New-Yorker-blog-karenrobbins

Remember Scarlett O’Hara? She is still one of my favorite characters from the books I’ve read. In The Quaker and The Rebel by Mary Ellis those days of the Civil War come to light again. Ellis has made her female protagonist the antithesis of Scarlett. Emily is a transplant to the south and coming from a Quaker background, she is bound to get in trouble.

Alexander is leader of a group called the rangers who plunder Union trains to obtain food and supplies and money that can be used by the Confederate Army.

In the telling of their story, Ellis gives us glimpses into some of the attitudes of southerners who owned slaves but let them work for their freedom as well as southern customs and a look at how the Underground Railroad worked.

One of the things we like to do when we escape the winter up north and come south to Key Largo is to kayak. Last year was the first year we attempted the feat and let me tell you, the first try at getting in was not pretty. We were so glad there was no one around to see us. We both ended up in the water. But since then, we've learned balance and poise--well balance anyway.

This year it was a little too chilly to get out on the water the first week we were here. We made it out several times the second week and started checking out all the spots we'd paddled to last year. North of our complex is an arm of land that extends into Key Largo Bay or Bayside or Florida Bay. We've heard lots of different names for it. Just a little ways out there is a canal that runs along the arm and is a nice quiet place to paddle around in. The mouth of the canal is also the place where the local manatees are often spotted munching on the turtle grass below.

Our first foray out, we headed for the canal and as we paddled through the entrance, we watched for the large lizard we'd spotted last year sunning on one of the rocks. No lizard. No manatee. But we enjoyed paddling up and around--until we spotted the alligator.

On a large flat rock or piece of cement near the water's edge sat an alligator in the sun. He really didn't look to be laying on the rock like most we've seen when they sunbathe. He was a bit on his haunches and had his mouth wide open. He never flinched so we paddled a bit closer. He was as still as a statue. So much so that we laughed thinking perhaps the home owners had placed it there to ward trespassers.

We paddled home and thought little more of it until our second trip into the canal. This time we were armed with a waterproof camera to catch the statue of the alligator. Both of us just gaped at the spot where we'd seen it. There was no statue and surveying the spot where it had sat, we could see no way for anyone to get to the spot to place one there.

I laughed nervously and said, "Well, maybe they only put it out when they are home so no one will steal it."

"Sure, honey," came the response.

Not a good picture but the iguana is in the circle I drew.

"Well at least we're in a kayak and not on a paddle board like those people." Ahead of us were a group of paddle boarders who had turned around and were headed out again. We never got close enough to warn them. But warn them of what? A real alligator or a statue that disappears?

On our way out through what now seemed to be a very narrow entrance to the canal, I heard a rustling in the mangroves that line the channel. From the sound of it, I knew it was bigger than the little annoying lizards that scurry around down here. I looked up just in time to see a three foot iguana jump up into a tree. I don't want to think about what he may have been trying to get away from.

FAST!
A couple of weeks ago we struck out for the Everglades with our son and his family only to have the rain move in as we arrived. Now normally in Florida, it rains a bit and then the sun comes out but this day it was more like Cleveland or Seattle. One of those fronts had dipped down far enough to bring us some rainy--not snowy--weather.

We drove around a bit but decided the kids were going to get too restless waiting for the rain to stop and it wasn't promising anyway. As we started for the exit to the Everglades Park, we noticed some wood storks just off the side of the road. My son turned the van around and my daughter-in-law and I rolled down windows and took pictures through the pouring rain. We looked at each other and said at least it wasn't a completely wasted day. We started up again.

Suddenly Lori shouted to Ron to stop! There in a puddle not far away from the storks was an alligator and he had something in his mouth. Ron patiently backed the van up and we rolled down the windows again. Trying to keep our cameras dry, we zeroed in on the alligator but couldn't tell for a few moments what he had in his mouth. He sat, mouth clenched for a few minutes and then threw his head back trying to get a better hold or maybe trying to crush his prey. That's when we realized it was a turtle.

The turtle took its opportunity to seek freedom and tried to scurry off--as much as a turtle scurries. That's when the alligator made its amazing move. He propelled forward a couple of feet in a blaze of fury to recapture the turtle. I cannot think of what I can reference his speed to--superman speed?. In the blink of an eye he was upon that turtle again.

Fortunately for the turtle, we think, got away. Perhaps it wedged under something. While Lori captured a picture of the alligator where you can make out the turtle, I did not. I now have lens envy. Stunned and amazed at what we had just watched, we put the windows back up and wiped up the rain from our doors and cameras. This was definitely not a wasted day in the Glades.

By the way, when we returned on a sunny day, we happened past a turtle that had two prominent holes in its shell. Too far from where we saw the encounter to be the same turtle, we knew what those holes meant. And we totally kept a respectful distance and a careful eye on the alligators that lined the path on the Anhinga Trail.

In 2008, local officials raided a cult ranch in Texas and removed all the children putting them into protective custody because of reports of abuse and underage marriages. The Redemption of Caralynne Hayman by Carole Brown brought to mind all those news reports as the Texas story unfolded. Brown's story is fiction but glimpses what a cult of that sort might look like from the inside.

Caralynne Hayman is a strong woman forced to endure abuse all in the name of religion. Women must be taught submission says Elder Simmons who sanctions and encourages the abuse. Her eldest daughter dies during her "breaking in", the ritual to prepare young girls
for marriage. When Cara's abusive husband has a heart attack, instead of giving him his medicine she allows him to die. Enter Dayne, the new minister who was sent to seminary only to return with a new perspective on what the Bible really teaches. Dayne was Cara's first and only love. Together they try to change the cult's ideals and rules but each approaches it from different directions. Cara seeks revenge. Dayne seeks salvation.

This is a suspenseful read--a page turner. It's a sensitive topic handled well by Brown, one that could make your travel time pass by quickly.

Our trip to New Zealand in October of 2013 was on board Air New Zealand. We knew to upgrade to a preferred seat which gave us a little more leg room. It didn't cost a whole lot and you have to do it early in the game because they go fast.

The other thing Bob found was the opportunity to bid on an upgrade to Premium Seats which were like a business class. He loved the site where you placed your bid because it gave you odds on whether or not it was a good bid. He did some calculations on what it would cost outright to upgrade and halved it and bid just a little under that. We didn't get upgraded on our way out to Auckland but received notice as we were ready to leave that our bid was accepted going back home. A look around the cabin we were in told us Bob could have bid less. The seats were only half full.

Now I see that American Airlines is trying out this idea. You can now bid for an upgrade to first class on their flights. You go to the American Airlines site and enter your offer. You must give a credit card number but it will only be charged if your bid is accepted. Then they will notify you within 24 hours of departure if your bid is successful.

Who's next? Going once, going twice. . .

Reading through some helpful articles on jet lag I ran across a reference to the discovery of a gene that regulates the adaptation of the body to a new time zone. If scientists can discover how it works and how to get around it, they may be able to come up with a medication to eradicate or at least improve the effects of jet lag. It all involves something called the circadian clock. Huh?

The circadian clock is a 24 hour cycle that tells us when to wake or to sleep. Most life forms operate by it. When I read that, I thought about migrating birds. Maybe that's why they always go north-south. There's no time change involved there.

The internal clock responds to light and when we cross several time zones in a hurry as we do when we fly by plane, the clock gets out of whack. To quote the article in Business Insider, "The circadian clock is governed by an area of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), which in turn receives information from a specialised system in the eyes which detects environmental light, according to the report in the journal Cell."

The scientists were able to tinker with some of the genes in mice that respond to light and one in particular that would reset the circadian clock. The mice responded well when the scientists blocked the one gene. Much more research is needed of course but I'll bet those mice will be much less jet lagged than the rest of us.