I love that you’ve clearly taken so much time to learn about the landscape and environment! I’m from South Florida which is radically different in some ways and it wasn’t until I left that I learned to appreciate the natural elements of the place--while living there I was too distracted by the heat lol. The part of Florida I’m from was created when the Everglades were drained. While you’re north of that ecosystem, if you’re interested in that kind of history I can’t recommend Michael Grubwald’s book The Swamp enough (other books I love about the landscape and development of South Florida include A World More Concrete: Real Estate and the Remaking of Jim Crow South Florida and The Global Edge).
Thank you! Two of these have been recommended to me before- The Swamp more than a couple times. I really want/need to read it. It's so wild how much this landscape has been changed by humans- even here in the panhandle fire suppression has completely changed to forests.
Oh I would love to learn more about that! You probably have a unique perspective on that too as a former wildfire fighter (is that the term?). Also it won’t let me edit my comment and it’s bothering me so much that there’s a typo in Michael Grunwald’s name 😫
Oh also!! The Swamp has some of the most beautiful nature writing and some of my favorite narrative non-fiction. Its descriptions of the environment are stunning.
Substack doesn't let us edit comments. So annoying!! Actually I am going to put The Swamp on my nonfiction prelims list!! And re: fire history here, I interviewed someone about this subject and will be editing it for a friend's podcast over the break, so I'll let you know when it comes out!!
I've found you can edit in a browser, just not via the app (why???). If I do a really horrid typo in a comment I sometimes go back in later on my laptop and fix it, but what a pain!
I'm having the opposite experience right now as I witness my first Maryland autumn after living my whole life in Florida! It's been super exciting to see the real change of seasons, but I do miss the absolute lushness of FL. There is nothing like the swamp <3
Wow that's got to be so amazing! I'd imagine the seasonal change there feels as wild to you as the thunderstorms here do to me! How lovely the leaves must have looked with fresh eyes.
Oh beautiful! I'm visiting my mother in north Florida right now all the way from my usual home in Yorkshire, England! (But I'm English-American and grew up in Florida and South Georgia!) It's nice to see all the wildlife on the lake where my mum lives. I wonder what Autumn was like for you when you were in Nepal!
Ooooh that inspires me to make a post about autumn in Nepal!! I love that you're visiting. It's such a different landscape than England but both have lushness in common!
I look forward to reading that post if you write it. ☺️ You’re right that they’re both lush but in different ways. I love both places but definitely happy with my life in England. I always enjoy your writing. 🥰
I grew up in central Florida and South Carolina. It can so be lush and wild. Thanks for the photos, I live in the northeast now and miss the humidity and sunshine and tangle of plants.
I sometimes miss the grayscale landscape of Syracuse in the winter! And I do miss snow often. But I must say that a warm winter makes up for very gross summers here :)
Love seeing Florida through your lens, Anastasia. I lived in south Florida for a few years but never quite adjusted (to put it mildly!). I think if I were to return now, I'd know what to focus on more fully and what to set aside. Here in rural Nova Scotia, I'm enjoying the remnants of our first real snow of the season. Wintery walks and warm socks, hurray!
Thanks for the photos! They are lovely, and calming to see. I lived my first nine years 7,000 feet up in the Rockies, the next 19 years in central and southern Arizona, the next 30 years in Los Angeles, and the last four at the south-western end of Lake Eerie, in Ohio. The only thing I remember any more about autumn at 7,000 feet is how the aspens turn a most brilliant gold-yellow. Like many vistas in nature, you really have to see it - photos just don't quite communicate the immense splendor of those landscapes. When I first moved to AZ, I saw it as brown and desolate, but as you mentioned, taking the time to mindfully observe the terrain reveals a beautifully subtle array of colors, textures, and life forms that are endlessly intriguing and grounding to me. As you said about Florida, autumn (and winter) is the time when the vibrant colors of flowers show up. In LA, fall is just a slightly cooler extension of summer; there are a few random trees, transplanted from other climates, that change colors, and that is what I remember most about autumn in that sea-side desert. Now, in Ohio, it's the leaves - definitely the leaves! I love your description of how you taped leaves to your wall to study them. I am endlessly fascinated by them. In my city we have an amazingly well-founded public park system, and I love to go to my favorite park this time of year and see all the amazing, brilliant colors, where it seems that each tree is just a bit different than the others around it. It is magical.
I’m in Central Florida and grew up in Corona (near San Bernardino), so we share some similar landscape history! I remember when I moved to Florida being so amazed by the oaks with their romantic hanging moss, as well as so many lakes. The areas my husband calls “old Florida” are beautiful in their vast expanse too.
I’ve never moved very far in my life (one city to the next city over, a 45 min drive at most) so i’ve not experienced the change in weather comparatively. But in england it’s finally cold and it’s something about 0 degree weather that makes me feel so ALIVE! And happy about it. Like life just comes into focus and feels new again.
I love that you’ve clearly taken so much time to learn about the landscape and environment! I’m from South Florida which is radically different in some ways and it wasn’t until I left that I learned to appreciate the natural elements of the place--while living there I was too distracted by the heat lol. The part of Florida I’m from was created when the Everglades were drained. While you’re north of that ecosystem, if you’re interested in that kind of history I can’t recommend Michael Grubwald’s book The Swamp enough (other books I love about the landscape and development of South Florida include A World More Concrete: Real Estate and the Remaking of Jim Crow South Florida and The Global Edge).
Thank you! Two of these have been recommended to me before- The Swamp more than a couple times. I really want/need to read it. It's so wild how much this landscape has been changed by humans- even here in the panhandle fire suppression has completely changed to forests.
*the forests!
Oh I would love to learn more about that! You probably have a unique perspective on that too as a former wildfire fighter (is that the term?). Also it won’t let me edit my comment and it’s bothering me so much that there’s a typo in Michael Grunwald’s name 😫
Oh also!! The Swamp has some of the most beautiful nature writing and some of my favorite narrative non-fiction. Its descriptions of the environment are stunning.
Substack doesn't let us edit comments. So annoying!! Actually I am going to put The Swamp on my nonfiction prelims list!! And re: fire history here, I interviewed someone about this subject and will be editing it for a friend's podcast over the break, so I'll let you know when it comes out!!
I've found you can edit in a browser, just not via the app (why???). If I do a really horrid typo in a comment I sometimes go back in later on my laptop and fix it, but what a pain!
Please do!
I'm having the opposite experience right now as I witness my first Maryland autumn after living my whole life in Florida! It's been super exciting to see the real change of seasons, but I do miss the absolute lushness of FL. There is nothing like the swamp <3
Wow that's got to be so amazing! I'd imagine the seasonal change there feels as wild to you as the thunderstorms here do to me! How lovely the leaves must have looked with fresh eyes.
Oh beautiful! I'm visiting my mother in north Florida right now all the way from my usual home in Yorkshire, England! (But I'm English-American and grew up in Florida and South Georgia!) It's nice to see all the wildlife on the lake where my mum lives. I wonder what Autumn was like for you when you were in Nepal!
Ooooh that inspires me to make a post about autumn in Nepal!! I love that you're visiting. It's such a different landscape than England but both have lushness in common!
I look forward to reading that post if you write it. ☺️ You’re right that they’re both lush but in different ways. I love both places but definitely happy with my life in England. I always enjoy your writing. 🥰
thank you so much 😊
I grew up in central Florida and South Carolina. It can so be lush and wild. Thanks for the photos, I live in the northeast now and miss the humidity and sunshine and tangle of plants.
Nice photos.
Really appreciate what you wrote and your photos since I am in Vermont with only a monochrome landscape to look at.
I sometimes miss the grayscale landscape of Syracuse in the winter! And I do miss snow often. But I must say that a warm winter makes up for very gross summers here :)
Love seeing Florida through your lens, Anastasia. I lived in south Florida for a few years but never quite adjusted (to put it mildly!). I think if I were to return now, I'd know what to focus on more fully and what to set aside. Here in rural Nova Scotia, I'm enjoying the remnants of our first real snow of the season. Wintery walks and warm socks, hurray!
Thanks for the photos! They are lovely, and calming to see. I lived my first nine years 7,000 feet up in the Rockies, the next 19 years in central and southern Arizona, the next 30 years in Los Angeles, and the last four at the south-western end of Lake Eerie, in Ohio. The only thing I remember any more about autumn at 7,000 feet is how the aspens turn a most brilliant gold-yellow. Like many vistas in nature, you really have to see it - photos just don't quite communicate the immense splendor of those landscapes. When I first moved to AZ, I saw it as brown and desolate, but as you mentioned, taking the time to mindfully observe the terrain reveals a beautifully subtle array of colors, textures, and life forms that are endlessly intriguing and grounding to me. As you said about Florida, autumn (and winter) is the time when the vibrant colors of flowers show up. In LA, fall is just a slightly cooler extension of summer; there are a few random trees, transplanted from other climates, that change colors, and that is what I remember most about autumn in that sea-side desert. Now, in Ohio, it's the leaves - definitely the leaves! I love your description of how you taped leaves to your wall to study them. I am endlessly fascinated by them. In my city we have an amazingly well-founded public park system, and I love to go to my favorite park this time of year and see all the amazing, brilliant colors, where it seems that each tree is just a bit different than the others around it. It is magical.
I’m in Central Florida and grew up in Corona (near San Bernardino), so we share some similar landscape history! I remember when I moved to Florida being so amazed by the oaks with their romantic hanging moss, as well as so many lakes. The areas my husband calls “old Florida” are beautiful in their vast expanse too.
I’ve never moved very far in my life (one city to the next city over, a 45 min drive at most) so i’ve not experienced the change in weather comparatively. But in england it’s finally cold and it’s something about 0 degree weather that makes me feel so ALIVE! And happy about it. Like life just comes into focus and feels new again.
It's adorable! And also, it sort of reminds me of a cactus, which is silly, but somehow endearing to me
Good description!