Upcoming events

A lichen for your enjoyment

We aren't quite into planning our end game here, but things are getting busy. Some neighbors from UA spent most of a day here and we enjoyed showing them around. We showed them our dwelling as well as our lab and they got to peer into the microscopes at some lichen. Saw lots of 'gators too. I attended a day of workshops on orchid culture and (ahem) bought a few plants. Mar. 2 is Vintage Days and Tom has been tapped to portray John Kunkel Small, a botanist from the Bronx Botanical Garden who spent a bit of time down here cataloging plants in the early years of the 20th century. He found a lichen, among other things, and took it back north with him. It was not found in the Everglades again for a hundred years and a day, when our lichen team leaders found and identified it. (They were sort of looking for it.) I will portray a member of the Florida Federated Women's Club, which was very important in getting a part of the Everglades preserved as a State Park in 1916. Various characters who had a part in Everglades history, both good and evil, will be wandering the grounds. There will be both a pre-party and an after-party for those playing roles and that evening is the all staff annual picnic. On Mar. 16 is the volunteer appreciation dinner.

We are planning to leave here on Mar. 26 and hopefully will be home by Easter. It's getting hot and consequently buggy. We turned on the AC for the first time. We'll be ready to go by then.