#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

After the Sunshine Skyview Bridge

Florida

The state with the prettiest name,
the state that floats in brackish water,
held together by mangrave roots
that bear while living oysters in clusters, 
and when dead strew white swamps with skeletons, 
dotted as if bombarded, with green hummocks
like ancient cannon-balls sprouting grass. . . .

- Excerpt, Elizabeth Bishop

A whole day with my best friend, my husband, in the state where we started our married life. Early, before a walk, we leave Tampa, drive to Longboat Key to see what will be our temporary home for February and March. We take the Skyview Bridge from Tampa toward Sarasota and Longboat Key in broad, sparkling sunshine. He has calls to make, and I have miles to walk, and so he drops me at the beach we will live near in Longboat Key. I walk fast in hot sun and white sand, where I will walk for two months, soon. My initiation. After five miles I am hot and pink and ready for lunch in Sarasota at an outdoor cafe with my husband, making plans for our adventure, excited about returning in February when I imagine I will wake early, cross the street to this beach, and walk for miles as the sun rises before beginning my writing days here.

Sunshine Skyview Bridge