Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/180498
Sarasota News Leader September 27, 2013 has put in a rare appearance. Sphagnum moss dotted with yellow carnivorous plants covers trails. Spanish needles, a Mecca for butterflies, carpet lawns and roadsides. Ponds and creeks brim over with white water lilies. With the right mixture of heat, humidity and an obliging horse, magical mushrooms pop up. In flooded pastures, horses and cattle pick their way over sodden ground, seeking bits of dry land. At home, I am back on waterfront! I drive the main road through Myakka River State Park Page 102 and stop on the bridge. Usually, the river is far below me. Today I can almost step into the water. Gone are the alligators that will have to wait for riverbanks to reappear so once again they can play to an adoring crowd on the bridge. This is the way it is supposed to be. Years ago, summers in Florida were a cycle of precipitation, absorption, evaporation, condensation and more precipitation. Rainwater percolated down into the Floridan aquifer, the huge water-holding limestone reservoir under the peninsula. More than half the state was wetlands.