I’ve been disappointed in myself lately. I haven’t been out for as many sunrises or sunsets. Maybe I was just too lazy, I thought. Or maybe, just maybe, the morning coffee with someone to talk with was the reason. And chatting over dinner might just result in the sunset happening right outside the window and I never noticed. So I’ve given up one obsession for another, well, maybe not obsession, but certainly a lovely distraction. I feel very lucky. And those sunrises and sunsets keep happening, so that when I do head out the door there they are. The big question on this day, which was last Monday, was whether we would reach Edgewater Park before the sun sank totally beneath the horizon. Traffic was annoyingly slow, and we were actually heading to a photo editing opportunity in Clearwater, so we weren’t stopping for the sunset. Nope, I was just shooting out the window of the car as we now seemed to be whizzing past. I was happy to see that I managed a couple of usable shots. And a selfie!
I confess that I took these photos nearly a week ago. We had to be at the surgery center at 6 AM for my friend to have cataract surgery, and we drove through pea soup fog to get there on time. As I sat and waited I looked out the window and was drawn outside to take pictures. There was a golf course across the street, conveniently located for photos, I thought. Truth be told we had to return several more early mornings last week for follow up appointments, and each of those days were nearly as foggy as that day was. Tomorrow the second eye will be done, so lots more appointments and potential for more drives through the fog. Such are the challenges of Florida mornings when the overnight temperatures are cool.
This is the surgery center property with the golf course across the street.I thought if I crossed the street I would get better pictures, and eliminate the power lines. The street was surprisingly busy for such an early morning.Once I had my unobstructed view I didn’t like it as much as I liked seeing the fence, etc.
My friend is also a photographer, and it seems to me as if he has been seeing life through a fog all his own. I can’t wait to see his reaction once both eyes have adjusted to a new, clear, reality…
I know I mentioned that I wasn’t particularly gracious when I found myself driving the endless hairpin turns as we traveled the last 20 miles to the cabin. But I don’t think I mentioned that the entire rest of my trip was chauffeur driven, including the first part of the drive home. That’s the part with the hairpin turns and the frustrating traffic approaching Atlanta. Whew! So I spent one of the days we were there, the day that it stayed overcast most of the day so the light was soft and the colors were nice, shooting iPhone pictures out the windshield of the car. I have, on occasion, tried to shoot pictures out the windshield while also driving, a practice that I don’t recommend since it rarely leads to a good picture, not to mention the danger involved. But with a chauffeur it was hard to resist trying for shots as the scenery was gorgeous but there was nowhere to stop and take pictures. The feature photo is one of my more successful of those shots.
We were at a higher elevation, as well as the softer light, so the colors really seemed more vivid.Ordinarily I’d have cropped out the people at the bottom of the picture. But as you can see they are aiming their phones across the parking area. I wonder if they ever turned around and looked behind themselves?I don’t know that I stand and savor these views since I’m usually in such a hurry to take a picture, as if someone is about to snatch the view away.Rocks and water again.The water is so clear.The sound of the water was nice too, and all the while you were under a canopy of gold and orange leaves.
The drive to get to the Smokies may have been long and frustrating at times, and the lack of wifi for the entire stay, as well as not even having TV for the first two days, may have been enough to spoil the trip for some people. But our focus was to get out and take ever more pictures, so that’s what we did. Plus I had downloaded books from Audible before we left, just to use my points before I quit the app, so we listened to a Vince Flynn book for the two TV-less nights. Now we need to listen to the end to see if everyone lives happily ever after. Which is what we seem to be doing…
On Friday we were headed to the Heritage Gardens, which I posted about. But I forgot about our stop to see this pretty gristmill along the way.
We purposely looked for this grist mill to take a few pictures, but it turned up right on the route.It was prettier than I expected.It was a quick stop, but so fun to see it.This church was equally pretty but an unexpected find. St. Patrick’s in Falmouth.We came across this church while we were driving around, and when we parked to take some photos we found a vendor setting up in advance of an event of some kind.Here he is, the proprietor of Reid’s Real Baking. He was fun to talk to, and his bread and blueberry handheld pies were great. Stop if you see him, okay?We stopped again when we saw these quite small cottages on stilts. They were cute, but I’m not sure I’d like to be inside looking out the window at a raging storm.This is the Nobska Light, the same lighthouse that’s in the feature photo. With only a few parking spaces we felt lucky to snag one for a closer look.
I’m a lucky woman. Not only have I had someone special to enjoy this journey with me, and spent time with old and new friends, and family, but I’ve also spent the last couple of days with my daughter and family. So I’ve spent more time face to face with people than on the computer. And all the while I’ve been taking pictures, but I’ve lost track of all the places I’ve been and photos I’ve taken. But I’ll find them, they are in this computer…somewhere.
We spent Thursday driving around the Cape, stopping at Race Beach in hopes of seeing the three lighthouses off in the distance. The feature photo is one of them. If we could have found parking I might have taken more. It seems P-town is having an up-tick in Covid so we didn’t walk around there. But at the Cape Cod national seashore we found the Three Sisters Lighthouses.
And the closing of the parking lot near the Nauset Light caused us to find and walk the trail and take pictures from the grounds as opposed to a photo from the parking lot. Serendipity.
As we headed toward home we stopped at the marina in Wellfleet and saw some pretty scenery. And we ate some really good ice cream too. All in all a nice, relaxing day.
If there ever was a time for me to learn to replace the sky in an image then today would be the day. My day in Rockport really was lovely, after all, it wasn’t raining. But the sky could have been a lot prettier. But the lack of color in the sky couldn’t spoil the colorful scenes I was seeing everywhere I looked.
This, I was told, is the iconic image of Rockport, so it was the first image we tookIf I didn’t believe it when I first heard it, then this sign would have convinced me.As we walked to the waterfront these glimpses down the alleyways made me anxious to get there.I have been seeing these gorgeous hydrangeas everywhere, but none prettier than these.Hollyhocks are a favorite from my childhood.And then we were there.The restaurants touted fresh lobster, and it probably doesn’t get fresher than this.Another view of the iconic building. It was destroyed in 1978 by a huge storm, but the townspeople pitched in to recreate it.The scene behind the facades.You would likely have a view like this no matter which of the waterfront restaurants you might choose to have your lunch.Or a view like this…This parade of little sailboats was being towed by the speedboat ahead of them. We decided that it was a group of kids being guided in after sailing lessons.Where ever you choose to eat you will have seagulls staring longingly at your lunch. But we had this house sparrow keeping us company.When we finally arrived at our room for the night we found this great potential sunset view right from the doorway. But the clouds took over.
When you are retired every day is a vacation I know, but to be back ‘home’ with time to enjoy places I never visited when I lived here is the best of all possible worlds.
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 