Canoing the Mangroves

After a week and a half at our daughters in Northern Florida we left and went to my parents home for a week in Southern Florida on the gulf coast. We love to pack a picnic lunch and canoe the intercoastal waters through the mangroves. We see so much wild life you never see on the beaches. I find a lot of shells here, a lot of them alive (which we never take, its so much fun to see them "walking" under the water) and a lot of them empty which I take for my quilts. My husband drills tiny little holes in them and I sew them on my wallhangings. I also have a basket in the camper for bigger unique shells. I'm not sure of all the bird names but one of these pictures of the white birds are called egrets.

A blue heron.
Osprey with his nest.

I call these shore birds, don't know their official name, but their so cute. When your on the Gulf waters they run back and forth with the waves looking like they don't want to get their feet wet.
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This was the most peaceful and inspirational day. The next day a storm blew in with cold weather (the coldest in 5 years) so we stayed in. I did get a lot quilting done.