A little over a year ago, I was basking in the Florida sun, on the Gulf Coast, scampering along the shore and marveling at the wildlife present and past. The birds especially, so exotic to me but commonplace to those who lived there, enthralled my steps. I could pause and watch them for hours. Empty carcasses of sea creatures were strewn about among strands of seaweed, and shells of all sorts undulated their curvaceous path along the incoming surf. It may seem at odds with the fanciful visage some associate with me, but nowhere am I happier than ambling along a beach, discovering wildlife that is new and foreign to me.
{On this first day of winter, we now return to our regularly-scheduled polar vortex.}
