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Showing posts from October, 2023

Yulee Sugar Mill: Ruins of an old slave plantation

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Probably this is our best shot of the ruins of the Yulee Sugar Mill in Homosassa, Florida -  License our images here .                         Coming from Homosassa Springs State Park , we saw old stones and rusty metals towering over a narrow road of the west coast of Florida. We parked across the street and crossed to check the ruins.   These are remains of a plantation owned by Levy Yulee, the son of Moroccan immigrants of Jewish ancestry that served in the Florida Territorial Council in 1836 and ended in the U.S. Congress in 1841. The sugar mill was part of the Margarita Plantation. Most believe that Yulee moved to Homosassa after the Second Seminole War - land records from 1843 support this idea.  David L. Yulee - U.S. National Archives. The New South , a book from 1887, tells that Yulee built his plantation home on the 15-acre Tiger Tail Island on the mouth of the Homosassa River - less than two miles to the west from the

Hare’s Foot Inkcap

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Hare’s Foot Inkcap - License our images  here .    The body of this mushroom resembles the pawn of a rabbit when in its younger stages. That's why it's known as Hare's Foot Inkcap - science calls it  Coprinopsis lagopus . But what about the "inkcap"?  This comes from the black substance that the mushroom dissolves into when dies. This process is known as deliquescence. The term means that a solid becomes liquid after absorbing moisture from the air. Technically, these mushrooms eat themselves - self digest.  The life of a Hare's Foot Inkcap is pretty short. They exist for just a few hours. When the cap curls like seen in my photo, they are close to the end of their life. The Hare's Foot Inkcap g rows alone or in a group. A curious thing is that when it grows on the ground means that the soil is rich in decaying wood.  These mushrooms are nonpoisonous but neither edible. Remembering the humorist Terry Pratchett: All Fungi are edible.  Some fungi are only ed

Garden Project: Wildflowers

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Our latest Zinnia Purple Giant - License our images  here . After  the accident , we got time for a garden project - if C can't go to the flowers, the flowers will come to C.  A package of seeds from  Amazon  - the link is affiliate  - gave us thirteen species, but only Zinnias and Cosmos Sulphur grew. We are waiting now for the bees and the butterflies. Will they show up?    Sulphur flower early in the morning. 

Hávamál, Words of the High One

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Towards evening, Odin you should come again, Hávamál, Words of the High One. Illustration of the "Hávamál in the translation of 1908 by Olive Bray - Public Domain.   Imagine the god of our modern Wednesdays - the name of the day comes from Wōden's day in Old Norse, another name for Odin - advising us how to live. This is idea behind the Hávamál, a poem of 164 verses with wisdom of yesterday and tomorrow.  The Hávamál was found in the Codex Regius or "Royal Book" discovered in 1643. The text was compiled by an editor probably by the 13th century. That individual joined separate fragments of independent works that have in common the protagonism of Odin. It was first published in 1665 translated to Latin.  There are more than  twenty translations of the Hávamál to English. And all have differences, because how Olive Bray, the translator of "The