Back to Where it’s Warmer: 2026 Begins

December 29, 2025-January 16, 2026                         Most Recent Posts:
Fernandina Beach and                                                     Happy Holidays
Flagler Beach, Florida                                                      To Walkabout and Back

I was back at Fort Clinch on December 28th and sorry to have left Carrie and her family in the freezing north but thrilled to be back where it’s warmer.

Pooh and I finished up the 23rd and 24th boxes of the puzzle

And here’s what it looks like.   Such a great idea.  It was fun to do.

I wasted no time getting out to the beach since I only have two more days on this beach for this year.

As you can see people were in swim suits.  All the folks with their heads down are looking for shark’s teeth.  Fort Clinch Atlantic Beach is a well known spot to find them.

Of course there are fishermen too.

That night I saw the sunset over this airstream with its holiday decorations.  It made me smile and think of my friends Mary and Pete who full time in an Airstream.

On my last day I was out for sunrise at dawn and saw this armadillo on my way.

The early color is why I go out at dawn.

It dissipates before sunrise but is still lovely as are its reflections on the sand.

Here comes the sun.

Later, I came out to the beach again and was able to catch the sun just setting over the dunes.  My last shot from Fernandina Beach for 2025.

And on I go.  Starting the new year by moving to Gamble Roger’s State Park in Flagler Beach Florida on January 1st.   Great way to begin a new year. 

I arrived in the later afternoon and was setting up when I saw the nearly full moon in the sky.  

I walked over to catch the sunset at the boat dock and then walked out to get a picture of the park sign as the sunset skies still had some color.

Walking back these were the skies behind the campground.

           Behind Winnona

The beach at Fort Clinch is at the northernmost tip of Amelia Island.  About 90 miles  north of the Gamble Rogers beach on a barrier island.  There is always something wonderful to see at the beach.   And all beaches are different.

The beach here is perhaps wider than that at Fort Clinch but it has no dune system since highway A1A runs right beside it.  Great for views, if you are traveling down the coast but no protection for the town or the road in hurricanes.

I spent my first week pretty much walking the beach, going out for the sunrise and sunset, reading and wishing the wind would back off so I could go kayaking in the great upper 60’s low 70’s temperatures.  On January 10th the high was EIGHTY ONE DEGREES.  Just why I come to Florida for the winter.   As everyone knows, things changed in mid January but that was at my next stop.

Here are a couple of the books I was reading.  Those who follow know I’m a Georgia O’Keeffe fan and have read many, seriously many, books about her life and art.  Not sure how many are on my bookshelf now but at least 20.  I have to say this one is my least favorite and I would not recommend it.  I liked it at the beginning it was humorous but then I felt the author went off the rails trying too hard and with what seemed to me to be too many speculations. 

Winter Counts is a book sent to me by the Books Inside Boxes a literary subscription travel book club I joined.  I really love it as it is a small operation, run by one woman and she will change my address every month and send me the book where I am.  It’s a travel book club in that each month is a book about a different state, set in that state or by an author from that state.  The book box also contains “goodies” that come from small often female owned businesses in that state.  The books come from independent book stores in that state.  I just love her whole ethic and want to support her and these small businesses.

I very much enjoyed Winter Counts a mystery/thriller written by a member of the Rosebud Lakota.  The protagonist is a Lakota from the Rosebud reservation where most of the plot takes place.  I’m not normally one who reads “thrillers”, they make me too nervous, but this one was very well done and the insight into contemporary reservation life, history and spirituality put this book a step above.  I might never have read this had Karen not chosen it for the January read.  There is a group on line discussion of it tonight but I’m going to post this before that happens.  I recommend both the book and Books Inside Boxes if you like to be surprised by books in the mail.

For now the  beach wasn’t crowded, the waves and the skies were beautiful.

I did a double take when I saw these White Ibis wading in the salt water ocean.  I’ve seen plenty of them in the rivers but never at the beach. 

The path from the campground to the beach begins in the maritime forest and is a favorite hike of mine

Look closely on the branch over the trail and you can see the resurrection ferns have gotten enough moisture to resurrect themselves from the gray brittle dead looking things to beautiful healthy green.  It’s amazing!

Such a nice trail.

There is another shorter trail that I take to my sunset viewing spot.  This was actually taken on my way back which is why it is fairly dark.

Sunset over the Matanzas River part of the inland waterway.

The Matanzas runs  behind the campsites on the side where Winnona and I are.  The skies are often very colorful about 45 minutes after sunset though you can only see the water from here in certain spots.

When I got back on this night I was surprised to see what had moved in next to me in the couple of hours I’d been gone.

The next day I found out they were Indian Princesses and their dads.  The Indian Princesses and Indian Guides are a father/daughter/son  historically YMCA program.  They foster relationships between fathers and daughters through camping, crafts, and community events, often utilizing Native American-themed imagery.  I read that “Due to concerns over cultural appropriation, many such programs have rebranded to "Adventure Guides” but apparently not this group.

They told me they had about a dozen sites in the campground and this one was their gathering spot.  The only time I really saw them was when the fathers were cooking and they were eating.  Though they did hang around until fairly late after their dinner and the campfire was right next to my bedroom.   They came in and set up on Friday around sunset and left on Sunday.

These guys were amazingly well organized setting up and taking down this entire operation.  They had obviously done it many times.

Not sure it would have been warm enough for me to go kite surfing on January 13th but this guy was out and I enjoyed watching him.  He was in the water several times and then back out.  At least someone was enjoying the wind that was keeping me out of my kayak.

My last night I went to Rocky’s Pizzeria for one of the only places I can get anchovies on my pizza.  Took a few pictures while I waited for my take out but once back home I totally forgot to take a picture of the pizza which was delicious.   I like having Rocky’s to take with me so on my first night at my next stop I don’t have to cook!!  Yeah leftovers!!

Love this wisdom.

Rocky himself

My next post will round out January and I will effectively be in real time.  Or at least I hope I will.   Wonder if I can stay that way.

Happy Holidays

December 23-28, 2025                                     Most Recent Posts:
Fort Clinch State Park                                      To Walkabout and Back
Fernandina Beach, Florida                     Dickens On Centre More Fun        

On December 23rd,  I flew Southwest Airlines  even though I was going Northeast to Maryland.   Southwest had a strange policy for seating.  First come first served and they assign who is first come.   You board by a number they give you when you check in.  So I ended up in the last group to board and in the middle seat between two folks who more than filled up their seats.  But it was only a 2 hour flight so you gets what you gets.   I understand Southwest is changing the policy in January (of course).  Carrie picked me up at the airport as the kids were in school.  It’s the first time they haven’t been there to greet me.  I spent most of the rest of the day after I got there wrapping presents I’d had sent.

A tradition in our family on Christmas Eve day, the 24th,  is to hit the bakery and pick up yummy pastries for Christmas morning.

I’d never seen a sign like this before.  Have you?

If you buy enough pastries, you get them in this sweet box instead of a bag..

This is a seriously good bakery not like picking them up in the grocery store.

But apparently Santa prefers cookies not pastries,  so the crew went to work making his favorites which were determined to be chocolate chip.

After the hard work of cookie baking it was time to hit the park for some exercise.  It actually hit a high of 50 degrees here today which in their world is balmy.  Our monkey can go all around the circle of rings which none of the rest of us could do at all.  He’s got some strong arms for his size although I suppose his lighter weight makes it easier.

Back at the house it was time for playing Sorry    Wish the photographer had moved that water bottle.

Celia and I played Go Fish with seriously giant cards and she was pretty happy when she won.

I was the happy one playing Slap Jack with Colin at least at this point.  He ended up winning two games in a row.

We watched A Charlie Brown Christmas which I had no idea has been around since 1965.  Everybody loves the poor little tree.

And then it was time for bed after putting out the cookies and milk for Santa.
They leave their letters to Santa for him thinking that they don’t want them to be like birthday cards I sent one year which never did arrive.  USPS postal funding cuts what they are.  I thought they were pretty stingy with the milk.  But then if Santa gets milk at every stop…..

Santa must have been happy with it.  Early Christmas morning, he had filled the stockings with care.

And left wonderful looking presents under the tree.

Lots of excitement on Christmas morning but they did manage to pose for a picture

I managed to get at least one decent picture of each of us opening a gift except somehow not Carrie.   I was sitting next to her on the sofa which is probably why but I’m sad it’s missing.

And then in the afternoon all the Iwanowskis came for a dinner provided by everyone with much cooking by Matthew’s mother Joan.  I don’t have many pictures of that.  It’s quite a group.  I’m guessing 22+.

Carrie sent this picture of Celia and her favorite Cousins.  They are Matthew’s sister Diana’s girls.   Everybody’s darling Carmen in the front and then from left to right Fiona, Celia and Amelia.  Matthew’s mother Joan is in the background cooking.

This family does have a great time together.  Lots of kidding and joking.  You can see Matthew pointing his finger at his brother Mark and Carrie laughing beside him.

And then the big day was over.  I had another two days before my flight home on the 28th.  The temperature dropped like a stone on the 26th with a high of 32 and a warm up to 36 on the 27th.  That’s not my kind of weather so I didn’t go outside once either day.  Colin wanted to go down to the stream but wouldn’t go if I didn’t.  As much as I love him……the answer was nope, tooooo cold.

Matthew’s cousin Jen, her husband James and their girls Gabby and Gwen came by in the afternoon for a couple of hours so the kids played and the adults talked and ate leftovers.   Later the kids and I played floor puzzles including the new  Rainforest one I’d gotten Colin and which I don’t have a picture of us doing.  That is it finished on the floor behind me.  More games of Sorry, the family favorite.  Celia and I did times tables drills which she’s not crazy about.

One day we played with the new game I got them called Kollide which was a lot of fun.  You divide up the magnets evenly and try to place them inside the rope circle.  If they grab each other, you have to take all the magnets that are attached.  The winner is the one who can get rid of all his magnets.  Lots of laughter which is the best sign that something’s a hit.

In the basement we also played magnet darts which is loads of fun.  No pictures of that either apparently.  Neither Carrie nor I had our cameras down there.  I’m pretty bummed that I didn’t record so many of these things we did with pictures but at least they are recorded here for the pictures in my memory.  I find it harder and harder to remember to document my life.

The night before I left, we finished out my stay watching Mr. Popper’s Penguins with Jim Carey.  It was great.  So Silly!!

The last thing before I said good night to them was to brush our teeth together.  Such memories are so wonderful.   Hope your holiday was filled with wonderful memories too.