On Tuesday, starting at Walter Boardman Lane, I walked northward on the Bulow Woods Trail through the “middle” portion of the woods. You see, the woods are divided up into three sections — 1) from Fairchild Oak to Boardman Lane; 2) Boardman Lane to Cisco Ditch; 3) Northern Bulow Woods, the latter area being currently closed due to trail damage.
First, I walked towards Cisco Ditch and then turned eastward to Bulow Creek, where I strolled out onto the sunny but breezy beach. I stood there for a while watching the steady flow of traffic on Boardman Lane. For a substandard ancient narrow road, it receives a ton of traffic as it is the only connecting route besides nearby SR 100 to get across the Intracoastal Waterway (Halifax River) until you reach Ormond Beach. Since this road passes through a literal marsh, it periodically floods during heavy rains.
Grand sentinels of the forest
The huge trees are very sheltering, which is the origin for the word “Hammock” or sheltered place.
Today, there was a delicious light scent in the air. The magnolia grandiflora were in bloom, although it was hard to see their blooms, which were situated high in the canopy above my head. With the spicy scent of crunchy leaves beneath my feet, the fresh smell of green grass and fresh leaves, the woods were a welcoming place.
Cattails on the beachWindy day
It was very windy in the open so I didn’t linger long, turning around and retracing my steps back to Boardman Lane.
Bulow Woods
After I reached the road, I crossed it and passed into the southern most section of the forest which is open pinewoods, spiked with crispy saw palmetto and cubby sabal palms. The park service recently held some controlled burns in this area, but the tough forest plants are already making a comeback.
Fishing heron at Cedar Creek
When in the area, I always check Cedar Creek as I will sometimes come upon fishing birds. Today, there was one heron delicately wading at the streamside. Schools of tiny fish would break the surface periodically creating loud splashes.
Cedar Creek Salt MarshCedar CreekIt takes a little route-finding on this path…
Next, I headed to the loop trail which winds through the open forest and adds probably close to another mile to the entire walk. At times it is marked by an indentation in the forest floor; at other times, grass delineates the path. Sometimes it is harder to make out in the winter without the green vegetation. I followed the path without difficulty today, finding the red marks on the trees as the narrow path wound through the forest. I could catch glimpses of the nearby marsh, but the heavy brush didn’t allow me to approach the edge of nearby Bulow Creek.
One last glimpse…
Finally, I popped out at the end of the loop trail and joined up with the path that led to the little peninsula. I took a short break there and then headed back to the car. I only met one other person the entire time I was on my walk.
My feet were tired after arriving back to the car. I changed out of my boots and climbed in, satisfied in having completed another nice walk.
There’s Bulow Woods… located just inland from the Atlantic Ocean, south of Flagler Beach. It is a relatively undeveloped State Park and charges no entry fees. Parking on Boardman Lane is limited, but there is a large parking lot located at Fairchild Oak and another one at Plantation Ruins SP to the north. The northern park does have an entrance fee of $4.00. The rangers there offer periodic talks in the little meeting room. There is also some short trails there to the ruins and a boat dock on Bulow Creek.
The shorter variety with smaller leaves was fuzzy to the touch, while the larger variety had bigger leaves and stood taller. I couldn’t estimate how old the plants are, other than the small caliper pines were probably less than 15 years old. While Princess Place is a county park, in some of the outlying areas, they do appear to periodically cut the trees for extra revenue.
I also spotted some Pinewood Milkweed which had very distinctive leaves and flowers.
Asclepias humistrata – Pinewoods Milkweed
Since the pinewoods don’t have a lot of flowers, these… the pawpaws and the milkweed, really caught my attention.
Sorry if the photo is a little over-exposed. I was peeking through a layer of saw palmetto…
Native blueberry
Florida has several native blueberry species. This one was very tall and standing on the edge of a clearing where it received good lighting. I have no idea just how big the berries will be having never seen them in fruit, but I would imagine they’ll be smaller than the cultivated varieties.
More pawpawThe open pinewoods where the pawpaw grows…Sweetbay Magnolia?
I found the magnolia just off the trail, a small tree with shiny evergreen leaves. It wasn’t heavily scented like Magnolia grandiflora or Southern Magnolia.
As you can see, I’m fascinated by plants and really enjoy learning more about them even as I take these forest walks. The small magnolia was growing amidst smaller oaks and tall slender pines. It is also interesting to begin to recognize the various microclimates in the region that I encounter. Just a matter of feet can change the shrubs and trees you are seeing, as well as the soil dampness, sunlight, and ground coverage.
A marshy open area. You can’t walk in such a place as you would probably lose your shoes in gooey mud.
I managed to walk a complete loop, combining two trails and then returning along the Pellicer Creek Campsite road to the main access road, crossing it and following the combined Hominy Branch/Equestrian Trail back to where I had parked my car. The last time I attempted this loop, I was halted by a vast puddle that lay across my path. The mud had dried up a bit so I could carefully pick my way around the worst patches and make my way towards Stiles Creek and the little campground there.
The Observation Deck on Pellicer CreekA pleasant forest walk…Stiles Creek from the fishing pier
This post is getting long so I’ll make another post for my Bulow Woods hike.
Mastering Silence and Breathwork, The Four Pillars to Healing and Transformation for a Better World
The Way of Will John
👤 Feodor Kouznetsov, a breathing innovator, advocates for conscious breathing as a self-healing practice. After experiencing a major burnout, he explored various healing methods, including Toltec healing, astrology, numerology, and psychology. He eventually developed a breathing sequence called *Formula.Life*, which he believes can promote happiness and performance. Kouznetsov collaborates with teachers globally to enhance his practice and help his followers adapt these healing modalities to their modern lives.
Spring has fully arrived in Florida. The daylight temperatures are rising into the 80’s, although the nights are still coolish.
On Monday, I decided to revisit the Graham Swamp Trail. Doesn’t sound too inviting does it, but it is a two-mile walk (4 mile return) between Old Kings Road and Colbert Lane. There is a good sandy path with occasional boardwalks over the marshy areas. I did spot a small alligator in the canal but was unable to take a satisfactory photo of the little guy. He was just cruising the canal, resting in the sunlight.
Interesting white flowers growing in a colony – damp groundIt’s a jungle out there…Bulow Woods
On Tuesday, I headed to Bulow Woods, to do the middle section of the trail. The northernmost part of the trail still has not been repaired. I did walk to the location of the old bridge which consists of rails right now. The bridge planks were quite rotten and were removed by park staff and piled up near the old bridge.
Bulow Woods, near Cisco DitchPeruvian Primrose Willow – Ludwigia peruviana (exotic)Tide’s lowOld bridge frame over Cisco DitchCedar Creek
Upon completing the first 2+ miles of the walk, I crossed Boardman Road and walked to Cedar Creek and then to my favorite little peninsula that sticks out into Bulow Creek.
Cedar Creek Salt MarshFishing on Bulow Creek
As I reached the peninsula, a fellow came floating by on his little skiff. He was attempting to fish but hadn’t any luck yet.
On the way out…Sabal (Cabbage) Palms
Two days, two walks, both in my water sandals. My feet are beginning to toughen up. I do enjoy walking through these big trees. Neither hike was very crowded as they were done in the morning midweek.
I hope you enjoy my photos. I’ll do some research and see if I can identify the plants I found along the way.
If one had to synthesise the purpose of life in a single phrase, that might be ‘to know thyself’.
As eternal souls, we may know everything there is to know from within the spiritual realm, but this physical journey we call life, is about experiencing who we are from within the magical opportunity of it being, so to speak, the ‘first time’, thanks to the amnesia we go through at birth.
In the same way that you only know what you’re made of when you are put to the test, life is a continuous test for our souls to not only ‘know’, but to feel and experience that which we are.
I only know that I’m strong because I overcame pain, I only know that I am compassionate because I forgave those that wronged me, I only know that I am empathetic because I have cried for someone else’s pain. In the same way, life is giving our souls the chance to experience the many aspects of who we are in a physical, sentient, fascinatingly magical way.
The more you ‘know thyself’, the more you will understand you are not only your physical expression. And the more you understand that you are so much more, the easier the physical experience will become.
Once you finally grasp the purpose of it all, the less resistance you will create to what is meant to be and the sooner you will start to cooperate with your greater being, in achieving the set of experiences you signed up for, before you came.
This wonderful universe was created to give us the chance to know ourselves from every possible angle imaginable and in doing so, we give the Creator the chance to experience the magic of life through each and everyone of us.
Life is a cooperative process of giving and receiving, of knowing and experiencing, but above all it’s a chance to become the most faithful expression of who you truly are.
Once we all do this, our individual uniqueness will finally come together in the giant, collective puzzle of reality we form and we will then, finally, know unity. ❤️❤️❤️
On Friday, April 12th, I headed out to do yet another walk at Princess Place. The park was chosen due to some chores that had to be completed before I took off. I was glad I went.
After the heavy rainstorm of Wednesday, I thought the woods might be soaked so I chose to start my walk on the Loop Road. The road surface is packed sand and doesn’t have puddles as it is constantly maintained by park staff who have a small grader.
Immediately when I climb out of my car and sniff the fresh air of the big trees, I can feel any tension in my body dissipate. Due to nearby ongoing road construction on Highway 1, there seems to be fewer daily visitors, but perhaps it was merely because it was a weekday. I didn’t care. Outside the loop trail and the main visitor areas I saw perhaps three people and a couple of dogs.
It is interesting (to me, at any rate) to observe the different rate it takes the various oak species to leaf out. Some of the deciduous ones leaved out two weeks ago, others are still lagging behind. Although the Live Oaks retain their leaves, they do shed out each spring, leaving the ground littered with crunchy brown leaves.
This or another nearby tree used to hold an eagle nest, but I guess it was knocked down during one of the hurricanes in the last 8 years. This is one of the largest meadows in the park.
Beyond the meadow, the Loop Road ducks back into shady woods. I kept an eye out but this kind of vegetation doesn’t have too much in the way of flowers, except oak flowers which aren’t very showy. The margins of the roadway are also carefully mowed. If people weren’t present, Florida would quickly transform into a jungle in certain areas.
I make up my route in this park as I am walking, depending on weather and surface conditions. I decided to add the Artesian Trail to the route. This is the former site of an Artesian well that probably originally provided fresh water for the estate, which used to grow oranges at one time. There is only one surviving orange tree that I’ve found still standing and it’s struggling.
I sat on a nice bench for a snack break (I had not eaten any breakfast!) and listened to the wind and birds. A large woodpecker was investigating local trees for tasty treats while I was eating mine.
Here is a portion of the Artesian Trail that travels in a loop between the Loop Road and the Moody Point Road.
When I reached the Moody Point Road, I decided to investigate the Legacy Trail, which is .6 mile trail that encircles Legacy Island. The last time I walked this trail I got extremely muddy, staining my socks (white ones!). Fortunately, the trail was drier this time with just a few patches of mud and tiny puddles, which was a miracle after the big storm we had the other day. Did you know that several small tornadoes touched down near St. Augustine and Bunnell? They didn’t do too much damage, but for a short time (2-3 hours) the winds were fierce and the rain intense. Southern thunderstorms are no joke.
Here you can see the Lodge from Legacy Island and the Pellicer Creek basin. The lodge is on the left side of the photo. It is built of local wood and coquina stone, so it blends into its surroundings.
Another view of the Lodge from near the canoe take-out.
A grouping of palms on the eastern end of the small island.
A sand oak in flower and leaving out.
Pellicer Creek from the Creekside Trail. Oh, yes, I added this little trail onto the day’s route, too.
It was a breezy, pleasant day in the mid-70’s while I was at the park and a refreshing walk. And I saw two deer grazing in the meadow, along with assorted birds and squirrels.
Then, I arrived home with plenty of time to prepare for Alex Collier’s webinar starting at 14:00 EDT.
Okay, I had intended to go out on a hike today, but there was a storm in the forecast, which ended up arriving earlier than predicted. It dropped over 4″ of rain within a couple of hours. A couple of short-lived tornadoes also dropped, one to the SW near Bunnell and the other one to the west of St. Augustine.
As I was intending to go for a walk today, I was going to include any photos taken today in my weekly photo journal. Since that plan didn’t work out, I’m posting them now.
I wandered up a portion of the equestrian trail that follows the boundary of Princess Place on the west side, traveling nearly due north towards Pellicer Creek. As I was wandering along carefully stepping on the loose sandy trail, I noticed a flowering shrub. A new plant! I had no idea what it was, so looked it up when I got home and discovered it was a species of native Pawpaw, the Wooly Pawpaw. Sure enough, when I tested some of the gray-green leaves they were soft and fuzzy. The blooms were huge and a pale creamy white. The shrub itself was short and very open in its growing habit. The shrubs (I saw several) were situated in an sandy open pine plantation under Long Leaf pines.
I had never seen these plants in bloom before as I had not specifically visited Princess Place in April before.
The Turkey oak is a handsome small caliper red oak that grows in open woods. There are several specimens along this particular trail, with fresh shiny green leaves. The turkey oak is deciduous and has beautiful autumnal color, bright orange, yellow and reds. They are a stand-out against the dark foliage of the Southern Live Oaks and sand oaks.
Although I was pretty sure of my location, it was a relief to spot one of the park’s trail markers. I had reached the outer loop of this particular trail.
More Pawpaw
This next Pawpaw might be an entirely different species. It had wider, shiny smooth leaves although the flowers are similar in structure, loose and dangling. Pawpaw can be hard to find in the woods. Some are edible. It would be interesting to observe if any fruit grows on the shrubs, although the local deer might get to them first.
Here is the observation deck which looks out over the Pellicer Creek salt marsh. From the deck you can see the dock at Faver Dyke State Park on the northern shore of Pellicer Creek. It’s hard to see much but occasionally there is a flash of reflection off a vehicle as it passes through the trees. Infrequent boat travel passes the deck. Pellicer Creek is a favorite for fishermen, canoeists, kayaks, and occasional smaller fishing boats. I’ve seen pelicans, otters, and dolphins on or from the shore on the creek. Nothing quite so exciting happened that day…
Pellicer Creek
This was a particularly nice specimen of the Pawpaw, open, vase-like, with the large attractive flowers.
Here’s another specimen of the Chapman Oak, a native species of oak in Florida. It was growing beneath some taller live oaks and Long Leaf pines as a large shrub. As a tree they can reach up to 12 to 20 feet, but are often seen as large closely knit shrubs.
Here’s part of the trail I was following, wide, strewn with crunchy oak leaves, pine needles and grass. You can’t see it but occasionally there are damp spots. I’ve learned to observe the grass; it’s different in the damp spots. I was intending to walk towards Stiles Creek, but got stopped by a huge puddle straddling the path, so I just turned back. I had no desire to get my boots wet.
From the map above, you wouldn’t know that the bold red line on the western edge of the map actually is connected to the yellow trail; it’s just a little sketchy at first. I followed it anyway having seen the boundary trail numerous times on the map. I ended up doing perhaps a two-mile loop. I was still recovering from some tummy upset over Sat/Sun night.
So, this is how I spent a little of the solar eclipse day, enjoying the outdoors in one of my favorite local parks. A day well-spent.
I thought I took more photos, but that’s what uploaded to my computer. I may have to empty my memory card…
Ah, Florida… the sun is shining, the sky is blue. The storm has passed.
JP, a young military contactee/experiencer friend of Dr. Michael Salla, has visited several of the Space Arks, huge ships that were left by yet undetermined cultures. In this video he shares a bit more of what he and other explorers are finding…
On Thursday, I started a short outing to North Peninsula State Park. Nearly as soon as I plunged into the shady trail, I was confronted with an unexpected surprise, a brilliantly-colored odd-looking plant. It looked a bit out of place in the green and brown undergrowth of the subtropical hammock…
The Florida Whites love the exotic Brazilian Pepper
Today (Friday) I headed to River to Sea Preserve and then Washington Oaks Gardens State Park, two more of close-in favorites.
The reason — one of the reasons — I keep very close to home is I am on a budget, gas is getting more expensive, and frankly, if something happens I want to be easily within range of home. Number two reason is I deeply love trees, big trees, and these places provide some desperately needed nurturing and grounding for me right now.
I encountered this fellow when I was just starting the River to Sea Preserve walk. I was a little out of the way of my normal path, avoiding as I was a noisy gathering at the picnic shelter. The black buzzard noticed me, turned around as I carefully approached trying not to frighten it. It peered down at me with a beady eye, curiously, flapped its wings but didn’t fly off. Peaceful human. It was still there on its perch when I turned a corner out of sight. The buzzards are often seen on sunny days soaring along with the unseen thermal currents. As homely as they are close-up, they are majestic fliers.
It’s difficult to capture the essence and beauty of this strip of oak and palm hammock that is River to Sea. You turn the corner off a utility road and enter a green sanctuary that breathes peace and tranquility, filled with a wild array of pulsing life formed as shrubs and trees. Huge live oaks, carrying whole ecosystems on their great limbs arching over the wide sandy path that crunches underfoot. The fragrance is indescribable… there are few flowering plants here in the deep shade. Billows of wild coffee hug the edge of the path, competing with the saw palmetto and other shrubs. Willowy saplings stretch up through the oaks as they aim for the sun. It is a wondrous place, a relatively small place, a haven amidst the bustling building madness of the Eastern coast of Florida.
Resurrection Ferns on a Live Oak
As spring progresses many ferns are beginning to pop up and display their feathery finery against the sandy soil. Some look familiar but I am not yet acquainted with their names. Still, I can admire their graceful appearance, adding to the tapestry that is the forest floor and on up into the canopy.
The tide was out when I was at River to Sea. The beach is encrusted with billions of old oyster shells, remnants of generations of feasts held by the people who once called this pleasant place home.
To communicate the visual impact of these huge oaks is a hopeless task. I have no idea how old they are, but this specimen is surely several hundreds of years in age. Think of all the hurricanes and tropical storm it has endured to still stand, straight and tall today.
Here I am at the Nature Trail at Washington Oaks Gardens SP. It is about 2.5 miles long and first enters deep shady hammock, then briefly ventures out into coastal scrub, the remnant of which survived inundation by Hurricane Matthew’s storm surge which crossed nearby SR A1A, killing the sand oaks on the edge of the hammock. Only silvery stumps remain starkly telling their tale as they loom above the saw palmetto and other shrubs.
Here’s a bit of the lush subtropical gardens at Washington Oaks. The flush of the azaleas is now long past and short-lived in this warm climate. I was lucky to catch it at its height in early March.
Washington Oaks Gardens lies between the Intracoastal Waterway (Matanzas River) and A1A. It also has an oceanside beach on the east side of A1A, if you desire to wiggle your toes in coarse coquina sand (broken up shell and limestone).
Heading back to Palm Coast, I encountered a ton of traffic going north on A1A. This coastline is very popular in spring before hurricane season starts on June 1st. Soon enough all the snowbirds will flee and return to northern climes.
Enjoy your weekend everyone. Next week should prove “interesting”…
Crown Prince Ea, aka ENKI, former custodian of Terra and master geneticist
Editor’s Note: This article was transcribed from a YouTube interview between Elena Danaan and Dr. Michael Salla. The primary topic of discussion was Elena’s new book, Encyclopedia Galactica, which happens to contain within it quite a lot of information and beautiful artwork of the several Anakhim or Anunnaki colonies that settled in Nataru, our Milky Way Galaxy.
~ ~ ~
Michael Salla: One of the other races, probably one that’s most widely known on Earth, are the Anunnaki or the Anakh Empire. You describe how they arrived in our galaxy in the Boötes constellation about 700,000 years ago, and when they arrived presumably from another galaxy, they were led by Anu, who is still their King. So you want to tell us about the Anunnaki history and their importance?
Elena Danaan: I’m happy that in the same book, I could cover the complete Anunnaki history from Boötes. Because Boötes is in it and Canis Minor, where the seat of the Empire is now.
The Anunnaki come from a parallel universe, it’s called the Ura Eya Galaxy. They arrived through the Boötes vortex. There is a big vortex like a big wormhole near the Arcturus star. That’s why Arcturus is a star that we speak a lot about because there’s this type of vortex near it. They came there, and it was Anu who was at the time one of the royal princes.
He came here with his court and he set his own Empire. He was expanding the empire of his mother, the great Empress, who ruled about, I think at the time it was seven galaxies. Her name is Akimlu. He set up an outpost of the empire in the Nataru (Milky Way) galaxy. It was first located in the Boötes constellation around the star Arcturus and another next to it. Anu crowned himself emperor of the Anakh outpost in Nataru. He took for spouse Namu who was a human Anunnaki.
I described how the Anunnaki are not one race. They are a compound of races like the Galactic Federation of Worlds but with not that much. They are a collective from their own universe. The common particularity that they have is an elongated skull, which varies regarding the species. You have human gray-based and reptilian-based races.
Anu was human with a little bit of gray kind of a hybrid but mostly human. Very long elongated skull. He married Namu, a human Anunnaki. She was pregnant with Enki or Ea. When they left the Boötes constellation to go to Sirius B because Anu had made an agreement to marry a Ciakahrr queen offshoot of the Draconian Ciakahrr Empire in Orion. Anu was a young emperor, he was very greedy for territories at the time and wished to do anything to expand his young Empire. Of course, nobody was happy with that, that was kind of a split.
Anu took Namu, his wife, and their son Enki to the Sirius B star system and there Anu married Tia, The Ciakahrr Reptilian Queen. They had a son who was known as Enil, Yuh afterward. The deal was, that the Ciakahrr queen was giving Anu a tremendous lot of territories in the Orion constellation, and the Sirius B star system was part of it. In exchange for what their son should later on reign in the Empire. That’s the whole story of how it began. I describe everything in the book.
Michael Salla: That means that 700,000 years ago when this Anunnaki colony arrived in the Boötes star system it was led by Anu, the crown prince and he established an Anakh Empire using Boötes as the location. I know there’s a cloning process, so can you maybe describe it about someone like Anu who is 700,000+ years old? How many times has his body been cloned during that period?
Elena Danaan: I think it’s an unaccountable number of clones. The Anunnaki like to transfer their consciousness from clone to clone, not to lose their memory, to keep on building their knowledge and wisdom. They’re going to transfer their consciousness from clone body to clone body but after a while, the clones lose something. They become a bit corrupted, the skin doesn’t hold well. So they’re going to stop doing this. When they see that cloning is not working very much anymore, they are going to stop there in their last body and they are going to undergo the cycle of incarnation and be born again in a new body, a new incarnation. To avoid this they can become Abraa or immortal but this is a very challenging process, because it’s painful, it’s long and it involves a total transformation of consciousness, and transmutation of the soul. This is what Enki went through. Once you succeed because you may not, you become immortal.
That means the body you’re in will never corrupt but you will have reached a state of consciousness where all your powers will be activated even more. You can tap into the powers of the universe and use them for yourself. The Abrahaa goes with wisdom, you cannot become an Abrahaa if you have bad agendas, like conquest agenda or service to self agenda. Because it’s a question of frequency.
Michael Salla: Has Anu gone through this Abrahaa process? Did Anu do it beforehand?
Elena Danaan: Yes, Anu did it and his wife did as well. That’s why Anu changed the policy after he did it during the Orion Wars as I was told. He changed. He wasn’t hungry for territories anymore and he was first thinking about his people, about his subject, the subject of his Empire to protect them. That’s why he didn’t get involved in the Orion Wars and that has been something people reproached to him. Why didn’t you help the Orion population, you were there at Sirius B and you just cowardly backed up. In fact, his excuse was (that) he was protecting his Empire because he was feeling they were not strong enough against the Nebu (grays) at the time.
I bought a copy of this volume myself as I’ve always been interested in who was “out there”. Elena’s artwork is amazing. The pictures and descriptions were done with the intention of putting out information for those who came to this planet as envoys or star seeds. Flipping slowly through this first volume makes me eager for the next one, although it is a slow process for Elena to build these art pieces — she explains the process in this and other videos. There will be other volumes until the stars we can see from Terra are completed or at least covered, especially those star races who have some kind of interaction with Terra, are Level 3 (star-faring) civilizations or have a genetic relationship to Earth humanity (primarily Lyran colonies).
Elena’s sometimes difficult mission here (she’s often attacked, smeared) has granted Earth humanity a glimpse into other worlds and cultures. I really appreciate her efforts in bringing us the unadulterated Truth, adding to the foundation of knowledge and wisdom already started by pioneers like Alex Collier, William Thompkins, and so many others. Since Elena is in direct physical contact with a variety of extraterrestrials, her research and reports are of particular interest to those eager to see true disclosure open up for the rest of humanity. It is time.
Sunny's Journal 