Islands

Sad to say I am home....I had a hard time leaving my island I have GROWN TO LOVE!!! Back to doing my normal things, The worst part about the whole comin' home thing is that you really don't leave where you left off before you left (if that made any sense...but you know what I am trying to say). I came home and my mom says ?here?s all your mail?...bills that have to be paid, letters that have to be read,,,geezzz! I go from being a carefree, relaxed, no worries, interested in everything to reality...LIFE! The second worst thing is the packing up what you have to bring home! I left with two suitcases and came back with 5 suitcases!!! My mom brought back 2 for me and YES I got nailed with the extra charge for a over weight bag and having a extra bag! But I am glad that I am home I missed my bed, my bathroom, my car...all MY things....but I didn't miss Seattle as much as I thought I would! It was beautiful weather the day after I got home which was surprising?but of courses that was short lived. Popeye is having a hard time adjusting to the weather?he can?t be outside for more that 5 minutes?just enough time to do his business! I definantly plan on returning to Sanibel one of these days! It has been the best experience I have ever had....and by far the best class that I have ever taken at Evergreen.

Posted by richelestark at 06:23 PM | Permalink

MY MOM AND LIL' SIS are coming tomorrow!!! YEAHHHHHHHH! Finally some normal people....Long story Short....
1. Got here lived in a Beautiful million dollar house on Fort Myers Beach!!!
2. The family WAS ALL ABOUT DDDRRAAMMMMAAAA!!
3. Horrible time livng their, talked to child protective services and heard the lady complain about her bastard soon to be EX-Husband, Cops, 3 different people living in the house besides me and the lady!
4. Relief....FOUND a place to live on Sanibel for free with an 78 yr old lady....very sweet until...............
5. Had to help her cut her toe nails....The worst experience ever! then the following day had to help her pull out her wiskers on her chin..YES! I said Wiskers.....
6. SO finally i get to have some one I know visit. Someone that won't talk about nothing all day long....some one that I won't have to clip toe nails or pluck hair off their face....but the whole thing will end when I have to pack up and go home.....
I really don't want to go home!!! But I have to make sure I am in class on the 26th!! Or Sally will shoot me!!!
HAHAHAH

Good Days!!
Love Richele

Posted by richelestark at 02:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well, today Jean (the woman I live with) took me on a long walk through the neighborhood and back to the wildlife refuge! She only lives 2 blocks from the exit of the refuge?.so no charge if we were walking! She was full of information about the plants on Sanibel! I would ask so many questions and she amazingly had answers to every question!
We walk into the Refuge and I finally saw some alligators!!! They were small but FINALLY!! And I was mad too because this was the only time that I didn?t have my camera! Oh well, I will have to venture out there again and hopefully find some more gators!! The funny thing about this whole thing was that there was a tour bus full of about 35 tourist! Jean and I were reading one of the plaques about the alligator and the guide specifically stopped the bus got out and personally walked up to me and told me to make sure that I keep Popeye close because the alligators will go out of their way to snatch him?.I said thanks for the advice?everyone was laughing at me! I picked him up and you could hear everyone snickering and commenting ?Oooohhhhh NnnooOoooWWwwwww She picks him up??As they were pulling away the guide gets on the intercom and starts giving details what the statistics were of dogs disappearing because of alligators? how embarrassing! I guess you kind of had to be there!
I Love This Place?..No I really do!!

Posted by richelestark at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

This is an updated picture of Popeye (yes! Popeye I decided to change it because Crusoe didn't fit his personality and it was too hard to say fast!!) He loves the beach he gets out off control when he sets paw on the sand!!

Continue reading "Photos" »

Posted by richelestark at 12:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Ethan came to visit for four days...very happy to see him! I took him everywhere explained everything and shared some interesting facts that I have learned since I have been here.
We went to the J.N. ?Ding? Darling National Wildlife Refuge. We were expecting to see some spectacular animals but we saw NOTHING....except some birds! We were kind of bummed. We were expecting to see some alligators and so on and so forth?.but ZERO! It was still beautiful just to see nature in it?s natural state?Toward the end of the wildlife drive there was a path that went deep into the bushes and trees?.very quite and peaceful! I got a some neat pictures of some trees!! Since the Refuge was not that great we though that being on the water would gives a better chance?We decided to go kayaking in the Refuge.
This was just as entertaining! Nothing to look at?The coolest thing that we saw several times was Brown Pelicans diving for fish?Very cool?I love Pelicans! They are so big and interesting. Did you know that their bodies are made to dive in the water their chest are full of air pockets which inflate for every dive to cushion the impact. Their bones are hollow which makes them light and lets them dive and fly for hours. When the catch their fish they can hold up to 3 gallons of water in their pouch?so they can catch a lot of fish at one time?waiting for the water to drain out of their pouch they swallow their catch and fly to dive all over again!!!!

Posted by richelestark at 09:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I am enjoying Sanibel so much?I keep bragging to my friends and family about how gorgeous it is here! I have trying to talk my mom into coming to visit?.I think she is!! But my little nine year old sister Haley, is coming for sure in April! On Thursday, Ethan my boyfriend is visiting, so I will have someone to eat at restaurants with for four days?.LOL!
This week I went to the museum and did some more shelling! I am trying not to pick every shell that I see (which is hard) but to get a variety of different shells. So far it is a success. I can be on the beach for HOURS with my net in my right had and my identification book on my side in my bag, doing the Sanibel Stoop! It is a relaxing and pleasurable process. I have talked to a couple of people here and there but mostly only having short lived conversations (everyone is busy collectin?).
I have been wanting to catch the low tide but most of the low tide times are during the REALLY early morning such as, 1:30am or 3:45am. Which wouldn?t be very exciting because I wouldn?t be able to see anything!! But, I have mapped out the few days that I can go and I will defiantly will be on time for those tides. What I can?t wait for is either a storm or a full moon. After a storm has come this is the best time to get up early and see what the ocean Gulf has washed up. And as for a Full moon, that following morning the tide is extra low also at a descent time.
I went to the Bailey Matthew Shell Museum. There is SO much history about Sanibel and their shells. The first natives that used shells as tools were the Calusa and I learned all about mollusks. I am finding that I am becoming very interested in the mollusk. How they grow and what they eat. (More on this later, there is so much information that this would be a book when I was through).

HAVE A GOOD DAY AND SMILE!!! :o)

Posted by richelestark at 03:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

My day started at 4:55am. I wanted to catch the sunrise?..what a beautiful thing. It was amazing the early morning was quiet, as the sun rose, life started its day too, the fisher men got thier nets ready at about 6:15am the Pelicans and the birds started flying, boats started and the traffic picked up. The sun finally rose and I was on my way to enjoy breakfast. I went to the Island Cow it is a restaurant that I see on my walks everyday. I always see people eating there any time of the day. Since it was still chill outside, at 7:30am, I decided to go see what the restaurant was all about. This was a memorable moment for me because this was the first time I ate alone at a sit down restaurant in MY LIFE. No Popeye to help start conversation, no anyone to ask me questions. Although I did bring my daily travel journal with me, to seem like I was busy. It was a defiantly a different feel in a social environment. After that I decided to move on over to Captiva Island.
I spent all day on Captiva?talk about a beautiful place!!! I fell in love! This island is connected to Sanibel Island and the bridge is so small that you never even notice that you have just island hopped.
Shells, shells and more shells the ocean was beautiful blue-ish green. The shells stood out all over the beach. I waded in the shallow wake of the ocean and scooped up by the handfuls of shells. By using my North America Shell Identification Book which helps a lot I am finding mostly scallop shells and Transverse Ark shells but tomorrow I plan on visiting the Shell Museum!!!

Posted by richelestark at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, the whole first week I have arrived I have been exploring the island and getting to know my surroundings. This week has especially been great because I have been meeting a lot of new people. In particular this one couple Scott, Lisa and their 6 yr old daughter Isabelle! They?re in there mid to late 30's and were the nicest people, of course Popeye was the main conversation starter. As we carried on they noticed that I was wearing my EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE long sleeve T-shirt and asked me, what brings you down to Sanibel? I told them whyI was here and they thought that was the greatest thing. They have been living on Sanibel island for about 2 years now and have invited me to venture on their boat and gave me helpful hits were I should defiantly go. We exchanged numbers and plan on keeping in touch. Although I have been making new friends I finally started to seashell comb!!

The weather FINALLY came around to being 80 Degrees....Beautiful!!! Today I was combing the beach for shells and chatting with people doing the same...I think that I am addicted. I found myself finding one shell then another and another.....rinsing them off in the Gulf and walking back thinking I was done and finding more shells...NEVER ENDING! The beach was covered in shells and seaweed. One lady who has been visiting for years said that the sea weed was not normal...and she didn't know why. One question I will find out!! I have kind of figured out why the amateur shell collector enjoys doing the "Sanibel Stoop" (This is when you see people hunch over with their faces as close to the sand and the shells while walking ALL at the same time) collecting shells is a mindless hobby that people are addicted to. From what I have personally experienced.

(For those of you that had read the old version with TONS of grammatical errors I apologize the timer went off when I was at the Sanibel Public lLibrary. ..I didn?t have enough time to proof read?Hope you enjoy reading it!)

Posted by richelestark at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The red-eye Flight.....11:55pm....I was waiting for 25 minutes to pass and feeling my eyes burn with fatigue. It was silent, a silence that I do not associate with an international airport. I would find myself staring at nothing for long periods of time thinking can I go to sleep...until I looked up and saw a humane figure that looked like Dorothy. I was thinking to myself, Is that her? No It couldn't be, she left on Saturday, It look too much like her. I had to walk nonchalantly past her to get a closer look. Leaving all my carry on luggage solo, I ran over to see if it was truly Dorothy. I was close and I still could tell...So I just bleated out her name and she turned to look...IT WAS HER!!! We were on the same flight to Fort Worth/Dallas. WIERD! I did not expect that one. Therefore, we sat close on the plane and enjoyed breakfast in the Fort Worth/Dallas Airport since we both had hours until our flights. After chatting and enjoying breakfast we parted.
I was on my way with Popeye (yes I changed his name Crusoe was too hard to say really fast)?..to Florida!!!

So I finally get to Florida...spent some time on the beach, The sand is so fine almost like powder (kinda). It is hot and humid. I woke up this moring to stormy weather. Loud claps of Thunder followed by Lighting, harsh rain and strong winds. I can hear the waves crashing on the beach..... I thought that I would spend all day on the beach.. BOY was I wrong!

Posted by richelestark at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)