Thursday Friends

Every turtle shell has a story. This looks like a prop collision accident.
I've never seen a limpkin hang their wings down like this. Maybe it's a way of stretching.
I had some time between morning and afternoon patients today and I opened my email at the office and saw Peggy was going paddling.... so I slammed the office door and ran out! I called her on the cell phone and we arranged to meet at the Wacissa. I got there about 11:30 am and ran into a friend of mine that I have volunteered at the Florida Folk Festival and SAIL High School with, and we had a chat. We laughed about the Lake Lafayette kayak trail being a hiking trail at the moment and he warned that the winter would be dry. I then eased into the Pelican and went downstream at a faster clip than I normally do to catch Peggy. I never saw her all day. I figured she went to the eagle tree and I was right. I had to get back to the office by 4pm to see patients and I posted these photos while I was rinsing off the river water. The river was low and the hydrilla was extra thick but the otters were out everywhere. I can spot them almost instantly now with all the practice. I noticed they were holding their tails up today, too! Everyone was scratching, too!

Wacissa Wildlife

I like this photo because you can see the design of this turtle's underside shell.





Psychedelic ducks! (enlarge for the full effect)
Cassidy spring fisherman.

I needed to go to the office this morning to work but I couldn't drag myself in that direction so I went to the river instead! I arrived about 9:30 am and after a brief chat with Mr. Bob I cast off. These male wood ducks were near the boat ramp along with early morning otters which I've left off. I meandered down the starboard side of the river which I like better for some reason and shot pictures all morning. The river was pretty hot today. I have been having nice dreams all week which is an unexpected surprise. I had two dreams about finding the ivory bill woodpecker with four other people as witnesses. It was so real. Last night I dreamed about someone who is supposed to show up on September 18th. But where will they be?
I'm also listening to DB on a new NPR show with performances from The Philadelphia Folk Festival...some songs I've not heard done before. A nice afternoon.

I am spending more time with mom and dad and I have been going about every other week to south Florida. I needed to work a full week and go to a workshop on Friday though, so I've arranged to go this next weekend and this weekend is for catching up with work, unloading the van, and helping Nathan with edits. I am moving some of the parental units things up before the condo sells in hopes of making their move easier. We wish it would happen soon. I want them closer to us.

Sunday on the River

Will the bigger wing span win? Or will the compact flyer win?
It's that lady again!
Logsharing
This fella seems to have lost his left claws. Probably an alligator mishap.
This osprey is having sushi for lunch.
Bob, The Tame Limpkin!
My ducks are all in a row, quacking in unison!
Swallowtail? Schaus?
I was so happy to be on the river this morning after two weeks away. I checked first to see if Mr. Bob of The Wacissa Canoe Livery had snagged some gator tail but their boat died and they have to wait for the next round of hunting time and a new engine! I cast off at 9 am and spent six hours with only one airboat bothering the birds at the very end of the day. Four seaweed farmers were out today complaining about the competition and the dearth of good weed! I took my usual hundred and forty two photos but I didn't feel as though I got any really funny ones today...I hope you like them. They're the usual suspects: fish stealer's, the lot of them!!

I also managed to get the lawnmower started and got the grass cut. I am death to lawnmowers and this one had a jammed cord for the past week. I got out my tools and I guess it got nervous, because it unjammed itself. at one point, I had four in my garage in varying states of disrepair. Now I have three but one is a pushmower with no engine.

I also made lasagna for us and for my neighbor and when we finish editing Nathan's case study, I will have had a very nice Sunday.

Ida Goodson: Florida Blueswoman

No, I haven't been eaten by an alligator...in case you're wondering. I have been researching the life and music of Ida Goodson who was a barrel house blues pianist from Pensacola Florida. Ida was the youngest of seven sisters, six of whom survived into adulthood. All six were musicians who played the Gulf Coast Highway from the 1920's. They were Wilhelmina, Edna, Sadie, Mabel, Molly, Della, and Ida.

Ida played piano in most of the gulf Coast clubs around Pensacola including the 506 Club. Ida also performed at the Florida Folk Festival later in her life and received a Folk Heritage Award in 1987.

Ida was born in Pensacola, Florida in 1909 and grew up in and played most of her life around the Pensacola area. Her father and mother both played piano and her father was a deacon in the Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola. He was also a railroad man and had a run on the L & N railroad from Pensacola to River Junction outside of Chattahoochee. She passed away in 2000.

Ethnography is a challenging process and I must travel away from town to find really good resources such as census records, tombstones, personal accounts and the like. I expect to be taking some trips to Pensacola and Marianna in the near future to research Ida. While, she and her sisters were very well known to the Black Gulf Coast musical community, as a black woman
not much has been written down about her life and times.

Her sister Wilhelmina known as Billie Pierce moved to New Orleans and married the blind musician DeDe Pierce. They played music in New Orleans for many many years, notably as the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Sadie Goodson married a musician as well and moved eventually to Detroit, my home town.

Ida was a diminutive and very vivacious woman with a wonderful stage presence.