This is Estus Whitfield, who has been an environmental adviser to four Florida governors and one of the most respected of Florida environmentalists. He co-authored the Save our Everglades program that setup initiates to help clean water for the future of South Florida and it’s residents. He has also steered a series of other outdoor programs critical to the state of the Florida outdoors and all of us who live here.

I recently finished a series of paintings of speakers who spoke at an event I was involved at Silver River State Park back on June 23rd. The event was created to help educate folks about water and springs issues here in Florida. I’ll feature the 5 illustrations in the next week.

WOW! I got behind posting the books I’ve read! This should catch is up. To date, this year, I’ve got 25 under my belt.

Here’s this list:
Dade’s Last Command : The non-fiction story of Francis Dade and his soldiers in 1835 and the massacre that followed that started the 2nd Seminole War. Excellent!

Separation of Power: Vince Flynn’s 3rd novel of Mitch Rapp and his war on terrorism. Not the best of the series that I’ve read yet.

The Lincoln Lawyer: A fellow cartoonist recommended author Michael Connelly, so I read this. Maybe I should read another…

Night of Thunder: I continue to read a few contemporary authors and continue to be disappointed. This would have been OK, if I hadn’t figured out the ‘Big Twist’ as soon as the character was introduced.

A Brief History of the Everglades City Area: Good stories, but could have used some fleshing out. The stories are a bit too short. I’m just glad this volume got put together to help document the area in Collier County.

Blackwater Sound: Back to Florida fiction and James W. Hall does it again. I’d put off reading this for a few years and it was great riding an adventure with Thorn again.

True Tales of the Everglades: A fine collection of stories by an author who knows them.

Nuclear Jellyfish: A fun Serge Storm’s story as the serial killer continues his hilarious mayhem across our state of Florida.

Cracker Florida: Don’t know what author Washington was thinking, but most all profiled in this volume are not Crackers. All of the stories are about folks in later years in Florida and what happened from their time moving to Florida or the few with a lifetime here.

The Dreadful Lemon Sky: I bought my friend Jeremy a copy of this book when it struck me it had been 30 years since I read it. So I read it again. WOW! What a difference part of a lifetime makes. Still one of my favorite books, but my understanding and working knowledge of Florida really assisted me in appreciating the story.

Pelts, Plume and Hides – White Traders among the Seminole Indians 1870 – 1930: An excellent examination of the Semino0le and Mikasuki people and their interaction in terms of trade with the white man during the years stated. Terrific book!

Here’s the first books of the year! I kicked the year off with a Vince Flynn thriller. Then I moved on to reading of the 2nd Seminole War. That lead me to read of the life of Thomas S. Jesup. I went back to Flynn’s third book. I wandered into the Everglades and back to war with ‘Discovering the Civil War in Florida’.

Wow! I hadn’t put up books in a while! So here’s what I’ve taken in since mid-July. I went pretty straight forward fiction during the kidney stone mess. I tried reading non-fiction but had trouble keeping it in my head.