My friend Katie and I took advantage of the sunny, mild weather this afternoon and paddled out to Shell Key. I haven’t been out on the water since hurricane season, when the Gulf of Mexico decided to enter so many of the homes around here (including mine).

It seems the Gulf and I need to work on our relationship, and today was a good start. While floating on the calm, clear water I admired the view and asked it to kindly refrain from entering my home again in the future. Here’s hoping that works!

There weren’t very many other folks out today. We only had to share the island with the snowbirds: dunlins, gulls, pipers, plovers, sanderlings, and turnstones along with a squadron of White Pelicans.

What a lovely way to start the year!