Florida Reflections

                   Florida Reflections

We were sitting on our lanai the other night, with a decent cabernet in hand, as we enjoyed the welcome cool of the evening. It was a clear night, so the stars above us sprinkled across the evening sky like twinkling fireflies. The occasional flight, out of Southwest International Airport, drifted across the horizon, and our mind’s eye, like a flickering comet making its way through the nighttime sky.

Our second story condo faces the ninth fairway of the Spring Run golf course in Estero, Florida. The small pond, which runs from the clubhouse to the end of the first and ninth holes, was illuminated by the delightful, new fountains spraying phosphorescent arcs of water in the moonlight. They appeared as translucent as crystal candelabra. The soft blue of their floodlights much enhanced the glistening ascent of the flowing parabolas of water. The gentle shushing noise of the fountains is rhythmic and relaxing to the ears. They serve now as moving crystal diadems that enhance and crown the natural splendor of the water and flora around the entrance to the Spring Run complex enhancing the area immeasurably.

It is the little things like this, watching a sparkling fountain at night, that make the living here in Southwest Florida so enjoyable. Palm trees swaying in the late afternoon sun, a brilliant flash of orange while enjoying the morning sun rise or a splash of florescent red as the sun sets over the Gulf of Mexico. These are the intangible things that no tourist brochure can capture.

 The bird life here is amazing. Great winged wood storks sail by on the wafting breezes, their wing tips painted deep ebony. The white and brown pelicans are as graceful in the air as they are ungainly on the surfaces of the many small ponds that sprinkle the area. Snowy egrets, with their fluffy white neck feathers, elegant. Long-necked, great blue herons and a host of other majestic avian creatures decorate our day, all free of charge.

And I still am completely fascinated by alligators, as the saurian monsters sleep along the banks of small ponds or creeks. The corrugated texture of their skin and the elongated, teeth-laden snouts elicit a primordial shudder from us, but have a strange attraction nonetheless. I can remember when I first encountered one of these rascals in the wild. We were riding our bikes through the middle of the Ding Darling Nature Preserve on nearby Sanibel Island. We rode up upon what must have been a ten-foot crocodile lying, sunning itself on the shell and sand path. I say ten feet now. But at the time he looked like a twenty -foot saurian monster. Startled by our approach, the lizard-like beast slid into the nearby water and swam slowly away. We stopped to watch him, enjoying the gracefulness of the powerful hunter in his native setting. It was then that I realized that we weren’t in a zoo. There were no cages here and no attendants to call. If this rascal decided to come at us, we had but our bicycles to use as a defense. Those and our swift feet that would have motored us very quickly down the path. In retrospect, it was fun. But at the time it got our hearts racing a little. When in the wild, anything goes.

Overall, the green fronds, swaying Palm Trees and flowering bushes set the horticultural tone for the area. It is a semi tropical paradise, fast disappearing under the increasing onslaught of new housing complexes, shopping plazas and golf courses. But for now, there is still room to enjoy the wonders that nature provides on a slow and easy day in Florida. Life is good.

                           -30-

                        ( 625 words)

                 Joseph Xavier Martin