A day on The Strip

Rain drips outside the window of Bruegger's yet I look forward to a day of playing in downtown Pittsburgh. Recently the Pittsburgh Post Gazette published an essay I wrote on why I love Pittsburgh. That caught the eye of the publisher of a magazine based in the cool Strip section of downtown who has asked me to write for him. My first assignment: write my first impressions of The Strip district and Pittsburgh. A dream of a job that I begin today despite the rain. There will be plenty of time for exploring in the sun. Sometimes the overcast light brightens other objects that might have been missed in the brilliance of a sunny day. Photos to be posted later after I try out my new camera on the city landscape.

I grew up in Michigan and loved springtime the best of all. Lilacs and fresh mown grass remain in my memory although it has been four decades since I have experience a northern spring until this year. I moved to Florida in 1980 - north Florida that is. There is a bit of spring - a fast blooming of azaleas, red buds, dogwoods, wisteria - and then whosh, summer hits with a vengeance. This year I am in Pittsburgh reveling the the feeling that spring will be here for a few months of prolonged intense beauty as the trees and bushes and bulbs take their time blooming - each in its season. Forsythia blooms right now - yellow bursts of sunshine on the landscape that still remains largely brown recovering from months of snow-laden burden. I see pink and red flowering trees and know I must get a guide to remember what all those blossoms are. I've forgotten so much, but memory is lifting and it begins with the birds singing loudly each morning as they fight for a perch on the bird feeder outside my living room window. I happily anticipate the lilacs of May but for now the weeping willows take me back to a childhood I now remember more clearly than ever before. The birth of spring resembles the birth of a child - once it arrives all the pain of winter disappears and life takes over making everything just a little brighter and hopeful.

Happy birthday, Gertrude

Today is my mother's birthday. Ninety-five years ago today Gertrude Lillian Stephens Camburn was born in Pickford, Michigan. She passed from this life on February 26, 1998. Although my mother never found true peace and contentment during this lifetime, she did the best she could, and she loved me in the only way she knew how. Recently, I've been given the opportunity to connect with parts of my past, and I've learned that I didn't have such a bad time of it. My mother taught me how to be a hostess and how to celebrate occasions. She was a good grandmother to my daughter because she had the time to devote and dote on Anna.

Happy birthday, Mom. I've been as hard on you as you were on yourself and that has not served me well. You were a good mom and I love you.

The Wildlife Forecast - Raking the wrack wrecks coastal wildlife’s home

By Patricia Behnke
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Raking the wrack wrecks coastal wildlife’s home

What is brown, teeming with life and raked off our beaches frequently? You may be struggling with an answer if the beach you frequent in Florida receives a clean sweep of all debris – both human-made and natural – before you put one big toe on the sand.
Beach wrack is the answer, and it is necessary to beach life, just as air is necessary to breathing. So why is it destroyed before the beach lovers hit the coast? It’s not sexy. Or at least on the surface, it’s not.
But that brown clump of seaweed teems with life and provides food and shelter for many animals that feed upon it. Beach wrack may not look like it, but it’s a pivotal part of the beach ecosystem. Yet, many beach lovers have never had the chance to ponder what lies beneath the surface.
“Local governments allot large amounts of money to beach raking every year,” said Nancy Douglass, a biologist who monitors shorebirds for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). “They do that because they are under the assumption everyone wants it done.”
But do we really want that? Do we want to take away a source of food for already stressed shorebirds pinched by sea level rise on one side and development on the other? Before answering those questions, take a stroll through Beach Wrack 101 with me to learn more.
Beach wrack consists of seagrass and marine algae mixed with shells, sand dollars, starfish, tiny shrimp, driftwood, sponges, coral and other biotic treasures that have drifted at sea before washing ashore, especially after storms. After landing on dry land, beach wrack becomes host to a diverse cast of insects and other tiny invertebrate animals, such as jumping beach hoppers, which are harmless rice-sized crustaceans. The tiny animals, in turn, serve as food for many other creatures.
Migrating shorebirds fly thousands of miles each year to munch on the nutritious meals found in that clump of seaweed.
Wrack also provides a safe haven for many animals that escape predators by hiding under it or by blending in with it. A shorebird can “disappear” while napping among the similarly colored shades of seaweed browns and grays.
Beach wrack also is critical to the health of the dunes by providing plant nutrients and stabilizing windblown sand. The wrack carries seeds from many dune plants, such as beach morning glory and sea rocket. As sand builds up and the seeds within the beach wrack take root, new dunes grow.
On some beaches, the sand is machine-raked; new dunes are manicured away; and the wrack is removed. These efforts cost taxpayers, but there is a price paid by the beach system as well. A natural wrack line is a key component of a healthy beach ecosystem.
“While a natural beach may not look as manicured as a raked beach, the diversity and richness of a natural, functioning beach is infinitely more interesting than the sterile landscape of one that is groomed,” Douglass said. “We can strengthen the health of habitats that are already being pinched by leaving more wrack so beaches can support migratory and wintering birds that use the wrack for both food and cover.”
However, Douglass cautions that stopping the raking of beaches alone is not a panacea for what is inevitable in Florida. Sea level rise is squeezing an already narrow, linear habitat that is limited even under the most natural of conditions. Unfortunately, shorebirds are being pinched between rising water levels and a solid line of roads and buildings in the most congested areas. Combined with sea level rise, beach habitat becomes an even narrower corridor for wildlife. And raking those narrow corridors creates sterile beaches that are not friendly to wildlife.
“In the short term, we can’t move the condos, and we can’t stop sea level rise,” Douglass said. “But we can try to be more responsible in how we manage our beaches. Stopping the removal of beach wrack will serve as a stopgap measure for shorebirds that are in trouble now. Individuals can contribute by making their voices heard in the community.”
Douglass suggests that folks voice their opinions about how their beaches are managed to community leaders and beach businesses, as well to the tourist councils that may encourage raking the beaches to attract visitors.
Wildlife needs the wrack, but there are other benefits. Wrack provides a line of protection for structures during tropical storms by lessening the impact of storm surge. It also saves municipalities money and lessens our carbon footprint by keeping those big machines off the beach.
Maybe that makes beach wrack sexy after all.
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Contact Patricia Behnke at pat.behnke@myfwc.com.

Who knew?

Who knew that golf would teach me lessons I've been trying unsuccessfully to learn all my life. There's a lesson in my attitude about golf as well. I never had anything good to say about the sport. And then Robert came into my life and guess what? I had to change my perceptions and attitudes and preconceived notions about a whole lot of things. Turned out that golf is his sport and for a jock, having a sport is tantamount to having a calling. So I decided in the early months of our still new relationship that I could either try and get him to give it up or I could join him. There would be no in between here.

So I weilded a golf club for the first time in nearly four decades. Some days I do all right; others I suck. On the days I suck, I revert to five-year-old behaviors and stomp my feet and shake my club. But on the course, the Zen of life becomes apparent. Even when I play poorly overall, I can take pleasure in my surroundings. I'm outside; I'm with the man I love; I'm focusing on one thing; I'm learning that life is about taking it one shot at a time and reveling in the times it works and learning from it the times it is not.

Now if I could just get him to ice skate.

Two Moons in Africa

Go to http://www.twomoonsinafrica.com to learn more about my latest book.

Finally, Two Moons in Africa: Barbara and Brent Swans Story of Terrorism has been published. Check it out. The story isn't mine - I only pulled the pieces together for the Swans. It's a compelling story that traces the course of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Unfortunately, that story never ends.

Starting a new relationship

Some things are easy about starting a new relationship at my age. I'm happy that first dates are over. I'm glad I don't have to figure out strategy on how to say no to the second date. And I'm content staying home on a Friday night without feeling everyone in the whole world, except me, is out living life.

But other things are more difficult, especially after the end of long-term marriages. We are conditioned to respond and react to one another based on other people. When RL says something that reminds me of my ex, I say something back that never worked in the previous relationship, so it certainly won't work now. The other day when he almost hit a car in a parking lot, I even called him by the ex's name. Not a good thing when starting afresh. He did the same once with me, but he covered it up. He confessed when I felt horrible about my blurt. I felt a little less guilty but nonetheless chagrined.

Today as I emptied the dishwasher I thought about all those things we did with our former spouses. My ex never believed in drying anything with a towel. Everything had to be air dried. I started pulling things out of the dishwasher that were still wet and set them on the counter. Then I wondered what RL would think about the cluttered countertop when he came home.

"Why don't I just use the towel," I thought to myself. It was an "aha" moment. I can use the towel now rather than throw it in. Now the counter is cleared, the dishes are dried, and I am free of ex-husbands and dates.

It really is pretty easy after all.