Nice, isn’t it?

My mom had a black swan that she’d talk to. Pauly, he came with the farm. It was a sad day when he died…

My sisters bought my parents two white swans, for their anniversary, I think, but they flew away. Life is short!

So many wonderful things about living here. It’s 6:30 a.m. and the birds aren’t awake yet. Wonder what I will hear this morning?

Here are some photos of Barbara’s beautiful hammock garden, and a couple shots of the neighboring nature reserve.

The entry to Barbara Cook's gardens

The garden of good and evil

Happy birds get to live here.

Barbara's new favorite plants.

The straight and narrow path, on the way to good and evil.

On the way to the natural area, there are some twists and turns.

Why do i love bridges?

There is more than one way to get to your destination.

These are called Coralbean. Now that's a name I can remember.

Follow this link to Travelers Palm Inn:

We took a day trip to Sebring this winter. All of us enjoyed the day, and we had fun taking photos at Highlands Hammock State Park.

The park was established in 1935, and is one of the four original state parks created by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It is part of Florida’s Statewide Greenways and Trails System.

On 9,250 acres, It has a dense, subtropical jungle of hardwood trees, cabbage palms, ferns, bromeliads, orchids and other airplants.

Due to the diversity of the plant communities, many varieties of wildlife are found here including Whitetail Deer, River Otters, Pileated Woodpeckers, Red Shouldered Hawks, Barred Owls and Swallow-tailed Kites. Florida Panthers, Bobcats, and Bald Eagles may also be seen on occasion. I, however, only encountered a spider…

Please visit Travelers Palm Inn for information on vacation rentals.

Here’s the address:

8031 North Military Trail, Palm Beach Gardens,

Phone – 561-691-9880

It was the day before Christmas, and we wanted to do something with Zoe, Hannah, Max and James (ages 6 through 3), and we decided to check this place out. We all enjoyed it.

My son, Ted, grandsons, Max and James and I were playing with the knights and dragons. One little girl wanted to take over the castle, literally. She wanted to move it off the table. Her dad was not in favor. STTOPPP ITTT, he said. Of course, he was fairly well ignored.

Later, my son remarked that he rarely heard a dad whine at his kid. Here’s some photos…

For many northeners, South Florida is the next best thing to Utopia, especially in the dead of winter.  Heating up those bones after being chilled to the bone is a wondrous experience! At least, that’s what my visitors at my vacation rental, Travelers Palm, tell me.

At the turn of the 20th century, one group headed to Florida to establish their Utopia. You can still visit the site — it’s an easy drive and on the west coast of Florida.

OK. Maybe the facilities aren’t exactly five stars luxurious. But, I have to say, Koreshan had something to do with the stars in a way. Go see for yourself — here’s the site.

Here’s the real deal according to this Utopia — We live inside the globe, rather than on it.

Now a state park in Estero, Fl, the Koreshan Unity Settlement was founded by Dr. Cyrus Teed, who brought his followers to Estero in 1894. This settlement was to be the New Jerusalem, a Utopia, where members lived communally working for the good of all.

Here’s how Dr. Teed, in charismatic fashion, proved his viewpoint that we live inside our Earthly globe rather than on it. He said, take a look at the horizon; you can clearly see that it actually curves upward – wow. I never saw that!
His followers believed that he was immortal, so, when he died, they laid him out on the banks of the Estero River, waiting for his awakening. After several weeks, his remains were placed in a bathtub, just in time to be washed away by a hurricane. I guess you could say that he did, at least, make a clean getaway in the end.