Up The River, Back At Home

Today's hibiscus. 

Up close and very personal. 

Yesterday I checked "go up river" off my list. Glen got the boat in the water which required some logistics because the boat ramp is two miles away and the 4-Runner and trailer couldn't be left at the boat ramp and the boat couldn't be left there either but it was all figured out with the help of Glenn. I will go ahead and tell you right now that I finally womaned up yesterday and drove the 4-Runner with the trailer attached to it to the boat ramp myself so that Glen could load the boat back up to take it fishing in a different place today and this story could go on forever. 

The point is, Glen and I took off after breakfast yesterday to cruise slowly, slowly up the Sebastian River to see the sights. 
And some sights were seen. Mostly jungle and flat water and a few houses in the most gorgeous settings I could imagine. Unfortunately, most of the houses are butt ugly. A rich person's dream of what a river house in paradise should look like, which is to say- hideous. Huge and hideous. 
But here's some pictures of our little trip. 

One hideous house. 

Jungle.

I didn't take a picture of the house that went with this dock but they had everything anyone with a family could want in a house on a river.

Here's the landscaping for one of the more gigantic houses. 
And please remember that all of these houses have pools. The Sebastian River is rarely swum in and I'm not sure why. We didn't swim in it as kids. The river's bottom is thick with oyster shells which will slice you like a razor. When it's not filled with oysters, the bottom is so silty that every step raises a cloud of whatever that stuff is. Probably algae and the broken down detritus of every tree, flower, fish, and human which have died in it since the dinosaurs were munching on those palms. The river water is brackish due to the fact that the beginning of the river (or is it the end?) is in confluence with the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean via an inlet. This is why when sitting on the dock at sunset, we almost always see dolphin and since we've been here, what looks to be a very small shark who swims by, fin up. Also, fresh and salt water fish can be caught. The current of the river flows from west to east and east to west, depending on the tides. For a very short article about the river and its history, go HERE.
So, maybe between sharks, oysters, and alligators which are also plentiful, it's not that crazy that people don't really swim here. 

Back to the landscaping of The Very, Very Wealthy. 

Some people, not many, seem to try and incorporate the native plants and trees into the settings for their houses. Most seem determined to eradicate, control, and make things look like they're living in Connecticut or somewhere. I saw one yard as big as a football field, completely bare of anything but that green, lush grass and all I can think of is the chemicals they need to create that lawn and how they must all just wash right down to the river which is literally yards away. Meanwhile, the land they've bought and paid for was a fucking Eden until they decided, as white men are so apt to do, that nature is unnatural and must be tamed. 
Of course you'd have to clear out some of the jungle to set your house in but it can be done with wisdom, integrity, and respect. 
And for god's sake! Plant a fucking hibiscus and a citrus tree, okay? 
I'll stop now. 
I am very judgmental when it comes to these things and I admit it. I am sure that jealousy has some part in it. If I had a little bit of that jungle land on the river, I'd be happy as a queen in a little old cracker shack that some fishing family lived in fifty years ago. 
You know I would. I'd probably never leave except to go to Publix and there are plenty of those around here.

That's all I have in me to post tonight. 
More tomorrow? 
Probably. 
Maybe.

A picture from tonight's sunset over the river as the tides and wind have their way with it. 

And this is what the sky looked like. 

I love this place so much. 

Love...Ms. Moon