Yesterday grabbed Adam and went to see Pirate Radio which had a nice vibe, good actors, great music, simple and fun, no thinking involved. Then up to the Gateway for set up. Had baby clothes, T-shirts, cups, cards, all kinds of things to sell besides framed art. A cute dog named Lucky was running around trying to help too. He was adorable. (don’t ask what setting I had on that last Lucky pic.)
We headed home and Adam took wonderful photo as we passed over the 17/92 bridge
Diane Miller, head of the Photography club at Gateway who was in charge of getting everyone their placement and making things run smoothly, could not have been kinder or more accommodating. There were potters, quilters, jewelry makers, fine artists, even an artists who painted on leather. The excitement was building.
This morning I was up at 6:15, at the Gateway by 7:30am. The weather could not have been more perfect for those having tables outdoors. They have a weekly farmers market each week. Outside they had very interesting booths. A guy named Joe, did woodcarving and had beautiful wooden mini houses. There was one man who made solar light holders. There was a quilter called Loving Stitches, a man selling things to benefit a border Collie Rescue, his dog Cali was a beaut! And very well behaved dog too.
Of course there were jewelry vendors, and my good friend Judy Segall and her beau Rob came with the coolest assortment of Asian/African instruments of which Rob was giving free demos making people smile. http://www.judithsegall.com
Inside was an impressive group of artists. The inside quilter, Paula had gorgeous quilts, and hand dyed scarves and as is a weird 6 degrees of separation, she knows my cousin, Sue, who quilts under the name of Grannie Suzannie http://www.granniesuzannie.com/
There was a man who made wooden bowls, And gorgeous abstract art by Nestor Charneco. Next to me was Bob who had hundreds upon hundreds of wildlife photos taken from his many African trips. The giraffe by the lady opposite me was very clever – do not have her name.
Also saw an architect named Don E. Grannon who was new to art, but really had interesting work. Linda Bishop had well thought out paintings, as did the watercolor artist from St. Augustine beside her. No more names, I’m sure The Gateway site will have much better in depth photos. Ed Cogle was on the job taking photos, his wife Nan was selling jewelry and both are always smiling. http://www.gatewaycenterforthearts.org/
The volunteers for the Gateway were so kind, they came to give us breaks by sitting at our booths so we could walk around, stretch out legs, eat some of the wonderful cooking, the tomato Bisque was so thick and full of flavor. Diane had also organized a room where children could come and pick out donated items from the artists to buy very cheaply. (My duck photo was rejected, is this the point you give up on trying to sell art when you can’t even give it away to kids????)
The drawback was the attendance was light! There was no advertisement and this needs to be addressed for future events! But I thank Sandra Wilson and Diane for their efforts and visions, and a million thanks to the ever ready volunteers! Plus a big shout out to the bright lights that flash when you look in the room and see your neighbors and friends shining faces! Thank you wonderful supporters for being there for me! I appreciate it more than you know! Sonja, Dee, Becky, Sandra, you all rock!
By 4pm, I was on the road home with all but two items. Swapped a lot of stories with many people about their sandhill crane sightings. When I arrived home, I was ready to get everything out of the truck and put it away. Adam came back from work after 5 and we decided to go grab some Outback food – the timing was perfect! We got right in and I heard about his great time at the midnight showing of Repo at the Enzian, he got home after 3am and was at work 5 hours later. I found out her had plans to return to the Enzian tonight featuring Jewish filmakers with the latest Coen brothers movie. That kid is a walking movie fest!
I would say that as of tonight, I am not feeling like doing these venues anymore, they are actually depressing. The one plus is certainly meeting new artists and people. I will try making an Etsy site when I get back from Tampa and see where that goes. At this point, the economy is not lending itself to art for sure. Most of the artists I talked with had sold next to nothing. The ones selling art were the jewelry makers. One tries to look around and see what sells, how other booths are set up, but this hauling of stuff is really not something I am enjoying. Now it’s time to work on internet sales I suppose and if that goes nowhere, then what the Hell, I give away all this crap and only take photos for blogs, I mean what’s the difference? I am doing that now and it makes me happy, the money would just add a bit more happiness if ya know where I’m comin’ from!
Went out around 6:45am to feed birds, get a look at the day. The anhinga was drying it’s wings, flapping them like a sail in a brisk wind. The BOBs, Band of brother mallard/mix, whom I am convinced are reincarnated vikings with their attitudes, were wandering through the yard and settled to groom by the water. I still wonder where Carbs the muscovy went to.
The cranes came flying over, you will notice the baby is keeping more of a distance from its’ folks as they are harassing him more often. Poor guy gets picked on a lot. baby still has a way to go before all his color fills out.
But the reason I am so excited is because the herons are building their nest! The first thing I noticed when feeding the birds was the heron flying across the lake with a stick. I ran in for my other camera since the battery was running on empty. And I saw it leave and waited. And it came back again, another stick in beak. It then circled the tree and positioned itself for flying into the branches. This means it is officially Fall and we will have some eggs, when the eggs come, it’s about 28 days later that they will hatch.
I am on my way to get set up for the art venue, but thought I’d share the start to my day – I hope yours is equally exciting….
The day was dull, every photo I put in todays blog is colorized. I cheated! Hurricane Ida hit up at the panhandle and the weather is affecting us. We are supposed to finally get rain tomorrow – will it actually happen? All day it looked so dull. As I drove up to Sanford and stopped to take some pics, I kept thinking the sky would unload any minute, but not a drop. I took a few dashboard cams of things and places, and they all looked so boring I had to jazz them up a bit. The Gateway condos actually look like this and the corner of First Street near the Welcome Center looked much more festive like this – and even the bales of hay in the hay trucks looked more delicious with some color to the grain.
An abandoned building looked a little more appealing by deepening the color At the marina, there was nothing new, same old birds, had to emphasize the ibis.
And when I got home, I had to blame what I thought was an eagle as an excuse for fishing in early afternoon. I could see it flying all over, but could not get a close photo. Finally it landed three houses over so I threw out the pixels on the telephoto to capture it way up in a tree. That’s an osprey. I caught a shiner and threw it back, caught a couple bream and they went back. The cranes were there, Ringo was with me too. Then the heron flew into the tree and watched me cast out over and over. Finally I caught a nice sized bream and threw it on the ground, the heron flew down and nabbed it. He swallowed and happily flew off. Ringo and I came in as it was almost completely dark by 5:30pm!
My HP “refurbished” printer came in today so I can resume getting photos ready for this weekend art show. HP tells you to send the defective printer back within three days or get charged a chunk of change on your credit card, but the return address label I needed to do that was not included, they forgot to send it! I had to call them and stay on the line forever getting a case number from someone in Bangladesh so they could send me a label. I suggested they email it and they refused. I could have flown to India in the same time it took to stay on hold for their techs.
Rat update: G & H Pest Control in Sanford came out Monday to give me my last estimate for how they would address my rodent issue. Gene, who owns the company came out and walked around and looked in the attic and did a thorough search of the house just like Massey. Gene looked at me and told me “he would be taking my money if I hired him” because he would be doing the same exact things I have been doing. They would set the traps as I have and that is all they can do. He suggested I keep fresh peanut butter in the trap every week and keep doing it. He said he could find no fresh droppings and I had no roach or bug problem. He didn’t even give me a price for a yearly spray, so if you live around this area and want a really honest pest control company, call G & H Pest Control Inc. 407-323-6681 website http://ghpestcontrol.com/ Actually, it has been rather quiet, but I will keep listening for signs of life above my head…
As I finish this I can hear a light rain outside,that is good news, hope we are in for a night of the wetstuff! In fact, I walked outside and immediately smelled the earthy scent of wet grass. The drops were light, but anything is better than nothing! After the art show, I can get back to looking for photo ops. Be patient, and come to the Gateway this weekend to see what 40 artists have for you…(nothing like more self promotion)
Today started the same as always which is always a smile getter,
The sandhills came flying over the lake for breakfast. I then checked the rat traps and nothing – no bodies, where do they hide? I even did what the Massey guy mentioned, he said to throw away all rotten fruit under the citrus trees because he said a pheromone is emitted from rotting fruit that draws rats from all over — perfect I thought and brought a rotting grapefruit in and put some of the pulp in the traps. It was obvious today that not all rats are drawn to rotting fruit! The butterflies were busy and this one had gorgeous silver inlay on those delicate wings! It really glimmered metallic when the sun hit the underside. I didn’t capture it in the photo, but it was a fine Gulf Fritillary example. Ran errands and saw this egret running through the parking lot near Marshall’s He posed briefly but had places to go, so did I.
Back home the sky was gorgeous, full of lines and swirls. The planes were on their way to destinations unknown, but I am going to call the airlines and request the pilots that pass over the lake at night while I fish, wave. They could drop off some peanuts on their way to Sanford.
I got dressed and ran over to the cutest little coffee spot in Debary, The White Cup coffeehouse at 17/92. Two of the Gateway group members, Ed and his wife Nan were having a reception. They were given excellent wall space by the owner who also serves a mean cup of different coffees, cold and hot, also tea and smoothies and she has a menu with many goodies.
Ed and Nan Cogle are world travelers and you could tell from both their art styles that they loved India.
What is also evident was their love of wildlife too. Ed does photography, Nan had a mixed media approach. They had a nice reception packing the innards of The White Cup. I even met a guy who was just there to get a great cup of coffee and the art was a big bonus. Art IS a big bonus. I tried to get my family physician to have an art wall in his brand new doctors office he just moved into, but he didn’t. I think it would be welcomed by the patients to have photos and art by local artists to stare at as they sit and wait and wait and wait. I would have even changed it out every couple months, that’s how it would work in Abbesworld, art would be much more employed and enjoyed by the public and as a means to inspire others. So if you are reading this and own a business, please give local artists a shot at displaying their work.
As I was about to leave, Ed was taking some photos, I took some also to show you that you need to SUPPORT THE ARTS! Go out to a gallery, check out the Heathrow Arts Festival at Colonial Town Park this weekend, or pick up a brush, pen, camera and make something. Find the artist inside yourself and maybe even discover something you didn’t know you could do. And if you happen to be on your way from Sanford to Debary, stop by the White Cup and enjoy the owner, the beverages and the art. Also — please remember that next weekend The Gateway Center for The Arts in Debary is having a Holiday Boutique with lots and lots of artists selling their goods for the holidays. There will be table after table of artwork for all to enjoy. So through the week I will keep bugging you to go. I will have a table too so stop and say hello!
Now put away part of that paycheck of yours to buy something out of the ordinary for someone this holiday season – Buy local art!
(pictured is a cup I will have for sale featuring my photograph, “lee’s alien dinner”)
EEEEK! Last night the trap snapped as I was walking down the hallway to the bedroom. I screamed knowing above me was a rodent in a neckhold. But let me back up with some nice photos from the weekend.
First yesterday was rather dreary, thought we might get some rain finally, but nothing but a sprinkle. My lemons are looking good as they start to ripen. and the hibiscus are blooming nicely. and the lake was quiet with it’s graceful lilies.
I would rather be outside than inside with rodents over head. But my brother drove up from the Keys with his wife, sweet Penni, so we got to spend the afternoon together and went to Fuji for sushi dinner. It’s always great to see my little bro. They left after 9pm and Adam was at home and I was walking down the hallway and heard a sound like something had snapped. I then realized it was the trap and got the ladder and peeked into the attic. I heard a rodent run and looked for the trap, it was kind of hidden by insulation, but could see something in it, didn’t want to stay with one rodent still running around.
After going to bed at 4am, I woke at 8am, that was after waking several times dreaming of rats swimming around the attic. I awoke twice really panicky. Finally I got up at 8am, but waited till Adam was up before I made noise going up to the attic. I pulled the fishing line and on the end was a dead rat in the trap, he died very quickly! Those big Victor traps do the job! So the good news is, one less rat to infest mankind, but the bad news is, there is still another, or possibly more. Tomorrow I will call a critter place and see if I can hire one to put the traps way in the back where I can’t reach. I want to be rat free! What if they have a family – YIKES!!! I put up two traps today and am going to get glue strips. Wonder if we will have two snaps up tonight, that would be delightful!
As for today – went outside to weed and heard the heron making a familiar call when it is in the tree where it normally nests. That is always a great sign, and maybe it means Fall is here, though the temps have been record hot all week in 90’s still. The crows were out this morning too. , even saw two crows kissing.
Most of the day was warm and overcast, got two trash cans of weeds for Wednesday and didn’t even go fishing. Through a bit of bread out there and just minnows ate it. The time change means things will be dark earlier, I don’t understand why we here in Florida even need to “Fall back”? What’s the point? We should get out there with enough petitions to stop this nonsense.
At just about 4:30pm, looked like it might rain, but again, clouds passed on by. Look at that view, my cranes, the little lake, my wonderful neighbors, these are all the pluses, but am feeling that itch for new scenery, maybe it is time for a change, a bigger lake or a lake community with a place to fish. Am thinking seriously of moving on somewhere…
This is exactly how it looked at around 7am. I have not re-touched it at all, the day began as a red one, now it is going from pinks and blues, to blue and vanilla. Gotta get gardening before the vampire sun comes up to get me. The cranes came for their seed and I noticed when I came out to take a photo, the shadow of the baby was on the body of the mother.
8:28am, I have washed my hands literally of weeding and trimming, so much more to do! But I got a nice reward, the blue girl roses are in bloom and smell so sweet .
Tonight the clouds settled in and they were thick, I didn’t see the moon till it got higher over the lake, It was beautiful. I watched it go through the clouds as it moved higher.
It is just a beautiful sight as the moon moves in orbit. Tomorrow it will happen once more. I will of course be watching.
I am working on “ab”-stractions, my way of making crappy photos I take into abstracts – here’s a few samples,
It’s a lot of fun – what will become of them? Some will be used on exhibit, some will get trashed – but some bad photos turn into new art, and what the heck is wrong with recycling?
Last night ther heron came down and fished with Ringo and I. He stood in the water, I stood at various places on the lake, neither of us caught anything, but that didn’t matter, I was glad to have the heron back. Every morning I keep going out to see if it is on a branch in it’s nesting tree. Earlier I had been out in the yard taking pictures
of dragonflies, they are everywhere and will stop close to me as if they are as curious about me as I am about them.
The butterflies too were all over.
We now have a small bunny that appears from time to time . The little guy came when the cranes were here and Papa crane chased him off. Baby crane is still changing color, his eyes are still lighter and he does not have the red crest yet, though it is coming in little by little.
Ringo was busy under the bushes eating a long blade of grass.
The band of brother mallards are still hanging around with the pekin ducks, but Carbs is nowhere to be found. Have not seen him in weeks.
Fishing is horrible for some reason, even with the harvest moon tonight, not one little tug on the bobber.
Tomorrow night I think I will go to the marina and take some pics of the moon coming up over Lake Monroe. It’s just such a treat to see it so close and so big. The anhinga sat up in the tree and watched from his vantage point. It was a good night for moon gazing and bird watching, just not for fishing, only for feeding turtles.
It was time for my daughter’s cats to get shaved again, I had to go over and wait as the mobile cat shaver did his clipping.
Now, I have three cats, one of them is a real cat, the other two are luxury items like my daughter has.
Ringo, epitomizes ‘Catdom’. He is the real cat, he hunts and eats his kill, he challenges raccoons, possums and even dogs much bigger than he is. Ringo’s personality is larger than life, he thinks he is a full blown lion and acts like one.
Ringo plays with snakes for entertainment, My daughters cats play with battery operated mice. My other two cats, Frank and Sealy, have been with us 17 years, they like being indoors, cuddling and finding a good place to sleep around the house. Not Ringo, he likes it outside and doesn’t even mind getting wet.
He is the boss of the neighborhood, has been for about 8 years. Everyone knows Ringo. He belonged to my neighbors next door. When I moved in with three cats, Ringo decided he fit right in and adopted my porch as his too. When Ringo’s folks moved away, Ringo ended up staying here. I have chronicled the details before. Ringo for some reason terrorizes the cats next door, they call Ringo “psycho kitty”, but getting back to my story, neither Ringo nor my other two cats have ever needed grooming, (though I do brush them from time to time.) The luxury cats my daughter has are beautiful rescued Persians, they are her children and are treated as such, no, I would say they are treated like royalty. They might as well have their own silverware because they have everything else. Cats like these are good for the economy, they have every cat toy there is and if you go back and read older posts, they have lots of cat condos too. They also require cat groomers, they keep people in business. I love it though after the cats are shaved, they feel wonderful, soft as anything, like Chinchilla! This is sweet Coco before being shaved:
and this is her after: She doesn’t mind being shaved at all. Not Musa, he hates it, I think he was Sampson in another life - Musa before:
Musa, is very mad when his hair is gone, and he is less of a bully to his two female companions. As for Lola, she is so adorable and loves loves loves being brushed, , so as long as you brush little Miss Prissy, she is happy with or without hair, except when I tried to take a photo of her , she bolted upstairs under the bed, thinking I was going to make her get shaved again.
You wonder why go through the trauma? Persians get so matted and throw up a lot of furballs and hair floats all over the place even when you vacuum a lot. These cats are luxurious, pussy cats. Not Ringo, he’s a cat, he would probably fight someone tooth and nail if they tried shaving him! So where am I going? The cat-egories don’t really matter do they? Anyway you look at it, they are all loved unconditionally and that’s the truth.
Today I went over to Petsmart in Casselberry, Florida where RAIN, Rescuing Animals In Need, a 501(c) Corp. had some of their animals on display for people to adopt. They had an assortment of cats and dogs, dogs both small and big who need new homes. RAIN volunteers foster many rescued animals they get from people giving up their pets to rescuing pets from the streets and from shelters that have animals ready to be euthanized.
They take care to observe the animals first and get their shots and tests like feline leukemia, and heartworm updated. All adopted animals are neutered before adoption. You have to always admire these people for going all out to help animals find a loving home. Here are a few of the photos of pets available for adoption. ANd you can contact them at 407-620-9736, or go on their website http://www.rescuinganimalsinneed.org
The people at Animal Welfare Alliance of Central Florida have a wonderful founder and activist named Gloria Wade. She has been working with animals and looking out for their rights for years. She and volunteer, Gail Nagin, (who had just come from protesting the Greyhound conditions at the racetrack,) are both trying hard to get a ‘high volume, low cost” spay and neuter clinic for central Florida, one that only specializes in neutering because having animals sterilized is needed badly to discourage this overrun of the dog and cat population. That has to be a priority and hopefully it will be a dream realized. Gloria had with her a “Chain of Colors”, each link representing a dog or cat euthanized in one Central Florida shelter. This link represents a Siberian Husky put to death because someone did not have the space for him, each link has a story, and there are over 5000 of them. Gloria
showed them to me with much sadness that so many animals have to be put to sleep because they are unwanted which is her reason for helping people have a low cost spay/neuter clinic. visit http://www.awacf1.org both groups are reaching out for your help, if you can, take an animal home and give it the love and attention it deserves, that is a great reward to all these volunteers who open their hearts for animals in need. Contact AWACF about helping fund the clinic and RAIN for any of the animals in the photos, and they have plenty more cats and dogs in need of a home, if you are looking for love, try looking here.
Unless you are putting your car on the train, or picking it up, there’s really no need to go to the Sanford Amtrak Auto train Station. But I wanted to see some trains and I have only passed by the train station two times in all the time I have lived in this area, (since 1985) and do love trains, so I figured, why not look up close. The original station opened in 1971, and was taken over by Amtrak in 1983. This new terminal was dedicated in May of this year. The colorized photos below are of the old abandoned station in the old location not too far from the new one. I took several photos of it last April for a show called The Abandoned Florida exhibition at The Gateway this year. This is how the old Amtrak Station used to look.
The new station is smaller and not much to look at, but first, I had to get someone to let me have permission take photos so they didn’t think I was doing something sinister. They have signs warning people that Amtrak is monitored and it is, the area is not large, they can easily monitor crazy, older ladies with a train fetish, or someone worse.
I started at the waiting area, a clean space under a tent. So if you have to wait for your car, looks like you won’t have a problem finding a seat. At one time Sanford did take regular passengers, but they quit that a few years ago I guess to become the ‘auto-train” only station. There is a gift shop too, and a very nice lady was busy with her work. I don’t know the arrival and departure times, but I did see one train come in with all the red flashing light, horn honking pagentry a train deserves upon arrival. I saw a funny sign — was it for the passengers or the trains? I guess trains are quite romantic when coupled, haha.
There were a lot of wonderful angles and lines in the shots. — Trains have such a wonderful feel and symmetry to them don’t they? To see more photos or ‘artsy’ trains, check out http://offshoot2.wordpress.com
Later I stopped at Hobbyworld in Sanford and took photos of their wonderful train display that is very old and belongs to the owner, but by accident I deleted them. So tomorrow I shall have to pop over there and put them up tomorrow. It was quite an impressive display.
So Monday morning was fun feeling the largess of Amtrak trains and the tiny details of models. And thanks to the Amtrak people for letting me take pictures. Now, I wish they would go all the way to Key West and I would hop on board!
It’s Sunday, the week flies by in nano-seconds anymore. The good thing is that hurricane season is coming closer to the end.
This morning had the cranes right outside mooching for the loose bird seed on the ground. They have gone and a soft rain is falling on the lake. The cardinals have taken the cranes place. And as I write now, it is sunny again — that’s Florida!
Thank goodness we have had no pythons come crawling through here YET as yesterday they picked up an 18 foot Python about 20 miles away that was being kept in a risky enclosure. A snake like that when hungry could do some serious eating, like kids!
The owner said the 300 plus pound, 18 foot snake gave his daughter rides – SAY WHAT? It was fed about 4 rabbits a day. I noticed on Yahoo a story about a python that ate 11 guard dogs, that wasn’t in the US, but it could be the way pythons are showing up here in Florida these days. I’m sure people are letting them go because they can’t afford to feed them and they grow so large.
I can remember in the learly 90’s when we were involved in the Central Florida Herpetology Club, the people came to meetings with snakes around their necks and arms, (they had to be bagged and caged during the meeting.) There were lots of vendors selling ‘herps’ of all kinds; turtles, lizards and of course all types of non-poisonous snakes. We have had ball pythons, rat snakes, Texas longnose snakes, milk snakes and Brazilian Rainbow boas. We lost some of them in the house from time to time, (but never told any of our guests that when they visited.) And we let our boas swim in our pool once in a while, climb the banisters, but Aaron, the snake’s caretaker grew bored and we sold them. Not once did we let any go, oh take that back, we did let our mean mean yellow rat snakes loose in the woods, (those were the snakes that bit me,) but they are native.
Today, we still have the same cats we did when we had the snakes, and the
prospect of seeing a 12 foot or longer snake in my yard would be a bit unsettling. So I will just focus and show some pictures of the more delicate flora and fauna.
The flowers are bright this morning, spider lilies were wet.
The canna lilies bright red. The Meyers lemons are getting bigger and bigger, can’t wait till they ripen. The water in the lake is still up nicely, though fishing is still bad. Last night I caught a turtle. The fish are not biting. The cranes were though, they did not realize Ringo the cat was so close and Papa crane almost got him.
So that’s how Abbesworld is going today so far. How’s your day?
It’s Friday, this morning there was a fog over the lake But that did not stop the cranes and Carbs the duck from looking for birdseed. The other birds were busy too, lots and lots of cardinals today. I bet there were about 7 at one time!
When it was time to go fishing, the cranes were still here rooting around the yard. The sky was very dramatic. across the lake there was this wonderful rainbow patch just above the treeline. The sky was full of storms to the east.
Most of the day I had been working on my garden. I think I am going to let more than half of it go back to being grass. The weeding is Hell.
That overgrown patch beyond the crane in the first photo is the garden and I have not weeded in a few months. I am really losing interest in keeping it up. The weeds grow the best, so essentially I have a garden of weeds. and maybe I should just let the whole lawn go to weeds and just mow one three foot area going down to the lake?
Anyway, it was time to fish so I chose a lightning rod, and ran to the lake because there was a great full moon last night. How can I ignore this magnetic call from the lake. I did catch two fish, bream, they are really very pretty fish with rainbow colors on parts of them. The sky continued to turn blues and I could see the rain coming down a few miles away. The cranes finally gathered on the hill and I grabbed my camera. Excuse how messy the image is as I had messy sticky, gooky fish hands and was trying to touch the camera without holding my hands on it too much. But when I saw the cranes all standing straight in a row waiting to take the cue from the father to leave, I wanted to try and get
a video of them flying practically over my head.
I did give up fishing as the turtles were once again making it impossible to throw the bait out without having a turtle charge right for it.
As I looked up, I noticed how beautiful the sky was, it had melded into pinks and blues, and orange my favorite look. It’s one of those moments you wish you had someone out there besides a duck and cat. The colors were spectacular. So, that’s about it. I came in and Frankie was hogging my desk and had knocked over all kinds of paperwork as she sprawled out. And that’s it for today – where does a day go? Where does the month go? Where does a year go? Can it all just slow down for a while, life is just passing by way too fast…. Tomorrow I will report on the garden
Today I walked out to feed the birds and Carbs was gone. I wondered if the BOBs had chased him away. The yard was busy, especially down by the lake where many many dragonflies and bees flew all over the yellow blooms down by the stump of my fallen oak. In fact so many bees were there pollinating, the air was humming.
The fungi growing in the wet grass even looked happily like a cute couple.
The cranes flew over and the baby was quite intimidated by the step-father crane who kept bullying him. The baby would fluff all up and crouch with it’s head down when it was near the male. It knows to try and stay away from that dominant beak.
A titmouse was continually banging itself against my window. I will go into that in a day or two. The butterflies were all over the place, and the roses were young and tender.
The brown thrasher was the bossy bird this morning. The bird was happily having fun splashing and cooling off. and then a dove decided it was it’s turn to get wet . The thrasher was wildly twisting and jumping and I suppose the dove thought it looked like such fun, it decided to join the thrasher. Except the thrasher wanted no part of sharing the bird bath and screamed at the dove and sent the dove flying off. The thrasher fly up on top of the feeder.
Finally it ate enough seed and flew off.
I ran out to my Free lunch at Don Pablos. I won the free lunch for 4 by putting my business card in a bowl about two weeks ago. I took my good artist friends who have been so helpful and nice to me, Pam, Judy and Leslie. The service was great and the conversation too. Judy, Pam, and Leslie are always inspiring to listen too, always have irons in the fire. Leslie is a published writer who should have another book out sometime soon. She writes about film, (movies) and does a very detailed and thorough job of research, she also writes poetry and reads it at local venues. Pam has been juried into many shows, I think she said 8 or 9 this year alone, her infrared photography is a standout. Judy has a super group, she started the Womens Caucus for Art branch here in Orlando and really took pains in getting it to a non profit status. So I am the slacker of the group, well, actually I have one piece, a photo I did of Jimmy Hendrix, to be put on display for a month as part of an interior design show downtown. Tomorrow I have to go pick up the work at RT Art. Just one email and Roger said he’d have it for me so I could get it framed this weekend, that’s service! sales@RT-Art.com
On the 8th of September, I will have 3 pieces at the Gateway in Debary for a month. So things are not that bad for s struggling artist getting her feet wet just like that brown thrasher, enjoying the exposure, lost in her abandon of the arts and the wonderful natural view in front of her window…
P/S, carbs came back and is still here…
It’s my birthday! Thank you very much, but why bother celebrating being old? Let’s just move on – I decided to go visit the Sanford zoo and look for crows as they are always there waiting for discarded food at the concession stand. I want to take more for the art exhibit I am trying to get together for the upcoming Seminole Community College submissions for 2010 and to submit as a proposal for some other galleries.
I first looked for Carbs and threw him some seed. Then headed on to Sanford Zoo only about 5 miles away. The sky was really overcast, threatened to rain, but figured I’d take my chances. The Zoo was quiet, they are gearing up for a Grand Opening for the obstacle course with low and high, tree level walkways. I wonder how long that will last till they have an accident and the liability will end that.
The Zoo itself was quiet as the kids are back in school. I came first to a red shoulder hawk on display. After that I headed toward the concession stand and nada, nothing, no birds anywhere! So I moved on to where they were feeding the iguana. The alligators head was so close to the wall, I couldn’t even take it, so I took his knobby body. I passed up on the snake room this time as the sky was darkening and thunder could be heard and I am handling metal. I went to visit the cats and Maude and Mary the old Asian elephants.
The cats were all sound asleep. Except the leopards who were panting away like last time, poor jail birds. The monkeys were also sound asleep, not one was moving! On to the elephants. , Maud or Mary, whichever it was was posing nicely. Then she took a massive leak.
And it kept going and going —
I then wandered on to the butterfly garden, So much of the zoo is built around a natural setting which makes it such a treasure. It is not manufactured like other zoos. The bad part is the cats and elephants, they need a lot more room.
The natural flow of water is also a bonus with all the streams hidden among the cages and exhibits.
I made my way to the cheetahs,
One of the cheetahs kept pacing and pacing. he looked so bored. Finally I saw some grackles at a little pond across from the emus. The birds frolicked and had fun dipping in the water. I took a good amount and then hurried through a few more paths of animal cages. And the sky looked and sounded like it might open up so I hurried out. On the way back home right outside the zoo was a wild turkey, but I was driving and could not stop to take the photo. I did see a rooster by a house and no one was coming so I pulled over and took it’s picture, – it was quite handsome!
And that’s how my day has gone. I came back and had more birds in bird bath and eating at feeders. Love sitting and getting side-tracked at my desk. That’s a mocking bird shaking off the water. And so far, that’s the day. I really love that being this age has brought a real passion for taking pictures. I feel that is me, I can’t even imagine not having a day without a photo! Thanks to Lee and Andrea for our sushi dinner last night and to Adam who gave the family Journey tickets next month. I’m excited to see that new guy who sings like Steve Perry.
It’s been another hot humid inferno. Loved seeing so many bees and dragonflys and flying things.
The butterflies, like yesterday are all over the place. So are the red ants, they have ant piles all over. Some people take gas and kill them. I use borax and sugar, but they still pop up somewhere else. I need some of that stuff that kills the queen. I did purchase some vinyl boots for $6.24 at Target They have anchors all over them. I wore them tonight while fishing, I didn’t catch anything and didn’t get bitten once either! Then, as the turtles were chasing my fake frog toward the shore, they stopped to mock me. Carbs was close by, but the baby crane chased him in the lake. You could tell the baby was very proud of himself. he even walked down toward the lake to make sure that Carbs didn’t come back on shore. He did after the cranes left.
Then the clouds gathered overhead, they came up fast, and I figured I better head on in. A few minutes after I came in, the lightning was crazy. It was all over the place. I turned off the computer and unplugged it for a while. But almost 2 hours have passed with lots and lots of flashes. Here’s the thunderstorm at night, thunder and crickets and frogs and beautiful flashes of lightning near beginning and at the end - you can pause it to look at the electric bolts! ANd you can even see how light it becomes during the flashes.
As of now, the storm has moved over toward Daytona and left probably at least an inch or more of water. We have to keep adding rain water now so when winter comes and rain is rare, the lake is still up and people don’t need to dig a new well like a few of the neighbors have had to do in the past when we had droughts. But with more and more people leaving Florida as evidenced by articles in the paper yesterday, maybe we will have enough to sustain the rest of us without draining some of our rivers for wasteful lawn watering.
The fat possum stopped by for a minute to eat the rest of the left over catfood, then rambled back out in the storm. The mosquitos are absolutely horrible, when I was filming the storm, they were draining me. And that’s it for tonight. One day I will figure out how to do night shots, and maybe it’s better for now I don’t, I might never go to bed…
Carbs has been so happy the past days. He sits near the shore and primps and when he gets hot, he sleeps under the lemon tree. Life was good, but last night the ‘ BOBs’ showed up with the Pekins. Carbs had already taken to the lake and was peddling those webbed feet as fast as he could to get away from them. I didn’t think I would see him this morning, but there he was. There were no more sightings of the BOBS all day. Only lots of the regular birds and lots of butterflies.
and there was so much activity down near the lake. lots of bees pollinating the yellow blooms off something that has grown where my old downed tree fell. All kinds of bees, big and little and the little ones were not shy about harassing the big ones. Every time I go out in the back, I have my camera ready, and usually I am not disappointed.
Adam and I cleaned out the garage a bit this afternoon. Man oh man, he could have a video store in our garage. Little by little he is getting rid of his old videos.
I got up and cleaned out the gutters in the front. I found it was clogged and had to unhook part of the gutter and find where the clog was. Glad I did that before we do have a hurricane or tropical storm that really soaks us. At least Bill is not coming here, can’t say we even miss him. No one even seems in hurricane mode, it is always an inconvenience. I do keep two of my hurricane plywood pieces up, one on the side of the house at the garage and the other in Adam’s window because it has been painted to look like a horse in a barn looking out and the neighbors like it.
Cross your fingers that the rest of the season is flatlined.
After dinner I went to fish and the BOBS showed up again as I was fishing. Carbs saw them and went for the water, because if they get him on land with his defective wings, Carbs is not fast enough and the BOBS over take Carbs and bite and harass him. In the water Carbs is fast.
The Bobs came swimming over when they spotted Carbs, but Carbs swam away and they didn’t even go after him. They let Carbs go. I was glad. The Pekin ducks had changed a bit since becoming BOB members, they have yellowed on their undersides. But they look very happy with their mean mallards. They like those bad boy ducks. Fishing sucked, too many begging turtles, and the fish are not biting. The trees sound like alarms after 8pm, the crickets are very vocal and highly orchestrated!
Tomorrow, another hotter than Hell day – but, I’m not complaining – any day without a hurricane aiming at you is a good day.
The clouds are schizophrenic today, dark, light, puffy, happy and sad. I went up to the marina to see if anything was going on. Only saw limited birds and ducks. Took pictures of whatever looked interesting.
Went back home and it stormed hard with driving wind.
It settled down and have had lots of jays, cardinals, and doves by the feeder right out my window. I watched one titmouse take a sunflower seed and put it between it’s feet, then crack the seed and carefully eat it. These birds work so hard for their treats. Carbs of course is down at the lake. Adam and I went off to lunch at Imperial Dynasty on 434, we love the sesame tofu. They are even offering sushi classes over there if anyone in Longwood area is interested. Afterwards we took the long way home up Markham Woods road to look at some of the mansions they have built – I can’t even fathom what it costs to live in those massive homes. Did notice several homes that are in foreclosure, lawns uncared for, the abandoned look of emptiness.
We drove up through International Parkway and handed Adam the camera when we saw a woodstork. He did a good job!
After coming home and sitting here at the computer. I am just so spoiled by an eyeful all the time! Beautiful female red wing black birds are on the feeder this afternoon. they are brown, unlike the sleek males, but still very nicely marked birds. And that’s how it’s been today so far, dark, dreary, bright and light and so enjoying the birds in the tree outside my window.
Looking at the time, wondering where did the afternoon go? I have been lost in the world of wings, amused by blurring colors and captivated by flight… here’s photos for your enjoyment.
I was happy to hear that both Andrea and I have art in the newest book out from a group of Ovation tv artists. It’s called, Meditations On The Modern Nude. The link is http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/813696
Otherwise, I am happy to say that Carbs has been here all day sitting down by the lake. He is a bit on edge watching for the band of brother mallards. The cranes flew over, but didn’t seem to bother Carbs. I guess he just sort of shows up.
Tonight I went to let Ringo out and I heard cranes still trumpeting at 11:45pm – that is really late for them to be up, usually they go back to the nest by 8pm. It is getting dark now around 8:30pm. Didn’t fish tonight, I mowed the front lawn instead. Right now I’m watching the Woodstock documentary – what a happy place to visit before going to bed…
40 year anniversary to peace and love and the best music of our baby boomer generation! That was the greatest time of sound ever! Sorry to say, I didn’t go to Woodstock, but in my mind, as I watch this, I sure feel like I am right in the groove! I was 18 when Woodstock happened – those were the greatest years those 60’s and 70’s – Whew! Blast from the tell-tale past, guess I will say no more – now go to bed…
I saw the cranes out there looking to make trouble.
They came on the porch knocking over the cat’s water and food, then they went outside and were rooting around in my garden. Then I saw them playing with something, tossing it and then running off. I went outside to see this adorable freshly killed mole. It was so cute and very very soft and very dead with ants starting to climb all over it for dinner on the go. So I picked it up and tossed it back to the cranes and the father crane had a ball throwing it all over the place. He even retrieved it twice from tossing it into the water.
They had a lot of fun with mole toss. The male was so funny I made a little video and attached a link to it so you can see what I have to put up with all the time, and I love it…
Had baby clothes, T-shirts, cups, cards, all kinds of things to sell besides framed art. A cute dog named Lucky was running around trying to help too. He was adorable. 
(don’t ask what setting I had on that last Lucky pic.)
They have a weekly farmers market each week. Outside they had very interesting booths. A guy named Joe, did woodcarving and had beautiful wooden mini houses. 
There was one man who made solar light holders. 
There was a quilter called Loving Stitches, a man selling things to benefit a border Collie Rescue, his dog Cali was a beaut! 
And very well behaved dog too.
she knows my cousin, Sue, who quilts under the name of Grannie Suzannie http://www.granniesuzannie.com/ 
And gorgeous abstract art by Nestor Charneco. 
Next to me was Bob who had hundreds upon hundreds of wildlife photos taken from his many African trips. 
The giraffe by the lady opposite me was very clever – do not have her name.
The BOBs, Band of brother mallard/mix, whom I am convinced are reincarnated vikings with their attitudes, were wandering through the yard and settled to groom by the water. 
I still wonder where Carbs the muscovy went to.
baby still has a way to go before all his color fills out.
I ran in for my other camera since the battery was running on empty. And I saw it leave and waited. And it came back again, another stick in beak. 
It then circled the tree and positioned itself for flying into the branches. 
This means it is officially Fall and we will have some eggs, when the eggs come, it’s about 28 days later that they will hatch.
The day was dull, every photo I put in todays blog is colorized. I cheated! Hurricane Ida hit up at the panhandle and the weather is affecting us. We are supposed to finally get rain tomorrow – will it actually happen? All day it looked so dull. As I drove up to Sanford and stopped to take some pics, I kept thinking the sky would unload any minute, but not a drop. I took a few dashboard cams of things and places, and they all looked so boring I had to jazz them up a bit. 
The Gateway condos actually look like this 
and the corner of First Street near the Welcome Center looked much more festive like this – 
and even the bales of hay in the hay trucks looked more delicious with some color to the grain. 
At the marina, there was nothing new, same old birds, had to emphasize the ibis. 
I caught a shiner and threw it back, caught a couple bream and they went back. The cranes were there, Ringo was with me too.
Then the heron flew into the tree and watched me cast out over and over. 
Finally I caught a nice sized bream and threw it on the ground, the heron flew down and nabbed it. He swallowed and happily flew off. Ringo and I came in as it was almost completely dark by 5:30pm!
After the art show, I can get back to looking for photo ops. Be patient, and come to the Gateway this weekend to see what 40 artists have for you…(nothing like more self promotion)
The butterflies were busy and this one had gorgeous silver inlay on those delicate wings! It really glimmered metallic when the sun hit the underside. I didn’t capture it in the photo, but it was a fine Gulf Fritillary example. Ran errands and saw this egret running through the parking lot near Marshall’s 
He posed briefly but had places to go, so did I.
full of lines and swirls. The planes were on their way to destinations unknown, but I am going to call the airlines and request the pilots that pass over the lake at night while I fish, wave.
They could drop off some peanuts on their way to Sanford.
They were given excellent wall space by the owner who also serves a mean cup of different coffees, cold and hot, also tea and smoothies and she has a menu with many goodies. 
They had a nice reception packing the innards of The White Cup. I even met a guy who was just there to get a great cup of coffee and the art was a big bonus. Art IS a big bonus. I tried to get my family physician to have an art wall in his brand new doctors office he just moved into, but he didn’t. I think it would be welcomed by the patients to have photos and art by local artists to stare at as they sit and wait and wait and wait. I would have even changed it out every couple months, that’s how it would work in Abbesworld, art would be much more employed and enjoyed by the public and as a means to inspire others. So if you are reading this and own a business, please give local artists a shot at displaying their work.
I took some also to show you that you need to SUPPORT THE ARTS! Go out to a gallery, check out the Heathrow Arts Festival at Colonial Town Park this weekend, or pick up a brush, pen, camera and make something. Find the artist inside yourself and maybe even discover something you didn’t know you could do. And if you happen to be on your way from Sanford to Debary, stop by the White Cup and enjoy the owner, the beverages and the art. Also — please remember that next weekend The Gateway Center for The Arts in Debary is having a Holiday Boutique with lots and lots of artists selling their goods for the holidays. There will be table after table of artwork for all to enjoy. So through the week I will keep bugging you to go. I will have a table too so stop and say hello!
and the hibiscus are blooming nicely. 
and the lake was quiet with it’s graceful lilies. 
That is always a great sign, and maybe it means Fall is here, though the temps have been record hot all week in 90’s still. The crows were out this morning too. 
, even saw two crows kissing. 
Look at that view, my cranes, the little lake, my wonderful neighbors, these are all the pluses, but am feeling that itch for new scenery, maybe it is time for a change, a bigger lake or a lake community with a place to fish. Am thinking seriously of moving on somewhere…
This is exactly how it looked at around 7am. I have not re-touched it at all, the day began as a red one, now it is going from pinks and blues, to blue and vanilla. Gotta get gardening before the vampire sun comes up to get me. The cranes came for their seed and I noticed when I came out to take a photo, the shadow of the baby was on the body of the mother.
.
It was beautiful. I watched it go through the clouds as it moved higher. 
Earlier I had been out in the yard taking pictures
The little guy came when the cranes were here and Papa crane chased him off. Baby crane is still changing color, his eyes are still lighter and he does not have the red crest yet, though it is coming in little by little.
It was a good night for moon gazing and bird watching, just not for fishing, only for feeding turtles.
epitomizes ‘Catdom’. He is the real cat, he hunts and eats his kill, he challenges raccoons, possums and even dogs much bigger than he is. Ringo’s personality is larger than life, he thinks he is a full blown lion and acts like one. 
have been with us 17 years, they like being indoors, cuddling and finding a good place to sleep around the house. Not Ringo, he likes it outside and doesn’t even mind getting wet.
She doesn’t mind being shaved at all. Not Musa, he hates it, I think he was Sampson in another life - Musa before: 
, so as long as you brush little Miss Prissy, she is happy with or without hair, except when I tried to take a photo of her , she bolted upstairs under the bed, thinking I was going to make her get shaved again. 
So where am I going? The cat-egories don’t really matter do they? Anyway you look at it, they are all loved unconditionally and that’s the truth.
They had an assortment of cats and dogs, dogs both small and big who need new homes. RAIN volunteers foster many rescued animals they get from people giving up their pets to rescuing pets from the streets and from shelters that have animals ready to be euthanized.
This link represents a Siberian Husky put to death because someone did not have the space for him, each link has a story, and there are over 5000 of them. Gloria
visit 
Unless you are putting your car on the train, or picking it up, there’s really no need to go to the Sanford Amtrak Auto train Station. But I wanted to see some trains and I have only passed by the train station two times in all the time I have lived in this area, (since 1985) and do love trains, so I figured, why not look up close. The original station opened in 1971, and was taken over by Amtrak in 1983. This new terminal was dedicated in May of this year. The colorized photos below are of the old abandoned station in the old location not too far from the new one. I took several photos of it last April for a show called The Abandoned Florida exhibition at The Gateway this year. This is how the old Amtrak Station used to look.
and it is, the area is not large, they can easily monitor crazy, older ladies with a train fetish, or someone worse.
a clean space under a tent. So if you have to wait for your car, looks like you won’t have a problem finding a seat. At one time Sanford did take regular passengers, but they quit that a few years ago I guess to become the ‘auto-train” only station. There is a gift shop too, and a very nice lady was busy with her work.
I don’t know the arrival and departure times, but I did see one train come in with all the red flashing light, horn honking pagentry a train deserves upon arrival.
I saw a funny sign — was it for the passengers or the trains? I guess trains are quite romantic when coupled, haha. 
They have gone and a soft rain is falling on the lake. The cardinals have taken the cranes place. 
And as I write now, it is sunny again — that’s Florida!
The Meyers lemons are getting bigger and bigger, can’t wait till they ripen. The water in the lake is still up nicely, though fishing is still bad. Last night I caught a turtle. The fish are not biting. The cranes were though, they did not realize Ringo the cat was so close and Papa crane almost got him.
But that did not stop the cranes and Carbs the duck from looking for birdseed. The other birds were busy too, lots and lots of cardinals today. 
I bet there were about 7 at one time!
across the lake there was this wonderful rainbow patch just above the treeline. The sky was full of storms to the east.
and ran to the lake because there was a great full moon last night. 
How can I ignore this magnetic call from the lake. I did catch two fish, bream, 
they are really very pretty fish with rainbow colors on parts of them. The sky continued to turn blues and I could see the rain coming down a few miles away. 
The cranes finally gathered on the hill and I grabbed my camera. Excuse how messy the image is as I had messy sticky, gooky fish hands and was trying to touch the camera without holding my hands on it too much. But when I saw the cranes all standing straight in a row waiting to take the cue from the father to leave, I wanted to try and get
It’s one of those moments you wish you had someone out there besides a duck and cat. The colors were spectacular. So, that’s about it. I came in and Frankie was hogging my desk and had knocked over all kinds of paperwork as she sprawled out. 
And that’s it for today – where does a day go? Where does the month go? Where does a year go? Can it all just slow down for a while, life is just passing by way too fast…. Tomorrow I will report on the garden
It knows to try and stay away from that dominant beak.
I will go into that in a day or two. The butterflies were all over the place, 
and the roses were young and tender. 
The bird was happily having fun splashing and cooling off.
and then a dove decided it was it’s turn to get wet . 
The thrasher was wildly twisting and jumping and I suppose the dove thought it looked like such fun, it decided to join the thrasher. Except the thrasher wanted no part of sharing the bird bath and screamed at the dove and sent the dove flying off. The thrasher fly up on top of the feeder.
I took my good artist friends who have been so helpful and nice to me, Pam, Judy and Leslie. The service was great and the conversation too. Judy, Pam, and Leslie are always inspiring to listen too, always have irons in the fire. Leslie is a published writer who should have another book out sometime soon. She writes about film, (movies) and does a very detailed and thorough job of research, she also writes poetry and reads it at local venues. Pam has been juried into many shows, I think she said 8 or 9 this year alone, her infrared photography is a standout. Judy has a super group, she started the Womens Caucus for Art branch here in Orlando and really took pains in getting it to a non profit status. So I am the slacker of the group, well, actually I have one piece, a photo I did of Jimmy Hendrix, to be put on display for a month as part of an interior design show downtown. Tomorrow I have to go pick up the work at RT Art. Just one email and Roger said he’d have it for me so I could get it framed this weekend, that’s service! 
Then headed on to Sanford Zoo only about 5 miles away. The sky was really overcast, threatened to rain, but figured I’d take my chances. The Zoo was quiet, they are gearing up for a Grand Opening for the obstacle course with low and high, tree level walkways. I wonder how long that will last till they have an accident and the liability will end that. 
After that I headed toward the concession stand and nada, nothing, no birds anywhere! So I moved on to where they were feeding the iguana.
The alligators head was so close to the wall, I couldn’t even take it, so I took his knobby body. 
I passed up on the snake room this time as the sky was darkening and thunder could be heard and I am handling metal. I went to visit the cats and Maude and Mary the old Asian elephants.
Except the leopards who were panting away like last time, poor jail birds. 
The monkeys were also sound asleep, not one was moving! On to the elephants. 
, Maud or Mary, whichever it was was posing nicely. Then she took a massive leak. 
So much of the zoo is built around a natural setting which makes it such a treasure. It is not manufactured like other zoos. The bad part is the cats and elephants, they need a lot more room. 
The natural flow of water is also a bonus with all the streams hidden among the cages and exhibits.
The birds frolicked and had fun dipping in the water. I took a good amount and then hurried through a few more paths of animal cages. 
And the sky looked and sounded like it might open up so I hurried out. On the way back home right outside the zoo was a wild turkey, but I was driving and could not stop to take the photo. I did see a rooster by a house and no one was coming so I pulled over and took it’s picture, 
– it was quite handsome!
That’s a mocking bird shaking off the water. And so far, that’s the day. I really love that being this age has brought a real passion for taking pictures. I feel that is me, I can’t even imagine not having a day without a photo! Thanks to Lee and Andrea for our sushi dinner last night and to Adam who gave the family Journey tickets next month. I’m excited to see that new guy who sings like Steve Perry.
They have anchors all over them. I wore them tonight while fishing, I didn’t catch anything and didn’t get bitten once either! Then, as the turtles were chasing my fake frog toward the shore, they stopped to mock me.
Carbs was close by, but the baby crane chased him in the lake. You could tell the baby was very proud of himself. he even walked down toward the lake to make sure that Carbs didn’t come back on shore. He did after the cranes left.
they came up fast, and I figured I better head on in. A few minutes after I came in, the lightning was crazy. It was all over the place. I turned off the computer and unplugged it for a while. But almost 2 hours have passed with lots and lots of flashes. Here’s the thunderstorm at night, thunder and crickets and frogs and beautiful flashes of lightning near beginning and at the end - you can pause it to look at the electric bolts! ANd you can even see how light it becomes during the flashes.
The mosquitos are absolutely horrible, when I was filming the storm, they were draining me. And that’s it for tonight. One day I will figure out how to do night shots, and maybe it’s better for now I don’t, I might never go to bed…
He sits near the shore and primps and when he gets hot, he sleeps under the lemon tree. Life was good, but last night the ‘ BOBs’
showed up with the Pekins. Carbs had already taken to the lake and was peddling those webbed feet as fast as he could to get away from them. I didn’t think I would see him this morning, but there he was. There were no more sightings of the BOBS all day. Only lots of the regular birds and lots of butterflies.
Every time I go out in the back, I have my camera ready, and usually I am not disappointed.
Fishing sucked, too many begging turtles, and the fish are not biting. The trees sound like alarms after 8pm, the crickets are very vocal and highly orchestrated!
dark, light, puffy, happy and sad. I went up to the marina to see if anything was going on. Only saw limited birds and ducks. Took pictures of whatever looked interesting. 
Went back home and it stormed hard with driving wind. 
These birds work so hard for their treats. Carbs of course is down at the lake. Adam and I went off to lunch at Imperial Dynasty on 434, we love the sesame tofu. They are even offering sushi classes over there if anyone in Longwood area is interested. Afterwards we took the long way home up Markham Woods road to look at some of the mansions they have built – I can’t even fathom what it costs to live in those massive homes. Did notice several homes that are in foreclosure, lawns uncared for, the abandoned look of emptiness.
He did a good job!
And that’s how it’s been today so far, dark, dreary, bright and light and so enjoying the birds in the tree outside my window.
The cranes flew over, but didn’t seem to bother Carbs. 
I guess he just sort of shows up.
It was so cute and very very soft and very dead with ants starting to climb all over it for dinner on the go. So I picked it up and tossed it back to the cranes and the father crane had a ball throwing it all over the place. He even retrieved it twice from tossing it into the water. 
