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Sarasota News Leader November 15, 2013 Page 102 A COLD DREARY MONTH ELSEWHERE BRINGS A BOUNTY TO SAVOR IN FLORIDA Story and Photos By Fran Palmeri Contributing Writer Thomas Hood wrote this poem in a city shrouded in fog and smoke. I first read it on a cold November day with winter stretching endlessly before me. Subtle as they may seem, Florida has its seasons. Tree swallows frequent fields while shorebirds crowd rivers and beaches. The sanderlings have returned from long migrations to the Arctic. Little diving ducks are back In Florida, summer lingers on. The Gulf is still at the Celery Fields. Eagles nest in the pines. warm enough for swimming. Sometimes it seems most of "birddom" is crammed into this peninsula. Saltbush blooms and climbing aster appears in wet places. In the flatwoods, birds feed on Other than the calendar, the only guidepost purple beautyberry and the red berries of wild to the month is shorter days. The sun rises coffee. Grasses give up their seeds. Common later; dark comes on earlier, a small price to buckeye butterflies nectar on goldenrod. The pay on a balmy evening with a huge full moon shining through the Spanish moss. last of the golden aster attracts Gulf fritillaries. Blazing star, which first bloomed last July, November in Florida would have warmed the heart and soul of Thomas Hood. % can still be found in the pinelands.