A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens
Life on my own, on the Nature Coast of Florida, and beyond…
No, not the store. Which I haven’t seen in a while come to think of it. I used to always go in, but now I can’t remember where I lived when I did that. Not that it matters because this Tuesday morning was all about the sky. Not that it was filled with color, but this color-deprived photographer was happy to see any at all. I loved the reflected color in the water as a backdrop for the reeds at the side of the pond this morning.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could roll the tape back a few seconds and correct whatever blunder we just committed? Take our foot back out of our mouth, or dodge the piece of truck tire before it hits the car and causes $2300 damage? Usually we can’t, but I went out this morning and found an instant replay of yesterday morning’s sunrise happening right outside the front door. The only difference was the lens I had on the camera…
Ever the optimist, I suppose there will be another sunrise tomorrow, and maybe the rain will stop falling, and the shop will be done with my car sometime in the foreseeable future…
The feature photo, and only photo that I know about at this moment, is the uninvited company I found out on the lanai this morning. I have resisted becoming attached to this lanai after loving the one at my old house. There is no lake here, no pond critter serenades, but the birds do sing so that’s something. But this morning I found myself at eye level to a creature that I quickly realized wasn’t a lizard. Lizards are so common, and mostly keep their distance, but this sticky-fingered creature was eyeing me up. As I was doing to him. So he retreated into the corner and then climbed to the very top of the corner brace. I thought that I would have to warn my friend when he came out because this little guy would be directly over his head if he sat in his usual chair. But Tampa Bay Lightning fans who have endured a disappointing play-off game and then a frustrating drive home aren’t given to getting up early the next morning. Maybe it’s the effort of growing a beard in solidarity with the players, a long-standing tradition I’m told. It’s currently in the whisk-broom stage, but I digress. It turned out that my fears as to the little guy’s jumping weren’t unwarranted, because he jumped onto the end table, landing with a thud, which is when I took his picture. Looks like he needed to wipe his chin after his breakfast. By this time the sun was baking me, the coffee was cold, and it was time to go in. I hope this guy finds his way back outside as stealthily as he found his way in, so I don’t have to check the corners of the roofline before I sit out here again…
Actually I’d been hearing that call for a while now, so it was silly of me to wait until daylight savings was in effect making me rush more than I’d have had to just the week before. The weather report said cloudy all day, but I walked out my front door to check for myself and saw that there were breaks in the clouds, so off I went. I guess it goes without saying that I was glad I rousted myself out. It was a beautiful morning.
The thunder storms the night before had me hoping for a pretty sunrise. Enough so to roust out a friend to go to Aripeka with me for the sunrise, and for the chance of seeing One-Foot Fred. I had high expectations. So I pointed out the bait shop that I always enjoy taking an HDR image of while I’m waiting for sunrise. And the view to the west with the reflected colors of the sunrise. We were none too early so we didn’t have long to wait for the color to be seen in the sky, but without much in the way of clouds to really light up the sky.
I was quite pleased with the sunrise even if One-Foot Fred failed to put in an appearance. I haven’t seen him the last few times I’ve looked for him, but I don’t think I’m worried about it. Not yet anyhow…
Thank goodness for sunrise reflections, because sometimes that’s all you get. That and a truck speeding through your shot when you are loving the birds on the wire against the pretty clouds. And another day begins…
Don’t ask me to explain why the color in the water is deeper than the color in the sky…
A Snowbird's Life Through the Lens 