Another highlight of my trip to Florida last week was a day spent with my dear friend Janet on Sanibel Island. We started the day with a walk and some lounging at Lighthouse Beach.
The 120 year old lighthouse sits on a wildlife refuge and is at the southern most point of Sanibel Island. It was a great opportunity to capture some more pictures of the beautiful birds and wildlife that make their home here.
The beaches of Sanibel Island are known for being great places for sea shell gathering, and I loved the natural flora and fauna of this particular beach. The driftwood created natural sculptures along the shoreline.
and of course – palm trees!
Fishing is also a past time that is enjoyed here whether on the fishing pier or right in the water.
People of all ages enjoy the beach.
including us crazy 52 year-old BF beach bums. 🙂
After a warm and sunny morning and afternoon at the beach, we found a cute little restaurant, the Island Cow, where we sipped on White Mango Sangria while dining alfresco where I enjoyed an amazing paella and Janet a crab-stuffed grouper.
It was a great place to hang out with colorful adirondaks…
And even beach-themed corn hole.
Today is Janet’s birthday. We celebrated for an entire week. The trip was a birthday gift for me from Marty and a celebration of a lifelong friendship. Happy Birthday my dear friend Janet!
I love you, and I sure am missing you and that beautiful 70+ F degree weather!
Our high was 0 (yep – that is ZERO) degrees F yesterday in Mars, and most of the day was in the negative category!
Only makes me appreciate it all more. I am smiling while snuggling in with my hoodie and sweats sitting by a warm fire fondly missing and reminiscing…
at Life in Between.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
the creative life in between 
Nice article… Keep it up… Love the pictures!!!
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What a beautiful place! 🙂 and, happy birthday to your friend
.
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It truly is – thanks for the birthday wishes for Janet 🙂
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Wow, those photos are amazing! Happy Bday to Janet. She is a lucky lady. :).
How close were you to the birds? Or do you have an amazing zoom lens? I’m amazed by what good photographers can do.
Spring is coming….I think. lol.
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I do have a zoom lens, but only up to 300mm. The birds are actually quite used to people, so you can get pretty close :). They are waiting for the fisherman to clean fish so they can scarf up the remains.
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Beautiful pictures coming from a true wildlife photographer. Sanibel brings back fond memories of a dear friend. Gorgeous place. And what a way to share it than with a dear friend. Love your blogs.
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I don’t know about true wildlife photographer! LOL! But a very special memory made that day! 🙂
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A wonderful trip for two friends to enjoy! So glad I got to meet Janet at Shaker Woods that day! I have been to Sanibel numerous times but you captured it in photos in an amazing way! It is truly a magical place- we spent our 25th anniversary there! The Island Cow is so cute. Have a happy week, lovely one:)
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I’m so glad you got to meet her too, Cindy! You, my friend, are the LOVELY ONE! 🙂
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I can’t wait to visit. I’m glad you enjoyed some warmth. 🙂
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Are you going soon?
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In November for my brother’s wedding. 🙂
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Yay!!
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Jodi, I’m not sure what a “corn hole” is. Is it because I live kitty-corner to Florida and don’t get the local connection? Vancouver, BC, is a long way away… If there are corn holes on our Pacific Ocean beaches, I haven’t recognized them. Please educate me!
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Sorry Marguerite – it is a weird name for the game. I’ve called it bean bag toss before too, but it became “all the rage” here when it became “corn hole.” Supposedly the “bean bags” are filled with dried corn. 🙂 I see you figured out before I could respond.
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Follow up from my last comment: I decided to look it up and found out what a corn hole is. Around here we would call it a bean bag toss. Great fun to find out how communications work. Different words or expressions for the same thing!
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It looks warm there. We are on Padre Island in Texas under a cold gray sky.
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Vacation? I thought you were in Iowa?
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We are almost in Iowa but occasionally we slip over the border to enjoy the warmer weather. This time we kept on going until we arrived at the ocean.
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What lovely bird photos, Jodi. That looks like a wonderful place to have a vacation.
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I’ve had Sanibel Ilsland on our list for a while now. It looks great. You are really doing good photographing those birds, Jodi, which is so much harder than it looks. I’m hoping we have some halfway decent weather in Florida but it seems temps will max out around sixty. Just as well, I am not ready to appear on a beach anytime soon!
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Oh neither was I, but once you do it, it is just fine 🙂 ENJOY!
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