Not every great food find on Amelia Island comes with a dining room. Vegan Amelia isn't a restaurant at all. It's a porch bakery stand set up outside a private home, run by a mother-daughter duo who …

I usually don’t go for fruit if given a choice, but for me, mangos are something different. They are the best of the fruiting world, in my opinion at least. And am I in luck! This trip to Belize, …

Over the past month, I have witnessed some of the most challenging moments of my career. One of the hardest things about working in technology is being unable to fully help someone recover from a …

We all hate to lose things. It is crazy-making. It can be big things, like finding a parked car, or small things, like an earring. I often write about losing things because it's such a big part of my …

When I think of summer, I think of blackberries. There is such satisfaction in standing in the sun, picking and eating fruit you have grown at home or found on the trails. Florida gives us both …

It's always a good day when I get to spend time with my grandbabies. Charlotte Rose (aka Charlee) is almost 3, and little Chloe (her sister calls her CoCo) is a year and a half. It's an even better …

My only qualification for writing on this topic is that I had a father. I love seeing the young dads of today walking downtown, wearing baby carriers on their chests or pushing strollers. I also love …

Drunken Noodle isn't exactly a newcomer to the Fernandina food scene. They built a following through their food truck and earned solid reviews around the area before making the leap to a …

Bucko and I have been coming to Placencia, Belize for four years, three times a year, two weeks each time. We come to the same five-room beachfront hotel and always stay in the same room. In …

We are living in the era of distraction. Television became binge-watching. News became an endless stream of alerts. Social media became an infinite scroll. Video games became immersive worlds …

People often ask for my advice on writing. I have found, in teaching workshops over the years, that my biggest job is to cheerlead and encourage. As with learning to do or be better at anything, you …

Last week, when I wrote Adventures in the Back Yard - A Wonderful World, I realized that it might be worth describing one of the local yard inhabitants with a little more detail. One of the smallest …

Since relocating to a coastal town, I go to the beach often and share a video of the ocean with my friends each day titled “One Minute of Zen.” About a year after moving here, I then met Zen …

You may think the process of creating art is totally intuitive. It may be, for some. Most of the time, it is not. Artists learn to use tools that help them create and interpret what they draw or …

Well, it looks like I can’t have everything. Bucko and I can’t leave home for weeks at a time and still have a functioning garden, or so it seems. Back in April I wrote a column extolling the …

Life is full of contradictions, and the longer I run a business, the more I notice that ideas I once held as absolute truths have quietly softened into opinions. They may still be good opinions. …

Big Guy and I quickly learned after moving to Florida that the seasons can change in the blink of an eye, especially when it comes to summer. This year was no different. We moved from a gentle, …

One of my favorite things about Amelia Island is the flowers. Each flowering plant has its season to shine, and if we pay attention, we will witness a colorful display. In the summer, I look forward …

You've probably never heard of John M. Sweeney. Until a few weeks ago, I hadn't either. One of my fellow Fernandina Observer writers, Deryck Burnett, shared a TEDx talk with me. I listened to John …

My fellow contributor to this journal, Pat Foster-Turley, also likes this little Georgia town, 69 miles north of Amelia Island. It is nestled on the Darien River, a 10-mile-long tidal river. It …