And did you notice the storks, abundant this year, resembling the ibises though twice their size with dark wing tips and long, gray, almost black beaks out front? They are cousins to the ibises and have similar feeding patterns. They're the ones we learned about as kids. They brought the babies to the front door step in white bandanas hung on their beaks.

            Arise early one morning and watch the crescent moon rising to the east an hour or so before the sun, sort of pulling the sun up out of the water, up over the horizon. And if you are near the water along A Street or in the Park, notice, too, the skimmers as they awaken and group in the air and fly in waves so gracefully on slow long wing beats with their sounds, a muffled series of auukks ending on an upbeat. They have brilliant orange beaks, thick short necks, and black backs and wings. They feed by skimming the top of the water with their beaks open, the lower one dragging the surface.

Then, after the sunrise, swing on around toward the west and walk down First Street between the spreading oaks to Sanspit and notice the low tide. If the wind is from the north or the east, you can see sand a long way out. Walk out there and feel the sand dollars with your toes. Even if water still covers the sand you can wade out; it is shallow at low tide.

            Then walk on back, up Third Street past March's Garden of the Month at the Bed and Breakfast at F Street. The Garden Club of Cedar Key selects one every month. Maybe you'll even discover April's selection as you walk around.

            By the time you get back to town, the arts and crafts booths should be opening. Browse, shop, or just visit. Then have lunch in the Park. The concessions are manned by civic groups that supplement their year's activities with the proceeds. Or visit the many restaurants and bars and the shops and the other businesses.

            Then if you want a change, go to the State Museum a couple of miles out. Just follow the signs turning off Hodges Avenue at the top of the hill. And, for sure, go to the Cedar Key Historical Society Museum at D and Second Streets. Learn more about the past on the Cedar Keys. Take their recommended walking tour of the town and the historic district. They have maps at the Museum.

            We want you to have fun while you are here. We want you to enjoy our home here. And as the day ends and you are headed back out, look left and right across the bridges and notice how much the terrain changes, the climate changes, the world changes as you leave these Cedar Keys.

            Come back again soon. We have another festival, the Seafood Festival, the third full weekend in October. And sometime, someplace, between now and then look for me out there searching for Trouble in Cedar Key.

         Origianlly published 2001 April 1