Month: June 2020

a second look, adventure, fun, Just do it, leap of faith, life goes on, perseverance, photography, road trip, travel

On the cusp…

naturecoastimagesblog

My last full day at home before hitting the road found me wandering Walmart in search of snacks for the car, and a drill which will help in the setting up and taking down of the camper.  And whatever else I might think of.  My friends were sending coloring pages the other day and I have coloring books and colored pencils also, so I thought maybe I’d look for a new book.  Imagine my surprise to see A Hot Cup Of Joe nestled among the books of pretty flowers entwined with bible verses.  Of course I picked it up, wondering what pictures they were going to have on those pages.  And that’s when I realized that it was that Joe!  Joe Biden!  Arm wrestling Trump on one page.  I didn’t notice who was winning.  As coloring books go it just didn’t do it for me, and $11.98 was too much even for the comic effect.  Same for Bob Ross.  At least Bob doesn’t seem quite as off the wall as a coloring book.  Didn’t I just say that you can’t make this stuff up?  Or maybe I just don’t get out enough…06-29-20Bbross.jpg

But I will be getting out tomorrow, big time!  I bought a journal so that I can keep track of where I stopped for pictures because this more rustic camping trip might have me beat when it comes to wifi and/or keeping my various devices charged.  I’ll be seeing you from the road, just not sure when or where…

birds, foggy sky, nature, perseverance, photography, sky, sunrise, weather

Dusty sunrise…

naturecoastimagesblog

It seems the Saharan dust is still with us.  Not much more than a blush in the sky at sunrise and sunset.  Lately I’ve seen some really interesting pictures of the sun as it was rising in a dusty sky.  Against the color of the sky the sun looked like a yellow ball, really more like a moon than the sun, with wispy clouds trailing across the view.  I think I was hoping for either/or this morning, a lovely sunrise or a photo of that unusual looking sun.  I got neither.  To the naked eye I clearly saw the circle of the sun, and with wispy clouds, but that doesn’t seem to be what the camera saw.  Birds were flying through my shots and I hoped that they would create a better shot than they did.  Even the iPhone shots were disappointing.  I had the phone in my new phone case with a tether, but I find that the tether isn’t long enough to put the phone in my pocket, and I didn’t want it to hang, so I did the next best thing, I tucked it in my bra.  That worked well until I heard the phone, still in my bra, snapping pictures on its own while I snapped pictures with the camera.  You can’t make this stuff up…

06-28-20sunrisetbird06-28-20sunrisetbird2

I took a photo class online yesterday and I should have tried working with the exposure compensation.  I hope I get another chance at it.

Uncategorized

Camp Cooking…

naturecoastimagesblog

When I bought my camper I was ‘given’ a $50 coupon for items from the dealership store, and this cookbook is one of the things I bought that day.  That I could find it to toss into the bin I have sitting in the middle of the floor, who’s sole purpose is for me to toss in anything I come across that I need to bring with me on this upcoming trip, is a minor miracle.  When I bought it I’m sure I leafed through it, but it didn’t make an impact on me until I was looking at it this morning.  Along with delicious sounding recipes involving cast iron dutch ovens and campfires, are wonderful anecdotes from camping over the years.  Those alone are with the price of the book.

My camping experiences from last year may not have prepared me for camping without hookups this year.  I do have solar in the camper, so all is not lost here.  But my real life camping information has come from reconnecting with a childhood friend who camped in the White Mountains every chance he got all his life.  His hilarious stories probably went a long way to making this all seem doable to me.  But as much as he claims that if you camped with him you ate well, it seems to me that Dinty Moore beef stew and Spam figured prominently in his cuisine, neither of which I have any intention of bringing with me.  I figure a person can survive on peanut butter and apples for a while.  Long enough to buy herself a dutch oven.  Oh, and to learn how to build a campfire…

06-28-20campcookingpage

Camping, coping, courage, facing facts, Just do it, live and learn, losing it, perseverance, photography, road trip, technology, travel

Cookies…

naturecoastimagesblog

‘This website uses cookies’, we’ve all gotten that message a time or two I imagine.  I know I do, from WordPress, whenever I’m putting a post together.  But it has occurred to me that that’s my problem.  Cookies are my problem.  Getting ready to leave on this trip has my brain on overdrive.  What to pack?  Which route to take?  Wait, I need to spray the weeds growing up in the cracks in the driveway, and I wanted another folding chair, and a haircut, and what food should I bring with me?  I should clean the house, but it will only get dirty while I’m gone.  What about closing this place up, I didn’t do such a hot job of it last time.  My uncle came behind me and took care of it.  I need to do better.  Make lists I tell myself.  I tell myself a lot of things.  And then I saw something on my quilting group about taking a cartoon photo, so I forgot about all that for a few minutes and off I went to do that last night.  I wanted to shoot bicycles for a photo challenge, that could make a good cartoon photo, but no one at all was out.  And then I realized that no matter what I did I had to take a selfie, the photo process kept turning the camera around for a selfie.  Disappointing.  Went home and made yogurt bark to use up the last of the yogurt because, yes, dealing with emptying the refrigerator is nagging at me also.  I have too many programs running in my head.  I need to clear my cache…

'scene' along the way, go with the flow, live and learn, nature, perseverance, photography, sky, sunset, weather

Saharan sunset…

naturecoastimagesblog

A historic Saharan dust plume is headed our way.  ‘Our’ being Florida.  It’s big news, on the internet at least.  And with it will come fabulous sunrises and sunsets, so good news for the photographers out there.  That’s all we needed to hear, so last night we headed to Pine Island for the sunset, and I was disappointed.  As fabulous Florida sunsets go this one wasn’t going to win a prize.  As with everything these days, the predictions are all over the place.  Wednesday, Thursday. and Friday were supposed to be the best, or so I read.  This morning I saw a map that has the plume not reaching us until Sunday.  No wonder I pay no attention to the news these days.  And yet I’m sure I’ll be out there again…

06-24-20earlycloud06-24-20waiting06-24-20saharanman06-24-20saharanview 06-24-20saharanhouse06-24-20sahaboosted.jpg

bugs, facing facts, Florida wildlife, losing it, nature, on closer examination, perseverance, photography, unintended images

Conspiracy theories…

naturecoastimagesblog

I’ve suspected a conspiracy for quite a while now.  Since I bought my house in Florida in 2005.  We hadn’t owned the house long, and were just visiting every other month for the first three years, but we quickly were talked into getting a ‘bug guy’, because ‘if you don’t have termites now you will eventually.’  Not wanting to arrive at the house and find that it was occupied by hordes of bugs, we signed on.  But the thing of it is, we never saw a bug.  Not in my house, and not here in the mobile either.  Nope.  Not until the actual bug guy paid a visit, and then there would be a dead palmetto bug lying in a corner, or under a table, immediately after the bug guy put in an appearance.  I suspected he planted those things to ensure that you would keep paying the bill.

Lately I have been patting myself on the back for finally signing on with a bug guy for this place, prompted by my plan to head out of here for an extended trip to somewhere.  And on the two occasions that he has paid me a visit I have spotted a palmetto bug shortly after each visit.  The last time he was here I informed him of my suspicions and he pretended to be amused.  I told him that I find those darned bugs to be so creepy that I usually leave them lying in state for a couple of days, just to be sure it’s really dead before I go to scoop it up and it leaps into action.  I think he rolled his eyes,  but he assured me that if it’s lying on it’s back you can be sure it’s dead.  He LIED!