Edison & Ford Winter Estates

We visited the Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, Florida, which were built at the turn of the 20th century. The tree trunks in the photo are actually all part on one banyan tree. This banyan tree is one of the largest in the world. Roots hanging down from the tree form new trunks. The tree started as a 4 ft tall specimen in the 1920's.


An orchid growing in the banyan tree.


Edison's chemistry lab. Edison, Ford, and Firestone were looking for a new botanical source of rubber. They experimented with different types of tropical trees. They also did research on materials like bamboo for light bulb filaments.


A series of pullies, similar to those in Greenfield Village, helped power the machines in the workshop.


The Moonlight Garden behind Edison's office.


The pier on the Caloosahatchee River. Supplies for the estates came in via boat.


Edison's home and garden.


An electrolier. The lighting fixtures in the Edison house are fascinating.


Dwarf Poinciana


The interior of the Ford house was decorated in the Arts & Crafts style of the early 20th century. The lamp in the corner is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's style.


This tree near the Ford house had strange flowers hanging from it.


Close up of the tree's hanging flowers.


A huge old Mysore fig tree with sprawling roots.


Close up of the roots of the Mysore fig tree.


Lipstick Plant

You can click on any of the photos in this post to see a larger version. Thanks for visiting my blog!

STS-120 Shuttle Discovery Launch

We had to be at the Kennedy Space Center at 6am for the 11:38am launch. It was dark and the shuttle was lit up. It looked something like this. This picture is a painting in a NASA art gallery.


Kennedy Space Center entrance on launch day. The Discovery flag flies with the American flag.


We are 6 miles from the launchpad on a causeway across a bay on NASA property. You can see the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) in the background. The launchpad is off camera to the right. This place is the closest the public can get to a shuttle launch.


Shuttle Discovery clears the launchpad. We saw movement before we could hear it. The sound was much louder than at previous locations. It wasn't an earpiercing noise; it was a low rumble that shook you inside and out. Crackling sounds like a giant bonfire faded as the shuttle rose farther up into the sky.


Here's the launch sequence patched together. (Click on any of the photos in the blog for larger images.)


The cloud clears the launchpad. We could smell it. An announcement over the P.A. system said that we could be affected by hydrochloric acid fumes from the launch. If we felt like we had sore throats a drink of water would clear it up. I felt a minor irritation and a few sips of Pepsi washed it away.


The roll.


This is another painting from the NASA art gallery. If I were to make a composite of my experience watching the launch it would look something like this. There were people with cameras everywhere. The orange flame from the shuttle cut through clouds set against a blue sky.

Walking on the Beach

We saw this scene on the way to Fort DeSoto Park. There were people parasurfing on the north side of Sunshine Skyway bridge.


The Gulf water is cooling off, so we went for a walk instead of swimming at the beach. I don't know if this pink plant is seaweed or coral. The color is so vivid.

There were less people and a lot more birds. I've never seen so many different kinds of birds hanging around together. They weren't bothered by people walking along the surf. It was as if we were just bigger birds with cameras.

These little cranes are funny. They have yellow feet that makes it look like they're wearing galoshes.

We walked to the point at the North Beach to where you can almost walk over to another island. I've seen people walk over. The water may be shallow enough to do that, but I don't trust the currents. The sand was packed down and had contrasting wavy patterns in it.

Pelicans and clouds backlit by the sunset.

Dolphins Playing Chicken

I saw dolphins at the beach on Anna Maria Island today. I thought I heard dolphin chatter a few minutes before I saw them. Suddenly there were 2 dolphins jumping in the air facing each other. They must have been playing chicken swimming directly towards each other under water.

Fort DeSoto Park, North Beach

We went to the beach late in the afternoon and stayed until sunset. It was a gorgeous mix of light and color. Beams of light burst through the clouds like spotlights.


Colors danced around on blue waves.


The tide was out and we found all sorts of shells. Alfonze snorkeled around and found several live molusks. There were 2 large whelks, and several olive shells. I was floating around finding live sand dollars and shells. It was a lovely afternoon.

Funny Florida Birds

There are some funny birds poking around the yard today. They are young white ibis. We saw a lot of the white adult birds poking around the yard this spring.


It was hard to get a picture of them to show their curved beaks, because they were so busy finding munchies. Go get those grubs!


Here's a profile shot. They were getting a good look at me and my camera.

Beach Wednesday - Riding Waves

Our move from Michigan to Florida took 4-5 years to accomplish. When things got difficult we'd come up with ideas of fun things we'd be able to do in Florida once we got there. One of those things is "Beach Wednesday." We dreamt of taking the day off work to go to the beach in the middle of the week. Whenever I was tired of cleaning up the house for showings I'd tell myself that I was getting closer to Beach Wednesday.

It took a few months of really hard work once in Florida before we were able to take a mid week break. Today is Wednesday and we went to the beach! We had fun riding the waves on boogie boards out on Anna Maria Island.

Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour - STS118

We set out to view the launch of Shuttle Endeavour from the Astronaut Hall of Fame. This is a little further away from the launch site than the previous area we went to at Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Center to view the launch of STS-117 in June. We weren't able to leave work until afternoon. There was a lot more traffic and by the time we got to the Astronaut Hall of Fame the front gate was closed off.


This is the lawn at the Astronaut Hall of Fame where people were camped to view the shuttle launch.


Space shuttle in front of the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

We managed to inch our way through traffic to turn around and head south on Route 1, where we happened to find the entrance to the parking area on the other side of the Astronaut Hall of Fame. After scouting out areas to view the launch we went inside one of the air conditioned museum buildings to escape the heat. There we saw artifacts from the first space missions in the 1960's. Those space capsules the men were in were so small! The outsides of the capsules looked like they had been scorched in a furnace.


About ten minutes before launch we went back outside. We watched and listened to NASA TV on a big screen. This wasn't a rehearsed presentation; it was live audio from the control room with video from both inside and outside the shuttle launch area. I thought about when I was a kid watching the moon landings on tv, and how exciting it is that we're finally going to go back to the moon. The shuttle missions from now until 2010 will be focused on completing the International Space Station. By 2010 the current shuttles will be retired and a new program will begin to send people back to the moon to set up a base.

There was much anticipation in the air as a countdown from 5 began, and the crowd hushed to join in the counting. "5...4..3..2..1...marks of the end of the 9 minute hold. Nine minutes to go before launch." The crowd moaned in disappointment, then we all laughed. Nine minutes later the launch countdown started from 10..9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1...and yeah!


The shuttle appeared from behind a telephone pole in my field of view. Even though we were a few miles further away than the launch of STS-117, the shuttle and the flame behind it actually looked larger. The photos don't do it justice. It was so thrilling to hear the crackle and roar of the lift-off.


The crowd leaving the Astronaut Hall of Fame right after the launch.

Moving Again

Grandma Apple moved to Nashville today. She sold her house relatively quickly. There are more boxes in our house again. The Nashville Gang left this afternoon. We headed out to the Sunset Grill for dinner. It made us think of Grandma Apple, because we used to go there with her.

4th of July in Tennessee

Aunt Carolyn led us for a hike in the mountains near Crossville, TN.
Here we are at "Daddy's Creek Overlook."


A rocky cliff at the overlook.


We hiked down a trail to the Obed River.



The kids liked playing on the rocks and splashing around in the water.




The water was crystal clear and cool.


We got back on the road on I-40 towards Nashville.


I got to light a real live cannon that my nephew made. Boom!

Heading North on the Dixie Highway

We headed north on I-75 to visit family in Tennessee this week.

An Old Dixie Highway sign in Atlanta.


Smooth sailing through traffic in Atlanta.


Crossing the Georgia/Tennessee border in Chattanooga.


Driving through the mountains along 68 on the way to Crossville, TN.