THIS WEEK'S FENCE POST

On one of our trips to the Outer Banks. 

~Forgotten~

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PEA ISLAND, NORTH CAROLINA

My sister-in-law took us to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.  

The birds were in hiding during the time we were there, but maybe they were in an area we didn't walk to.  Nonetheless it was a fun ride there and back, and we had a very interesting browse around the visitor center.  It was where we saw the display I shared in a previous post here.

The Refuge is on Hatteras Island and covers 13 miles of Cape Hatteras National Seashore land.  It is a completely undeveloped piece of land, with gorgeous views and peaceful, off the beaten path nature trails.  You can read about it here.  This was on display outside of the visitor center, poor whale.

The volunteer at the desk, a very nice lady, answered our questions about the local area.

Aloft was a Tundra Swan.

She had this book where she explained the differences between the types of swans.  If you enlarge the photos you will get more detail.

She let me take photos of the pages.

There were several display cases of the wildlife in this area.

Black-necked Stilt and an American Oystercatcher

Snow Geese

River Otter

There is a short video where you can see them swimming here.

A replica of a turtle's nest.  This website shows information.

Lots of posters and information signs.

 If you enlarge the photos you can just about make out all the names.

This area is one of the many places I would like to visit again, and next time we will find those birds.

Added note as of 1-22-20, I have just read that "Pea Island is about to undergo a restoration project to excavate sand in order to create open water intertidal pool areas for multiple bird species, including the piping plover, American oystercatcher and terns.  I found that here from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

QUOTE ON WEDNESDAY

MORE FROM THE ELIZABETHAN GARDENS IN MANTEO, NORTH CAROLINA

 

I have a doozy of a cold so if your comment is late in appearing, it is because I have the pace of a snail 🐌 right now. Thank you all for visiting and thank you everyone who leaves a comment.  I probably won’t be posting again until Monday. 

The Elizabethan Gardens' website can be found here.

Right outside the gift shop/entrance there was a very large selection of garden ornaments.  I would have enjoyed taking a few of these home but managed to keep myself in check.  We are downsizing and trying not to add anything else right now.

They were fun to look at though.

So, I tore myself away from all the garden goodies and started to explore.

These beautiful gardens can be found within the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, on 10 acres next to the  Roanoke Sound.  There are hundreds of native plants, and many others from around the world.  We didn't see any wildlife apart from a few squirrels, but it is home to a variety of birds and animals.

The Elizabethan Gardens are only yards away from the original homes of the 1580's Lost Colonists.  In the photo below is the building that contains the gift shop where we bought our tickets.

The following photo showing the iron gates were once placed at the French Embassy in Washington DC, and they gave them to the garden as a gift. 

We came across a statue of Virginia Dare.  The original sculptor's vision carved her as an adult, with fishing nets draped around her waist.  He saw in his mind-eye, what he believed she would look like had she grown up on Roanoke Island.  

Virginia Dare was the first baby born to the colonists in the New World, and was only an infant when she and the other colonists disappeared.  (There is a very interesting history here.  And there is also an urban legend of Virginia Dare and the White Doe here.  As legends often are, it is a rather sad and fanciful tale.)

This statue itself has an interesting history as it was carved in 1859 in Rome and was eventually donated to the gardens.  First, however, it survived a Spanish shipwreck, was a controversial display in the Raleigh State Hall of History, and then had a long stay with the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, and original author of the Lost Colony play, Paul Green.  There is a popular belief that Virginia Dare survived and was assimilated into the local Native American culture, that maybe others were too.

The Garden itself was officially opened to the public on August 18th, 1960, on what would have been Virginia Dare's 373rd birthday.

There were a lot of nooks and crannies to find, and more flowers to share, but I will leave those until next time.

If you would like to see my other posts from the garden, you can click on the label below this post that reads, "The Elizabethan Garden_Manteo_NC.”

I have also included two maps of the area and where it can be located.

BEES AND BUTTERFLIES

My first photo is from yesterday's post, without the quote.  The photo below shows the garden we found, next to the Wild Horse Museum-Store.  It isn't too far from the lighthouse in Corolla, just up the road.  

At first you think it might be very overgrown and uncared for.  It is at the end of the season.  However, if you look closer still, you realize it would be like coming across a meadow and perhaps this was their intention.  Look closer still and there were dozens of bees and butterflies very happy at its wild state.  

"With rake and seeds and sower,
And hoe and line and reed,
When the meadows shrill with "peeping"
And the old world wakes from sleeping,
Who wouldn't be a grower
That has any heart to feel?"

~Frederick Frye Rockwell~
"Invitation," Around the Year in the Garden, 1913"

Here are a few of those happy visitors.

"Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life.  And everyone deserves a little sunshine."

~Jeffrey Glassberg~

"The hum of bees is the voice of the garden."
~Elizabeth Lawrence~

"Butterflies, bees,
Our winged, happy friends.
Oh, to dance in the air
And float on the breeze."

~Terri Guillemets~

"What do you suppose?
A bee sat on my nose.
Then what do you think?
He gave me a wink
And said, "I beg your pardon,
I thought you were the garden."

~English Rhyme~

"The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee, a clover, anytime, to him, is aristocracy."

~Emily Dickinson~

"When I add a spoon of honey to my tea, I give thanks to a dozen bees for the work of their whole lives.  When my finger sweeps the final drop of sweetness from the jar, I know we've enjoyed the nectar from over a million flowers. This is what honey is: the souls of flowers, a food to please the gods.  Honeyeaters know that to have a joyful heart one must live life like the bees, sipping the sweet nectar from each moment as it blooms.  And Life, like the world of honey, has its enchantments and stings."

~Ingrid Goff-Maidoff~
 "The Honey Sutras"

"Every saint has a bee in his halo."
~Elbert Hubbard~

"I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly!  
Indeed I know not if you sleep or feed,
How Motionless! - not frozen seas 
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!

This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.”

~William Wordsworth~
"To A Butterfly"

"I don't like formal gardens.  I like wild nature.  It's just the wilderness instinct in me I guess."

~Walt Disney~