Final day in Paradise...for now!

Absence diminishes little passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans a fire. ~François VI de la Rochefoucault

We are back home to 'real life' after our great week in paradise and I felt like I had left some of you wondering how the last day went....No, alas, I did not find my alphabet cone.  But there is always next time, and that is just one more thing to look forward to! I did give it a great effort though and the shelling was actually pretty good! 

I had continued shelling to the west, and decided to turn around and head back to Gulfside park as it was producing some nice minis the first time through, and the tide was continuing to drop.  When I turned around and headed that direction, I noticed a group of people gathered...as I suspected Pam and Clark Rambo were out there, and they are such ambassadors of Sanibel, they visit with everyone they meet and share stories!

Gulfside park had lots of minis and they were obviously rolling in during this tide, as usual, you just needed to be at the right place at the right time!  Clark actually picked up a small alphabet as soon as he got there this same evening, on the same beach I was combing.  It's all about being at the right place at the right time! Look at these amazing finds he picked up in about 30 minutes!

It was a beautiful evening, and I really couldn't have enjoyed it more!

I had noticed these Ibis and wondered about the differences in color from the ordinary white ibis we had seen and after some research I found out that these are just very young white Ibis.  They start out brown with pale orange beaks and legs and will mature into the pure white ibis with the bright pink beaks and feet! How unusual is that? Somehow that seems sort of backwards to me! What do you think?

Here are the young Ibis...

Here is a mature ibis...

Here is the resident Great Egret behind our house in Ft. Myers.....I couldn't resist the opportunity to get a couple more pictures of him!

This adventure is ending, but another one will begin again soon, College Football begins next weekend, so we will switch to tailgating mode!  We will go from the Gulf, to the Blueridge Mountains!  Go Hokies!! 

Stay Tuned!

::Hugs::

Cheri