I suspect that waking up early at John’s Pass Hotel, which is right on the boardwalk, is the closest I’ll ever come to walking out onto my balcony for a sunrise, or sunset for that matter, photo op. I used to wish for one or the other, but not being able to afford a view like that in the first place has me feeling like I dodged a bullet now that I hear of people’s property insurance bills of +/_$30,000 per year! The cost of living in Florida, which not so long ago was very affordable, is now on the rise and rising. I suspect that the same is true most everywhere else also, so I expect to be a Floridian for the rest of my days. Thankfully there is no lack of photo ops everywhere.
This great blue heron was already up when we walked out to the balcony to see the sunrise.He tolerated our shifting positions as we looked for just the right angle.This green heron was being blown in the wind.I think the birds were active because the fishing boats were being readied for their day.It wasn’t the spectacular sunrise I might have hoped for, but it was still pretty and I was happy to be there.Then the sun came peeking through.This egret posed nicely for us.The end.
The weather app said mostly cloudy and 56 degrees. But a peek out my back windows showed me a bit of pink in the sky so out I went.
This picture was only a few minutes after I got to the park, the color was intensifying quickly.And in just another few minutes the color was fading, and it was light enough for me to see that the birds were visiting again.As much as I would love to have the sandhill cranes nesting here I’m worried about all the people nearby. I know that me walking down along the lake caused the cranes to take notice. I only stopped for a second to take a picture and moved on.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas this morning. These pictures are from Christmas Eve, when it was a nice morning. The weather app says 85% chance of rain on Christmas, so I’ll probably be snuggled up warm and cosy tomorrow morning. Hope all of you are enjoying the magic of Christmas too!
Not to be skunked by missing the sunrise two days in a row I headed out, and I wasn’t disappointed.
The sky just got better and better, and then the birds started flying through.Truly spectacular, and right here in the neighborhood.I walked down to see this egret on my way home.
I hosted the Thanksgiving gathering for a lot of years in a row, for varying numbers of people. So this year should be a piece of cake, but I’m finding myself wondering what order to do things in and how to schedule oven space. I have lots of good memories of Thanksgiving, when I was a kid with nothing to do but eat the delicious dinner my Aunt Jenny cooked, or when I was up at 5 AM (back before it became the norm for me) making the stuffing. Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family. Let’s make more good memories.
My weather app said ‘mostly clear.’ That may have been true for somewhere in Pasco County, but not where I was. Actually I looked out the dining room window and saw a star shining pretty brightly before I headed out, but in the time it took me to get dressed and walk to the park the fog was rolling in.
The lights across the pond looked pretty, so I sat on the bench to wait.There was lots of quacking going on out there. I tried to tell myself that there was a pink-ish glow in the sky.More ducks than usual, I thought.And then I had to admit that the fog was descending, so I headed for home.
I love the time change. From what I see online I may be the only one…
Some quackers at breakfast time…The color was low, behind the houses enough that I stood on the bench for some of my pictures.Here come the birds.You know the Morgan and Morgan ad with Miss Moore? Well that’s me in the morning, I always want more color.But then the color softens, and another day dawns.
If you stretch your imagination enough you might consider my house, where I lived before I met my husband, to be my ‘beach’ house. Of course that’s only in comparison to where we live now, which is an hour from the gulf. So my inability to easily get sunrise and sunset photos makes me always intend that if I’m staying at my house overnight, no matter what the reason is, I tell myself that I’ll go out for both the sunset the night before, and the sunrise in the morning. Only I never do. But today was the day I did get up and fight the windshield that was fogging up and driving me crazy, and I headed out for the sunrise. To Bayport, which was always my favorite place to go for the sunrise. The water was a little too choppy for some nice reflected color in the water, and the great blue heron that always seemed to show up once the sun was up was nowhere to be seen. But you can always count on the grackles, a whole flock, to arrive for the day.
I love those two palm trees, especially when the water is calm and I see their reflection in the canal. Usually there are boaters heading out, and they pass right through the sunrise color and make for nice pictures, but they were missing today also.Flocks of birds fly in, or maybe it’s out, both at sunrise and sunset. I always try to get them in my pictures, not always successfully.But the sky got prettier and prettier.This grackle stopped on the railing nearby, to watch the sunrise maybe?And here we have a new addition to the park. I didn’t see any information on the significance of this installation. The grackles seem to like it though.And there was the sun, time to head for home.
They have also added a few life preservers that I don’t think were there before. And tubes for the fishermen to use for their fishing line to help keep the birds from getting tangled up in it. I stopped in Aripeka on the way home, in hopes that I’d see One-Foot Fred, but if he’s still around I missed him. The only fisherman there hadn’t ever heard of Fred. That’s a little sad, I think…
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 