Please welcome Lorrie Muldowney, this month’s guest blogger. When we go on walks she identifies the birds we see – and here in the March 2021 Saturday Morning Magazine blog she introduces you to her love of birding.Photographs of owl,…
Sanibel and Captiva Islands Have a Serene Side
Sanibel and Captiva islands. Ah, say those words with me again. Sanibel and Captiva islands. What images come to mind? Sun. Sand. Shells. Got it. The unwritten rules of travel writing require me to put sun, sand and shells high…
Florida Museum Opens the Slow Lane
Florida Museum wants you to know how to find survival in slowness. Really slow. Like oh, say moving through a high forest canopy at a whopping 40 yards in a day. That is slow. But it works for the five…
Shark’s Teeth and Serendipity
Sharks teeth and serendipity go together. Pick a Florida beach, any beach and show up at low tide. You are in the right place at the right time. Walk barefooted where the surf meets the sand. Adopt the shark’s teeth…
Alafia River State Park has Epic Bike Trails
Epic.Now there is a word you do not hear very often.But you hear it often at Alafia River State Park, a reclaimed phosphate mine with some of the most challenging elevation changes in the state of Florida. The park is…
Butterfly Gardens Open in Florida
You have to love butterflies. They don’t practice social distancing. Males and females chase each other around shamelessly. Young swallowtail caterpillars chew leaves while lined up in a row, side by side, touching even. Such is life in a butterfly…
Sculptures & Gardens Make a Satisfying Walk
by Lucy Tobias, copyright©2020 Sculptures and Gardens – an unusual combination. I inhaled deeply and got ready to ask this question: “What do you want garden visitors to take away with them?” My pen was poised and my reporter…
Look Forward to Visiting Demonstration Gardens
Demonstration gardens are inspiring places to visit – there are so many ways to garden in this vibrant, quirky place called Florida. The gates to public gardens are closed for now … but they will open again. Here is a…
Be Inspired by Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers
The Edison & Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers highlight the friendship between two American visionaries and their families. It is said the garden gate between their two houses was never locked. Coming here for a visit offers you much…
Are You A Real Floridian?
Are you a Real Floridian? Only one way to know – look at this checklist and see if you’ve notched these five adventures. Not done some of them yet? Then get started and be on your way to earning your…
Linda Blondheim is a Natural Florida Artist with a Story
The Saturday Morning Magazine tradition of having a guest blog for the month of December continues – meet Natural Florida Artist Linda Blondheim, a five – star Plein Air painter who lives outside Gainesville. I’ve admired her work for years,…
DeLand Delivers Good Vibrations
Pop quiz: Name the first municipality in the state of Florida to become a Monarch City USA. Tick tock. Tick tock. Got it yet? Hint: Check out the photograph below. And the answer is DeLand, Florida. Yeah for DeLand! This…
Beach Time & Fun Time on Anna Maria Island
I’m on Anna Maria Island at a local eatery, glad to get inside just ahead of a downpour. “Hey check this out!” said a diner who arrived after me. He slid onto a counter seat two down from me and…
Take a Walk in a Park Today
Saturday, March 30, 2019 is National Take a Walk in a Park day. Do your duty! I did mine a bit early at De Soto National Memorial Park in Bradenton – a small park on the south shore of the…
Have Dog, Will Travel
Jennifer A. Huber is Saturday Morning Magazine’s guest blogger for December, 2018. Welcome, Jennifer! We love how adopting a dog lead you to new adventures. Both the story and photos are by Jennifer A. Huber/ SoloTravelGirl.com A traveling pet parent…
Sarasota Celery Fields Attracts Butterflies
At the Celery Fields Marc Minno stands in the grass behind the Sarasota Audubon Nature Center. He speaks in a casual, low-keyed voice belieing the fact that Minno, a Live Oak resident, is one of Florida’s top butterfly gardening…
Explore the Wild Side of Englewood
Englewood, Florida has a wild side. I’m thinking parks and beaches and dining discoveries. What were you thinking? Moving right along – Swim, paddle, board a boat, walk, run, amble or meander, it all works in Englewood. Day of Discovery…
Babcock Ranch is Powered by the Sun
While growing up, my passions ebbed and flowed – in second grade, horses galloped across my landscape always with me riding out front. By fourth grade being a ballerina took center stage. Did you dream dreams as a kid of…
Walk or Paddle into Florida Mangroves
Mangroves. It is the Wild West out there in the roots. The blue crab raised both claws up in the air ready for a fight with me. I stood back at a respectful distance and zoomed in with my Nikon…
Visiting Florida Butterfly Gardens Could Be Sinful
Florida Butterfly Gardens. Now is the time to visit. Why? Butterflies are solar powered. Their prime tie is when it is 80 degrees and above. Turns out April through September is perfect butterfly weather in Florida. But I have to…
Flamingos Come Home to Roost
Flamingos are flamboyant, funky and famous. Who knew they are now considered Florida natives? Hunters and poachers did in the population in the 19th century. From then on, captive flocks, a tourist attraction around the state, settled in as THE…
Visit Tallahassee Florida’s Capitol City
Visit Tallahassee, Florida where the past, present and future merge together. A little known slice of history: state officials took turns traveling between two cities, every other year, in the early 1820’s. Travel then was not fun or fast. In…
Visit Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens
Welcome to Peace River Botanical & Sculpture Gardens, a 27-acre site located on both sides of Riverside Drive in Punta Gorda, Florida. Soaring sculptures and spectacular gardens sit side by side in splendid accord. As soon as you park and…
Florida State Parks are Calling Your Name
I LOVE FLORIDA STATE PARKS Yes, I do. Deeply. Passionately. Just thinking about taking my dogs for walks on dirt trails shaded by tall trees or getting my wading shoes wet climbing in and out kayaks for river trips makes…
Sunken Gardens Grows Lush and Exotic
Two words perfectly describe Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg – lush and exotic. What, you say, is it still there? Oh yes, Sunken Gardens, an old Florida family roadside attraction, is still alive and thriving right in the middle of…