Muck-About

Every Labor Day weekend, photographer Clyde Butcher invites several hundred people to his home and offers walks around his backyard. He lives in the Everglades, and his yard is under water. The walks are called "Muck-Abouts" and you must sign a waiver. I saw the words alligator, snakes, dehydration, lightning. I didn't read it but I'm sure it was exciting.Clyde is the eyes of the Everglades. Some call him (myself included), the Ansel Adams of our generation. If you've ever seen his photography, which is black and white and painstakingly shot with old school equipment you'll get a sense of the grandeur and nuance of the sawgrass prairies and cypress forests that make up the 'glades. MaLe and I were slated for the 9:30 am photographer's walk which would lead us through the knee-high muck of the cypress sloughs where bromiliads (a type of epiphyte or airplant) cling to tree trunks.
A few thunder grumbles from the advancing Hurricane Gustave made us a bit nervous, but it was relatively cool morning and a nice day to tromp through the swamp. Nowhere near as exciting as a hike through the Fakahatchee Strand State Park with Mike - but it was fun to get MaLe to shake her fears and get into the water.