An Eerie Beauty

How can anyone ever want to tear this out, replace it with sugar/soy/corn crops or fields for farms?  I just can’t fathom it.

There is an eerie beauty that can be found in the Everglades, especially in swamp areas where Cypress trees are abundant and full of beautiful birds and blooming flowers.

Hence every reason why I go out and get dirty, wet, eaten, bruised and beaten…

To save the areas we do have left from being further destroyed, along with everything in it.

And there are props like getting pictures of gorgeous flowers that come off the lilies in the water…

They’re even more beautiful in black and white…I can’t help but take two pictures of the same thing, but one in color and the other in b&w. 

Too breathtaking.

All smiles!

~~

It was a long night last night as I ended up having to go and pick up my boss at the last minute (like, 10.45pm!) an hour+ away…and still have a field day the next!  But I got through it and was able to enjoy a bit of a morning since I was up driving until past 1am!

Of course I was excited for breakfast this morning since I got a great package from the people at Sunbutter of three different varieties!

I decided to try the Natural kind this morning.  I’m a huge fan of PB, and AB has been growing on me, but I was excited to try a new kind of nut butter (I have also had Cashew Butter but it was so long ago I can’t remember!  Gasp!  Must get some soon!) to see what I would think!

I broke it open and tried it before adding it to my cereal.  Upon first impression it definitely tastes like sunflowers (duh) and I liked it, but felt it needed just a tad bit more salt for my taste.  Maybe I like salty nut butters?!  Is that bad?!

I drizzled a nice tablespoon of the SB on a bowl of a mix of Kashi Puffs and Go Lean Crunch along with a banana. Too tasty for words.

I promptly left to head out to the Everglades to check on some nests and hopefully find some new ones!  We were in luck and I’ll be out to check up on them next week also!  Hopefully by then there will be babies!!!  I can’t wait!

Before heading out to our first island to check, I snacked on this apple, along with an unpictured Honey Graham Zbar…I really like that flavor, but always have to eat it with some sort of fruit because the sugar in it gets a bit overwhelming after a while!

After finishing that up and heading into the Cypress tree groves we stopped for lunch before another long walk of nest searching.  I jammed two pieces of baked tofu from last night into a bagel thin w/ some black bean and corn salsa, tomato and lettuce to have as a sandwich.  It was ok…but I need to find another spread or something to add to tofu sandwiches…it just wasn’t hitting the spot.

I also had an orange an a handful of my raisin/cranberry/chocolate chip/peanut/cashew homemade trail mix before jumping off the boat.

This is where I got the previous scenery shots and I have a video which I’ll try to upload…but knowing blogger it’ll take seven years to even start it.  Arg.

Anyhow, we did our thing and finally got home around 5; I was exhausted.  I’m in the midst of trying to use up as much of my food as possible with only three weeks left so tonight was a kitchen fridge kind of meal, with black beans and a mexican theme as the base!

In my pot I combined:

• garlic
• black beans
• red bell pepper
• asparagus
• tomato
• okra
• cilantro
• spices to taste

I cooked everything through together and blending 2/3 of it to mix back in and make it a bit thicker.  It came out delicious!  It could have used a bit more spice heat and some salt, but overall was great!

 

Along side for dipping I baked up a sweet potato made into fries with garlic, onion powder and dark chili powder.  There was heat in these for sure!

And to cool off my burning mouth I had some TJ’s Chocolate pudding I made last night along with fresh pineapple and strawberries.  I threw a big handful of my trail mix on top after the picture was taken for a bit more protein (and chocolate, duh)…

        

And ended with even more chocolate: peanut m&m’s. 

Seriously, this is not going to help me get the better bikini I was looking forward too.  Arg.  Oh well.

Ok, hopefully I’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep tonight.  I have not had on in so long I’m seriously praying and wishing for it.  I need a good night of sleep…my body needs it.  Sleepytime tea here I come…

Anyone have any fun plans for this weekend?  Mine seem to have been spoiled…but it may happen at the last minute, otherwise I’ll find something else to do that’s just as fun!