Category: ‘scene’ along the way

'scene' along the way, a second look, Florida landmarks, flowers, fun, gardens, life, making memories, Nature Coast Botanical Gardens, perseverance, photography

Purple flowers…

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Purple flowers weren’t always my favorite, but purple and black were Charley’s high school colors, Mt. St. Joe in ‘Bawlmer’, and then when we got a football team after a long stretch without one, tough for a town like Baltimore who supports its teams, purple and black turned out to be the Raven’s colors, too. So when we moved to Florida Charley wanted only purple flowers in the yard, and I guess it rubbed off on me because that’s what catches my eye these days. I’ve been seeing photos of flowers lately, and I guess that’s what gave me the idea of going to the Nature Coast Botanical Garden today, and my first view didn’t give me a clue that there had been so much pruning going on in the garden. But once I was inside I saw all the trimmed up plants and knew that it will be a lot more colorful in the coming weeks. But it was beautiful, and there was a surprise in store.

There were lots of amaryllis everywhere I looked, not purple but gorgeous.
Shady, cool paths draw you in.
The train tracks have always been there, but on a Saturday you have a chance of catching them running the train. The conductor says his grandchildren will be visiting soon and he has lots more restoration of the village to complete before they get here.
It’s a work in progress. The train is heading for the tunnel. There is a post with a button that the kids can push to hear the train’s whistle as it passes through the town.
There are not one but two waterfalls that the train travels around.
The landscaping and plantings look freshly done.
I waited for people to walk over the bridge to take my shot. Another pretty spot in the gardens.

I will return before too long because there is a nice butterfly garden here also, and in a few weeks the flowers won’t be the only colorful photo ops here…

'scene' along the way, a second look, birds, blessings, family, Florida landmarks, friends, fun, moments, nature, perseverance, photography, sunset, technology

Sunset picnic…

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Picnic at Sunset Beach? That’s all I needed to hear and I was out the door in a flash. Then I rudely spent much more time off taking pictures than socializing, but I couldn’t help myself…

That sunset glow.
A meeting of the minds.
That glow again.
Great spot for a picnic.
I took a million shots of the windsurfers, but most were too distant and not colorful. Loved this red kite.
I think I saw this same kid in this same place the last time I was here.
this is what you see when you are taking your lens ball picture.
Another view.
Windsurfers again, they look like birds.

We were watching for the green flash as the sun sank below the horizon. Not this time though, maybe next time.

'scene' along the way, a second look, adventure, finding my way, Florida landmarks, Florida wildlife, Just do it, life, life goes on, nature, perseverance, photography

Things happen…

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You’ve had one of those days I’m sure. The coffee maker dumps coffee and grounds on the floor, someone pounds on your front window tell you to move your car because they are repaving your street, you decide to go to the laundromat, but on the way you buy coffee and promptly slop it on yourself, then you give up and go take pictures…

Anclote River Park seemed like a good place to start.
It was such a pretty day.
Boats zooming by provided the action.
There were ospreys on the nest nearby, but this shot took me by surprise. That tree branch is in the distance but looks like a disaster in the making.
This one was on the other side of the nest.
There was one on the nest also, and it looked like there was some feeding of chicks going on.
Usually a pelican is supervising the boats being launched for a day’s outings, but this snowy egret was in charge that day.
A pelican at Anclote Gulf park.
This was my reception committee when I got home. That’s my driveway. I parked on the parking lot and walked home, and hoped for a better day to come.
'scene' along the way, a second look, adventure, Bayport, birds, blessings, making memories, nature, perseverance, photography, Rise and shine, sky, sunrise

Sunrise and moonset…

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Saturday night’s sunset was gorgeous, what little I got to see of it. I ran out the door barefooted and took a picture with my phone. When that happens it always makes me want to head out for the sunrise the next morning, as if the color from the night before will somehow make the sunrise just as pretty. I didn’t work, at least the other ladies who happened to be at Bayport taking pictures were complaining that it wasn’t what they had hoped for. ‘Thank goodness for the full moon’, they said. I didn’t disagree, but at the last minute, once the sun was up, the sky did get pretty, and yes, thank goodness for that full moon.

I have tried to take HDR pictures of the moon before but usually Lightroom says it can’t merge the photos. But for some reason this one worked.
The color didn’t fill the sky exactly, but it was lovely in spite of it.
And if you zoomed in a little you were all set!
As you can see, I had company while enjoying the moonset.
He was strutting his stuff…
The sky got paler in this direction as the moon disappeared. According to another onlooker all the markers you see here aren’t for channels in the water. No, they are to mark the location of sunken ships left over from Civil war skirmishes between the confederate militia and union ships from Tampa.
People rarely spoil a shot for me. I usually like the shots better with people, just like this one.
Hmm, does ‘red sky in the morning, sailors take warning’ apply here?
'scene' along the way, a second look, adventure, Florida landmarks, following the rules, friends, fun, Just do it, making memories, old dogs new tricks, perseverance, photography

A good day…

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It was obvious from the moment I pulled onto the parking lot that they weren’t going to be as busy at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday as I’ve come to expect them to be. But I had noticed that there was a big day of racing planned for the next day so I wasn’t that surprised. It meant for slightly less competition at the rail when it came time to try for photos, a boon for the shorter photographers among us. Namely me. This is one of the few photo walks from my group that is still happening in this pandemic, and I think it will happen only once more before the heat becomes too much and they stop racing for the summer.

I suppose it really isn’t possible to catch the horse with his nose breaking the finish line, er pole, since it’s really the pedestal he’ll get to first. But I still had to take this shot.
The new official photographer likes to get in our shots of the finish line. She gets to stand up to the rail.
Everyone’s masks were on, if not correctly covering our nose and mouth.
Here’s a winning smile, even the horse.
Now we know what Santa is up to on his time off.
The owners’s official photo pose, just not for my camera.
Last time I was here I thought I had walked down to see the horses come around the bend, but it turns out that you can go a lot further down and be on the rail, and they are flying right towards you.
They are coming closer.
This is definitely the place to stand for photos.
I found a horse with all four feet off the ground.
Wait, there are two!

Is it any wonder that those horses need to be hosed down after the race, as you see in the feature photo? There was a nice breeze blowing so those of us who spent most of the day standing in one place and talking didn’t get all that hot, but we didn’t quite last the whole day in the sun either, and headed home a little early. I wondered how much money was being won or last on a ‘slow’ day like this one seemed to be, then we heard a guy behind us declare that he’d just won over $700 on the last race. We checked the board and you only won $5 for every $2 bet, so you’ll have to do the math because it’s beyond me. Another nice day, probably nicer for that guy…

'scene' along the way, a second look, adventure, birds, Florida landmarks, Florida wildlife, making memories, nature, Nature's beautiful creatures, Osprey, Owls, perseverance, photography

Philippe Park…

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This park is just lovely, but I usually don’t stop to admire it’s green and shady peacefulness. My usual process is to get to Safety Harbor for the sunrise and then head to the park to see the owls, and once I’ve gotten those pictures I’m ready to drive the hour home again. But I did take a few moments to take some pictures of the park the other day. I love the stonework of the retaining walls and the path that zig zags its way down the slope to the water. As I took the feature photo I saw a bird fly through my shot, you can see it just below the horizon line towards the right hand side of the photo. I thought to myself that I hoped it would look good in the shot, but what took me by surprise was the big splash I heard a second later. I thought it must have been a pelican since they aren’t graceful when they hit the water, but I was surprised to see an osprey with a fish flying up and away. You know I took pictures but they were all too blurry to bother with.

As I approached the car to go home I saw a photographer under a tree near my car, shooting up into the branches. There had been a group there earlier also, and I was told that there was a screech owl up in that tree. I have a hard enough time seeing the much larger great horned owls so I stuck to my guns and got my owlet shots, and then my shots of the park, so I made one last stop and discovered that the osprey had chosen that tree to stop and have his lunch.

Now I was ready to go home, but I stopped to talk with a woman who asked me about the owls. I walked her over to the spot where I had stood to take my pictures and couldn’t spot the owlets, or the mom, and the entire lighting seemed very different. Sometimes you just get lucky I guess.