Silver Springs Above Ground in Healing Ground

The glass bottom boat ride was fun but extremely noisy. If I went again, I think I’d choose mid week in October/November or April/May. Less heat and humidity and the kiddos are all in school.

Apparently there was some difficulty with videos, so I’ll try again in the next post, but for now, I’ll just throw up some pictures. First up: my husband in front of the “lucky” tree. The tour guide said the tree brings luck if you take your picture there (my picture horrified me so no way am I posting it! LOL!):

Chief Osceola:

Annahinga (they hold their wings out to dry. If they don’t, they drown from the moisture):

So…you tell me…would YOU sit here? (That’s a Cypress tree, by the way):

Don’t need to tell me twice:

I’d love to reserve this and have a big party just because. Would you come?

One of my favorite stories about a grape arbor:

A man had nurtured a grape arbor all his life. The vines were thick and had entwined the wood frame to the point that it was hard to even see the supports anymore. The grapes were huge, juicy and sweet. The man was the envy of all who knew of the grape arbor. He shared freely, since the yield was abundant, but he could never get to the grapes that grew on the top, in the center. One day, he decided to cut a hole from underneath and put his ladder up there.

He did, and was able to reach more grapes than ever before. After the grapes had played out for the year, the man sat back and dreamed of how many grapes he’d have to share next year. But it was not to be. When he next checked on his arbor, it had begun to die, all around the edges of the hole he cut. As time went on, the vine continued to die off. In the end, only two thirds of the vine remained.

The moral of the story? I suppose it could be one of two possibilities:
1. Overly generous can hurt the end goal.
2. Respect the laws of nature.