms, one at a time, ask questions, see what's what in second grade. We get to the last classroom visit, and the teacher has a critter in a wooden box with a partial metal cover on it. The kids ask what's in there? Is it alive? Yes, he says. What is it? ask the kids, crowding around the box like trap. He points to the board where there's a mongoose illustration being shown as the current second grade class is studying them, and he asks, what do you think it is?  The kids guess "mongoose". He says, that's right! Sparky's like, yeah, sure. But she can see that something is in there. Be careful, he says, as the kids lean in closer, trying to see.  He adds, they bite! The kids lean even closer, "I wanna see, I wanna see!"

The teacher says, "Can you hear him purr? Listen closely, but not too close. You can scratch the outside of the box and maybe he will come closer to the screen where you can see him." We all lean in, including Sparky, trying in vain to see the little mongoose, and all of a sudden the teacher yells, "LOOKOUT! THE COVER IS LOOSE!" The cover flies open and out flies a pelted fur animal of some sort. Sparky screams "AC-C-C-C-C-K-K-K!" The kids scream, "A-AAAAAACK!" The animal was wired to the trap door opening to come flying out when Mr. W. pulled the string. It was some kind of skunk pelt. And the kids went bananas…."DID YOU SEE THAT? IT HIT ME IN THE NOSE!"  "IT CAME FLYING RIGHT INTO MY FACE!" exclaimed another. "It scared me half to death!" Sparky said. And she told the teacher,  "Mr. W., I think you just shortened my life by about ten years!" The kids couldn't stop talking about Mr. W. and his animal for a LONG time after we got back to class. But it was really funny. Naturally, all the kids wanted to be in Mr. W.'s class for next year.

We got through the rest of the day without incident….Whew! Sparky is going to miss the little rug rats, but she's ready for a rest!  See you soon….in a calmer place probably….

May is Manatee Mating Month!

Saw a photo in the paper this morning about sightings of manatees close to the shore in Gulf waters. Guess the females are trying to get away from the males and get some rest. The females will come quite close to shore trying to get away for a bit. On Lido Key recently, 17 males pursued a tagged female manatee trying to get as close to shore as possible to get away from her pursuers. Apparently, the males pursue the females for WEEKS! Mating herds are most often seen in the bay. But lately, as the females have been getting tired, three shored herds have been seen in the past two weeks.

from the internet

The paper had a cautionary warning: "DON'T TRY TO SEPARATE OR PUSH THEM AWAY FROM EACH OTHER!"  Manatees with their bulky bodies (they can weight up to 3,000 pounds) and the roiling of the males jostling for the females trying to get a mate could cause injuries to someone. There's a lot of violent thrashing and rolling going on in shallow water. Guess some people think the manatees are going to strand themselves and need help getting pushed out to deeper water. Leave them alone and let them do the deed, is the preferred recommendation. And by the way, it's against federal and state laws offer them food or water…..Just an F.Y.I…….

We've got love bugs mating, we've got manatees mating, the turtles are laying eggs…What else is going on? A trip to Anna Maria Island City Pier for the latest sightings….Rays! At least two schools of them parading back and forth along the city pier…Wonder if they are mating?

Sparky loves the way they orchestrate their swimming and turn maneuvering together….

The pelicans are interesting to watch. Sparky always thought their food was obtained through plunging into the ocean from high dives in the sky. But sometimes they just sit and wait for the food to come to them. Down goes the bill into the water, and their throat pouches swell up to the size of huge balloons as they use their pouches like a net. They hold both the water and the fish in their pouch.

Then they drain the water from their scoop, and proceed to swallow the fish with great big GULP, GULP, GULPS, clapping their beaks together as they swallow. Their pouch is also used to hold water to cool themselves down, too.

 This is pretty common to see, too. The seabirds were landing on the pelicans just as soon as they saw the pelican's head swish below the water.

"Yoo-hoo! I'm here for my snack!"

They waited trying to figure out how they might partake in some of the pelican's food. Then they started to get impatient. This bird started pecking the pelican's head!

"Hey, what am I, chopped liver? Gimme some!"

The pelicans weren't interested in sharing, not one little bit…..

"HEY! Don't you know it's impolite not to share???"

Finally, once the pelican's head came up, they knew their chances were greatly diminished, so they flew off, looking for the next bobbing pelican head…..Pelicans eat up to about four pounds of fish a day and these guys didn't seem to having any trouble finding the fish today. Over and over and over the beaks went down swooping for the fish kill. 

We were sorry to see this pelican had had a run in with a fisherman, you can see the fishing line around his beak, it almost looks like a pair of spectacles, but he was still able to eat….There are signs on the city pier how to disengage the fishing line from birds if they get attached, but you would think it would be VERY difficult to restrain a big, combatant pelican to get the line out, wouldn't you?

We saw one lone manatee a ways out from the pier. We think it was a tired female…..

We LOVE Anna Maria Island and the city pier…..Another beautiful day in paradise, as everyone who lives here likes to say…..

Well, I'm Hot Blooded, Check 'n and See….

"Hot blooded, check 'n and see….I've got a fever of 103…." Song by Foreigner

Sparky is ashamed to say, she's 63 years old and never has donated blood. Not really sure why not all these years, a little afraid they'd find something wrong, just a little leery of the whole procedure, hates needles, things like that…BUT---something on the radio today moved her to change her mind. And once Sparky makes up her mind, THERE'S NO CHANGING IT! (Don't I know THAT! exclaims Eldo.)

The local radio station, WSRZ, 107.9, was championing a blood drive--"Pints for Plays" with lots of enticements…pizza, free tee shirt, the usual cookies and drinks, Tervis tumblers, and if you donated a pint, you could pick a tumbler (marvelous outdoor glasses by the way), a plug for your own business,  OR ANY song and they would play it on the radio. They had been playing very eclectic music all morning long and announcing each donor's name along with the song… The music was fabulous! Something just clicked for Sparky, because she LOVES music and she decided, TODAY was the day to donate. Off she went for what turned out to be a marvelous experience and a brief claim to fame…..Stay tuned…..

Sparky signed up, and was led by a kind volunteer to one of SEVEN portable blood mobile labs located in the Target parking lot at University Drive, Sarasota, and to a capable phlebotomist named Alyssa. Alyssa was very thoughtful and caring, very thorough in her explanations and the  whole procedure went very very smoothly. Alyssa asked Sparky if she was going to pick a song after the donation, and Sparky said, "Oh, yeah! Got it all picked out. I'm going to ask for Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines". (That's a really funky dance song in case anybody is not familiar with it.) Alyssa says, "Oh, terrific! I love that song. I've been wanting to hear some up tempo music. Ask for that, would you?" Sparky said, "Absolutely!" So she did! Sparky got a cute little bow on her bandage when she was finished.

On the way out of the donation area, the local radio station asked Sparky to read a scripted message. "Hi, I'm Jeannie, from Bradenton, FL. I just donated blood to Pints for Play, sponsored by WSRZ…." and I snuck in, "my favorite radio station" after the call letters. Which it really is, my favorite radio station….

On the way to some errands afterwards, Sparky was listening to the radio in the car, and her song came on! She decided to call the radio station and just thank them for a fun, enjoyable experience. She wasn't thinking when she started to explain that she was 63 years old, and a first time donor. The receptionist says, "Just a second, would you mind if I patched you into the D.J.'s?" Sparky said no problem. All of a sudden, she was talking live, on the air, and basically explained again, she was a first time donor. They were shocked and asked some questions. Sparky explained that she didn't know why she waited so long, fears kept holding her back, etc., and that she was glad she decided to donate, and planned to be one from now on on a regular basis. After ending the phone call, a few minutes later, the d.j.'s played Sparky's "confession", saying that she didn't know it, but her phone call today would help a lot of other people in the same on-the-fence situation, take that step forward and donate. They played that conversation several times the rest of the day during the drive. AND, because Sparky snuck in that "favorite radio station" bit, they played THAT several times, too, the rest of the day!  It was fun to hear your own voice, although it sounded very different to Sparky.

Sparky had such an enjoyable experience, that she dragged Eldy back to the blood mobile for HIM to donate. He thinks he hadn't donated since he was in his twenties, and he donated a DOUBLE unit…Way to go, Eldy!

We came home with two Tervis tumblers and a 5.00 coupon for Anna Maria Island Oyster Bar, Eldy's favorite restaurant.

A terrific experience, and both of us have decided that we will not hesitate to be donors again in the very near future, with no enticements needed… It's something we both should have been doing all along. It just took a little push! Thanks to the WSRZ radio station for putting together such a great drive...AND they beat last year's record for number of pints donated, over 600 in one day!

Kayaking the Potomac!

On Sparky's last day visiting her daughter, Kelly had to pack for work after having a few days off to visit with her mother, (that's me, Sparky). So Kelly presented Sparky with a gift certificate for an early Mother's Day present, kayaking! Woo hoo! It was within walking distance so off Sparky set for the Key Bridge Boathouse where they rent kayaks. The boathouse is right under the Key Bridge in D.C., a very cool location under a very cool looking bridge.

The people at the boathouse were surprisingly not very helpful as far as what kind of current and which direction it was moving when Sparky asked. (!) Really? You are going to put a tourist in a boat and just send them off without any guiding information? They gave Sparky a Wilderness Tsunami, which was a lot slimmer profile and narrower cockpit than what she was used to, but it was very sleek and tracked very straight. Sparky was sort of glad she didn't have her regular point and shoot camera, as the boat felt a little tippy, and the wind was kicking up a bit. But the trip out and back was fine, and rewarding as you shall see.

Sparky had two hours to explore the Potomac….There are two ways you can set out…off to the right down the river, where a more quiet, nature like paddling excursion awaits, or you can paddle around Roosevelt Island and as you round the bend, you can see the Lincoln Memorial from the water--cool! It was a VERY dreary day and rain threatened…..

Sparky chose to go around Roosevelt Island. It was quite cool and a little bit windy, so she didn't stay out long. The island's edges are littered with trash, and the Potomac is a dirty looking river. Sparky was not impressed with how the government is maintaining its properties for visitors. More about that later…..It was unbelievable how much trash there was along the shores of Roosevelt Island all the way around. BUT---Sparky spotted wildlife! Birds….ducks….and specifically, a mallard taking a nap.

The coolest part of the mallard scene? There were FIVE beautiful wood ducks sitting on a log, just out of Sparky's camera phone range. If you look really really hard, they are sitting on the curved log, a little way above the mallard's head. Here is a photo from the internet showing just how beautiful they are…Sparky saw five males, all with the beautifully colored heads. Spectacular!

A little further along the island, Sparky spotted a BIG turtle. It was snoozing…..See? His eyes are closed.

turtle snoozing just before a rude awakening

Sparky decided to coast her kayak and not paddle…Uh-oh! The boat was heading for the log and was going to bump! At the point of contact, the turtle had been peacefully sleeping until the bump woke him up. BAM! He jumped right onto Sparky's kayak bow, and then PLOP! into the water! Sparky was totally startled at the path the turtle took, and she's sure the turtle was equally shocked at waking up and seeing the bright red kayak and the camera in his face! He was a beautiful turtle, have no idea what kind he was…..

Time to head back….

Sparky loved her kayaking trip out on the water today. She felt she was really blessed to see some nature in the midst of an urban environment…..

Tomorrow, it's time to head home, as in Bradenton, FL….Thank you, Kelly, for a wonderful time! She's a terrific host and it was so great to have some mother/daughter time together…..

Bye for now…….