I want to
take you on a journey most tourists and many residents don’t ever take. It’s the Florida I live in six months of the
year and where I set my cozy mysteries.
This is rural Florida, home of cowboys on horses, lots of alligators and
even more cattle, where spurs still jingle in the post office, Florida yet
untouched by development.
On a map it
is marked by the huge lake, Lake Okeechobee, that forms the center of the
area. One of the largest fresh water
lakes in the world, not very deep, perhaps sixteen feet at the most, it is a
fishing lake, providing bass, crappie, speck and catfish, an angler’s
paradise.
Knowing that
a feral hog or alligator may be hiding near the many water holes in the swamp
areas can make many want to run away.
That would be a mistake because this part of Florida hides beauty that
is worth hanging around for. One of the
most scenic drives in the state is the canopy road, Martin County Route 714,
which leads from the city of Okeechobee to Stuart on the east coast. The two
lane highway is lined with sabal palms and live oaks which have grown in an
arch over the road to form a kind of tunnel.
Arguments over widening the road and removing its quiet beauty have so
far been quelled by local residents.
I guess, as
my website states, that I’m really just a country gal because I find great
comfort in seeing the herds of flop-eared cattle grazing the fields. Many of the horses used to work the herds are
direct descendent of the ponies brought here by the Spanish. They are intelligent and beautiful animals.
Yes, you say,
that all sounds quite lovely, but what about all those alligators? And aren’t there a lot of snakes around? I live on a small canal with two small
alligators as residents. Everyone here
knows enough to leave the alligators alone.
We don’t feed them and they don’t bother much with us. When they grow big enough, they are removed
or have the misfortune, as one did several years ago, to meet with another of
its kind who is bigger. Although the
ensuing struggle took place across the canal from my back door and it wasn’t
pleasant to witness, it was part of the natural order which I observe here and
which is not so obvious in other parts of Florida. It’s not unusual to see one of the bald eagles
gliding across the field to land in an oak tree nearby. Or to drive past two sand hill cranes and
their gawky youngster.
There is a
time of the day when Lake Okeechobee takes on a beauty unexpected from this
shallow, brown lake. When the clouds
rest on the western horizon and the sun slips behind them, the waters are
turned deep purple, the sky above pink and coral. The only sounds heard as darkness descends
are frogs calling to one another and the soft ripple of a fish as it moves
through the reeds. 
Rural Florida
is a place of complex and subtle beauty, a step back in time, a step into nature’s
world.
Lesley Diehl
retired from her life as a professor of psychology and reclaimed her country
roots by moving to a small cottage in the Butternut River Valley in upstate New
York. In the winter she migrates to old
Florida—cowboys, scrub palmetto, and open fields of grazing cattle, a place
where spurs still jingle in the post office, and gators make golf a contact
sport. Back north, the shy ghost
inhabiting the cottage serves as her literary muse. When not writing, she gardens, cooks and
renovates the 1874 cottage with the help of her husband, two cats and, of
course, Fred the ghost, who gives artistic direction to their work. She is author of numerous short stories and
several mystery series including the microbrewing series (A Deadly Draught; Poisoned Pairings), two rural Florida mystery
series (Dumpster Dying; Grilled, Chilled and Killed), and the
Eve Appel mystery series—A Secondhand
Murder; Dead in the Water. Other mysteries include Angel Sleuth,and Murder is
Academic. Please visit her website www.lesleyadiehl.com
for more information on her books and stories.
Her newest
book in the Eve Appel mystery series is Dead
in the Water. Set in rural Florida,
in this second book of the series Eve finds herself learning a whole new
meaning of the word “family”. Between
the difficulties of her consignment shop business and her uncle getting
whacked, Eve’s feeling a little swamped.
Sixty years ago I traveled around in the Everglades by airboat. It was only for a day, but what a magical day that was. Most of all I remember the wonderful flights of birds turning the sky white. The last time I was in that area, perhaps ten years ago, I found far less wilderness and fewer birds. I am glad to hear that there are some people in Florida who value the wilderness. The problem may be, however, that there are too many of you and too little swamp left.
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to meet you here, Lesley. I enjoyed reading about the central part of the state and love what evidence is left of the "old Florida" and wish there was more of it. We have a few things in common. My husband and I also migrate to our FL home for half the year, but we are on the Gulf Coast. I also worked in education as a psychometrist. I'll be blogging in May about the "other half" of my life in KY.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Jacksonville and my sister and her family live and farm in Raiford. You captured some of elusive mystery and beauty of rural Florida. I wish more people could see it the way we do. I hope the locals can preserve the oak shaded highway you talked about. A lovely piece.
ReplyDeleteLida Bushloper
lidabushloper@hotmail.com
Your part of Florida sounds lovely, Lesley. I hope some of that charm can be preserved for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteI left a comment earlier but don't see it. I really enjoyed learning about rural Florida, and your pictures are great. I've spent time in the tourist areas of FL but never the rural. You make me want to visit there.
ReplyDeleteLesley,
ReplyDeleteYou obviously love rural Florida and, from your descriptions, I can see why. I hope it remains unchanged for many years to come!
My husband and I have gone across Florida in our boat a couple of times. You are right about the lake being shallow. We had to carefully follow the map to be sure we didn't run aground. At one place, boaters hire a local firm that roars up and hangs several big containers of water over one side of the boat to tip it enough so the keel isn't straight down---and we had one of the shorter keels available.
ReplyDeleteAmazing. I've been wanting to move to a nature center (that won't happen) and this appears to be perfect. More perfect than West Palm Beach which is paradise. I watch bull-riding regularly and was looking to move closer to the Rodeo which just relocated to Kissimmee. Looking forward to reading your books. I am a member of MWA-FL. Blessings, Janet
ReplyDeleteWow, I knew the lake was shallow, but the story about tipping the keel to one side to make it possible to navigate the shallower areas is fascinating. I do love this part of Florida because I feel most at peace when I'm around nature-birds, cows, horses and lots of green from vegetation. It's a wonderful place in which to write.
ReplyDeleteLove the wild Florida thattourists cannot see.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your insight into such a beautiful place. I've only been to Miami, and then only on the way to a cruise. Sounds like your area needs to be added to the list of places we must camp in someday. We won't worry about the depth of the water, since we only have a canoe.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a trip to what is (for me) the unknown Florida.
ReplyDelete