The writing of Coming to Pass: Florida’s Islands in a Gulf of Change began on October 22, 2007, when I inscribed a fat black journal with a single word–COAST–and then cut out pictures to decorate it. I didn’t know what this book would become back then. In 2007, I was trying to reconcile my roles. Mother and stepmother to three sons growing out and away. Daughter of an aging father needing a good deal of my help. … Continue
Monthly Archives: February 2015
Occupy Sandbar: That’s what shorebirds do, because only on the edges of our coastline can they live. Last week, birders and biologists all over Florida put their binoculars together to see how the original snowbirds are doing on their wintering grounds (which we mostly think of as “our” beaches and sandbars). It’s called the statewide Winter Shorebird Survey. My assigned territory required a kayak trip about a mile off shore to a set of linear, mostly submerged sandbars in Franklin … Continue
A really good contradance is the closest I’ve come to flying in a flock of shorebirds. In this kind of dance, you and your partner move with another couple through a series of figures with evocative names like Mad Robin, Box the Gnat, California Twirl, Ocean Wave, and Hey for Four. What transforms a contra from a series of rote steps to a transcendent experience is the ability of the group to synchronize. You need a room full of people … Continue