In a move that is simply mindblowing in its proportions, U.S. Sugar just announced that it is willing to sell 187,000 acres to the state of Florida for $1.75 billion for Everglades restoration. This would encompass the vast tracts of sugar cane south of Clewiston towards Alligator Alley, and if the deal goes through, would mean the end of sugar production in Clewiston: a staggering economic blow to this historic community, which, if it takes a full five years, could be mitigated in part by working with residents to ramp up ecotourism. Once again, when restoration is complete, Clewiston and South Bay would have the Everglades at their doorstep.  As a avid “Big O” hiker, I’ll be watching this one closely!  I found this breaking story in Florida Trend  (from the St. Petersburg Times)

I’ve been busy buzzing around Myrtle Beach for nearly a week now as part of my Society of American Travel Writers Freelance Council Meeting. Tomorrow’s the last day of exploration. Our workshops earlier this week were what brought me up here, including an excellent day-long session on podcasting by podcasting guru Dave Slusher. After being one of the first to start podcasting years ago, he’s just debuted a new podcast, Reality Break, drawing on interviews he did a decade and more ago with serious sci-fi and comic greats. Episode one is one of my husband’s favorite storytellers, Will Eisner. Tune in!

Today was the first day I spent any significant time on or near the beach, some of which was at Myrtle Beach State Park, pictured here with its popular pier. It’s a lovely slice of nature amid a sea of waterfront condos, hotels, and homes, the beach shown here backed up by a dense maritime forest with plenty of salt-spray sculpted sand live oaks and wax myrtle. 

Randy Wayne White does Sanibel and Pine Island Sound proud with his novel Dark Light, #13 in the Doc Ford series.  Now I’ve loved Randy’s work since I came across it almost a decade ago in a small downtown bookstore in Fort Myers, but it’s been a while since I’ve picked up another book in the series, and my time for reading has been so compressed of late, it was a joy to tote this book through airline terminals and the Ozarks as a way to wrap each evening. With a storyline that is firmly fixed on his local stomping grounds, and a genuine sense of post-hurricane trauma (I know, I saw what happened to Pineland just a few weeks after Charley), this book is highly charged with suspense. I love the intertwining of history, of the rich and famous, industrialists and authors, who were a major part of Sanibel and Fort Myers during the 1930s and 1940s.  If you haven’t read a Doc Ford novel yet, you’re missing out. 

The joy of spending an evening just meandering around the Internet is to find unexpected treasures. I have several articles to write, but needed some “downtime” after finishing the first. A chain of searches led me down the garden path (or the trail less traveled) to Florida Nature, a blog established this past February by one of my favorite Florida authors, Bill Belleville.  It’s a joyful series of essays. Take a look!

And now from another part of the country … I’m on the road again on a trip to Arkansas but have been suffering with a bad sinus infection since leaving New Orleans, so I’ve been in bed and offline, even while traveling. This trip is for my SATW Atlantic-Caribbean Chapter meeting, and it kicked off with several days in Eureka Springs. While I’ll have plenty to share about the area soon, here’s a teaser.

This tiny cub (and its sibling) were born at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, an incredible labor of love by a family that wraps their life around the rescue and permanent care of big cats raised (and abandoned) by humans. They neuter incoming cats, but these cubs were already in their mamma’s belly when they arrived at the refuge.  We were privileged to see them; they are being hand-fed by the family. However, the refuge cares for a broad variety of big cats (as well as a few bears, monkeys, and other wild non-native creatures).  If you love tigers and lions, you will fall in love with this unique refuge. It’s just outside Eureka Springs … more details at www.turpentinecreek.org, and you’ll soon see a story from me about their incredible effort!