Tampa

The Fisherman and I love Tampa and the Tampa Bay area, on the west coast of Florida.  We get to go there often, and I always look forward to these visits with great anticipation.  We love almost everything about Tampa... the proximity of the sea, the vibe of the modern city, its tropical climate, and light winter winds... 

At the resort where we are staying some go around in their golf carts, some are seen in groups of threes or fours playing golf and looking at distances to determine par for a hole, while others scramble the green grasses along the banks of the lake trying to find the best spot to fish.  As for the 'Dreamer', she's happy to follow behind her Fisherman, as she hunts for treasures and collects gifts left behind for her by the Natural world... birds, pelicans, tropicbirds, egrets and blue herons and the awesome flora of the Bay. 

Trees, flowers, shrubs, groundcovers, and vines are a truly paradise to my heart.  I can never have enough of such colors, leaves and forms that never die...

I am never left without a feeling of awe and wonder when I'm before those ancient, giants trees of the Tampa area... There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of branches that resemble prehistoric beasts or in the trembling of a leaf.

You almost feel you are in some prehistoric Jurassic park when walking by them...

But my favorite... oh my favorite trees of all would have to be those southern live oaks and bald-cypresses...

...magical trees they are, I should say.  Surely trees pertaining to the fairytale family of trees which can only grow in fantasy stories.  These magical trees grow witches' hair that hang from their branches in full sun through partial shade.  People may call it Spanish moss, or beard lichen, but oh I know that in fact Spanish moss is neither a moss nor a lichen.  It is authentic witch hair!  

If you may believe me, these trees are responsible for gifting witches around the world their fair amount of witch's hair... thus, gifting some with more, some with less as they see it fit...

And yes, these are the silly things I'd do in a golf resort filled with golfers from every part of the world who by now may be thinking I'm a total nuts, and these are the stories I fabricate as I follow my Fisherman around the lake, who by the way, I should say, had been blessed by all the gods and goddesses of the lake, including those humongous alligators we've seen there with the catch of his life!

We could almost believe what was happening.  This was such a humongous bass that at the beginning I thought the Fisherman was pulling out an alligator...  I scream so loud and laugh so much out of my joy that a few golfers had to come by and see and even take a picture or two...  I'm so happy for the Fisherman as this has been his dream for years!  Of course, we threw the bass right back into the water where he belongs...  but at least I have all those pictures to prove this ever happened!  A Fisherman's true dream!

As much as I like all the fun time we're having here, I'm already missing our little white cottage and dreaming with returning to it.  Soon I'll be putting out all those Christmas trees and decorations and making our nest a cozy, happy place to be.  I hope to see you around then! ;)