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This looks like a polished piece of porcelain with hairs sticking wayward, but it is a close up of an Alaskan King crab claw. That was dinner last night, (not mine, I ate shrimp and they were ‘shrimpy’ in comparison with the width of that leg!) But, when I saw the cracked claws, I had to take some close ups, the hair was just too bizarre! The orange was such a pretty color.
Outside it is like a blast furnace and everywhere I go, I notice the mockingbirds chasing everything out of their way. I did happen to get a few of the crow sitting on one of my cut off trees getting ‘buzzed’ at by the mockingbird. Here’s the story in pics:
the crow retreats to tree stump, he looks out at the oncoming vengeance of two mockingbirds.
They swoop down and fake attack that stubborn crow, 
The crow took off, 
heading
right in my direction and then veering off. The crows and mockingbirds can be seen all over as the ‘mockers’ love to dive bomb the crows. The crows just go about their business looking overhead all the time. Here’s some crow pics: 
My cranes were here on and off all afternoon, I witnessed the tender moments between parent and child by the lake. The babies do love to chase off the other birds, they have been taught well. 
Here’s Mom grooming. 
Baby watches to see how close the ducks get. 
ah, the love! It was so sweet how tenderly the mother would tap the baby’s beak. 
My mallard pair are hanging around too. The foot that looked broken is up and running again I am glad to report. Birds must injure themselves from time to time. I have noticed my grackle since last year who has the mis-shapen toe, 
notice that wayward toe on the right.
He hops on it, gets along well and makes up for the impediment by being very much of a bully. 
That grackle is a great example of ‘making do’!
The flowers are looking good, but the heat is getting to them as there has been no rain for over a week and 90+ degree temps that actually feel like over 100! 
It’s so hot even the doves
have become feisty! 
Blue jay and dove eye to eye. 
The dove was
“unflappable” 
Stood its’ ground. 
Then it actually moved forward at the jay and they both flew off. 
The heat is making our tempers short. Confrontation isn’t limited to humans – I see well executed sparring right in my own yard!
P/S, now I am in possession of a dove that got pounced on by the neighbors cat. 
I saw it out of the window and ran out. The poor dove was stunned and not flying. Right now it is sitting quietly inside the cat cage with food and drink, in a dark bedroom and later or in the morning I will let it loose…(When Ringo is in the house)
Very simply, there is so beautiful detailed bits of nature around here when you take pics with macro lenses. I am going to put up photos that give natures little details. First let me tell you I saw the mallard couple 
and the male was limping, but nothing at all like the other day when he didn’t use his leg and held it up – happy to say he is improving. 
So lets take a look at some details, first Kim’s Sago palm, 
This ‘projection’ means it is a male plant, here’s a bit closer look at the cone, 
and look closer: 
and another
And lets look at some creepy little bugs that chew up my milkweed plant
They are really so tiny you hardly notice they are there. 
This cutie was busy too, I think he was eating those yellow buggy goobers.
these are natures tendrils, little vines, love the way they curl: 
These are all
from the red passion flower vines. 
crepe myrtle.
Canna lily, and canna lily photoshopped, 
Look at the grasshopper – 
he was splashing me with his juices. 
That little golden bubble came out of it’s front left foot… 
a sunflower and variations 
periwinkle and
variation, 
and this 
and a soft shell turtle
— 
The turtle was swimming around cursing me, telling the fish to hurry and go toward the middle of the lake where I couldn’t reach them. It worked too, I caught nothing tonight. Ringo was mad and went back to the porch.
What’s worse, a brooding feline or vindictive turtles? While I stood there watching my bobber a long long time, a crow was helping myself to the bait, as much as he could shove in his mouth. What can you do, he’s part of nature’s details….
Ah, Tuesday has morphed into Wednesday – I am in a time warp again as another day squeaked by. Where oh where do these hours go?
Anyway, it was a hot one. Woke at 7am yesterday and the moon was still gleaming against the blue. 
Aaron threw out the cast net and got a few shiners and he brought in a bass and a gar. 
Then he and Leila headed back to Tampa with their Bella, 
I had so much fun being with all my kids this weekend, family is so important! Don’t forget to tell yours how you feel and often…
On Saturday I had run over to Sanford and was in Maya’s Bookstore and saw this, 
an adorable baby sated in sleep. Yvette, the owner was keeping a very close eye on him as his mom, Wee Gauthier, an orchid vendor with “Orchids For All Occasions” put away her flowers as the Saturday Farmers Market was coming to a close. They were gorgeous orchids: 
As you know, I have a black thumb. But back to the sleeping baby, I am excited to have my own new grand baby this August! I hope I will be a big part of the babies life. My daughter made sure to get a romper for the baby that expresses who I am, 
The weekend with family was wonderful and went so fast, only wish Aaron and Leila lived here so we could all be together much more, what can I say, I’m selfish! But Tampa certainly is not California — get over it Abbe!
Andrea had come over with all kinds of baby madness shopping and had made an ADORABLE diaper cake, she’s such a talent: 
Back to Tuesday: wildlife and the yard.
The cranes came this morning and Papa crane had quite a conversation with one of the babies:
I still have not heard any baby noises from the wood duck box, but she keeps an eye out for me and flies away as soon as she senses I am near. She is a very nervous duck. 
I also bet the mallard couple have some eggs somewhere around here too, they are still hanging around.
The baby heron are so funny, one flew up in the tree after Papa crane chased him off, and he acted like he was going to kick some crane butt, but he was only making a spectacle of himself. 
The flowers too look beautiful: 
the rains do make them bloom and die faster. 
The birds too have been busy and the cardinals are back again, it seems they were MIA for a while. 
and of course the crows 
common grackle. 
and Mr. squirrel.
and of course my window view. Head on outside and enjoy something in nature.
The poor duck in the duck box, 
almost every time I pass by the box going toward the lake, this duck flies out and cries all across the lake to where she plunks herself in the water and screams and screams. I feel bad that she is so paranoid and worried when she hears me. When she was gone, I made Adam look in her box, he saw three eggs, that was last week, bet they have hatched. 
I try not to go in front of the box, but she knows even when I am out there walking way off behind the box. the good news, she always comes back.
So many lubber grasshoppers all over, they are eating my plants. 
but so what? Hey, they are hungry and I’m sure the birds find them a nice meal.
Stopped by Museum of Seminole County History 
on Bush Blvd. and 17/92 to drop off a couple photos for “Where The Wild Things Are”. The poster, 
was designed by the The museum’s Coordinator, Kim Nelson’s talented husband, Robert E. Mier who is a wonderful wildlife painter. http://www.artnatureflorida.com
He’s a busy guy, he does a lot of art shows around the state, seems to have mastered marketing skills, a rarity for many artists like myself. I need to gather him to speak to our Gateway group, he has a lot of knowledge he could share on the business end.
The exhibit will be shown in their back building, 
it has a lot of items unique to our Florida history throughout both buildings. 
Kim will be working her magic to coordinate her space 
into a wonderful exhibit featuring many Seminole county artists. The show begins June 15th through August 14th, hours: Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 5 PM and Saturday from 9 to 1 PM –
Kim is quite an effective Coordinator and just a great person to talk with. So please come out to the Museum and not only visit the exhibit, but to walk through a huge history lesson.
Other than that, tonight is Artwalk, so gearing camera batteries up for that. Have been trying to take photos of the full moon, will be glad for that photo walk with Ken Elliott so he can teach me how to do it right by next full moon cycle! Here’s some nature pics to leave you with:
Seems like things are steady with the winged visitors, my mallard couple, the whistling ducks and the wood duck in the box are sticking around. Don’t want to bore you with details.
I took photos of mostly flowers yesterday under a very intense sun.
They are also saying there could be a storm brewing in the Caribbean, will it mean anything for the oil spill? I can’t take seeing the oil coated pelicans and the coated eggs! One has to wonder if there was a hurricane with all that oil and it is picked up by the winds, can you imagine the splatter of gook that will have to be cleaned off the homes nearer the water of a storm, it would be messy for sure! BP is going to be doing a lot more damage control when the cities closest to the water are coated in grease!
My flowers at end of blog, but look at this:
Ken Elliott, http://www.kenelliottphotography.com/ a fine Ormond Beach photographer who is currently exhibited at The Art Affair in Sanford is offering a wonderful way to learn your camera – A Camera Walk! Here’s the details:
I’m going, come join us – class is limited, but this should be a real hands on way to learn and the price is soooo right! Hurry, space is limited.
TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR DIGITAL CAMERA
With Professional Photographer, KEN ELLIOTT
SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 2010, 3:00 PM
Professional Photographer, Ken Elliott, will show you how to take control of your camera and shoot under a variety of lighting conditions your camera might not otherwise be able to handle by learning what your sensor can do, and setting your camera on manual. The session includes an informative talk about your camera, and its settings, as well as a question and answer format geared to your individual level. With his extensive technical knowledge and gift for capturing the perfect shot, this session will be a treat for any level. It is a hands-on workshop followed by a photo walk led by Ken, where you will actually experience first-hand how he captures the great shots for which he is recognized.
NEED TO BRING: DIGITAL CAMERA and its MANUAL
APPROXIMATE TIME: 3 HOURS. Discussion inside the Gallery and a photo walk.
FEE: $29 per person. CLASS SIZE LIMITED.
Ken is a professional photographer, located in Ormond Beach, Florida, specializing in fine art, commercial and event photography. Born and raised in Louisiana, Ken began shooting at the age of 8 years old, when his father (who had run the photo lab at a US Air Force base) gave him a Leica IIIc 35mm film camera, and then proceeded to teach him how to develop and print his images. This started a life-long love of photography.
Ken later started his first business as a commercial product photographer. He later joined the family manufacturing business, and photography became a hobby. Ken’s third business startup involved creating 3D computer models and outputting to video tape and large format printers. It was there that he began using Photoshop; and digital editing tools. As digital cameras became common, Ken found his two worlds merging. His experience in teaching AutoCAD, 3D Modeling, and Photoshop led to his teaching digital photography to other photographers in the area. After moving to Florida, Ken returned to fine art photography as a profession.
NAME:
STREET ADDRESS:
CITY/STATE/ZIP:
PHONE/EMAIL:
LIABILITY- ART AFFAIR GALLERY, RONDA RICHLEY, KEN ELLIOTT, KEN ELLIOTT AND ASSOCIATES, AND ANY OF THEIR AGENTS OR EMPLOYEES ,WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE TO PERSONAL PROPERTY, NOR TO INJURY, LOSS OF LIFE OR LIMB, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY DURIING THIS SESSION, TRAVEL TO AND FROM THIS SESSION. THE PARTICIPATION IN THIS SESSION OR ANY OTHER EVENT SPONSORED BY ART AFFAIR GALLERY WILL BE UNDERSTOOD TO IMPLY AGREEMENT AND CONSENT ON THE PART OF THE PARTICIPANT OR AGENT WITH THE CONDITIONS SET FORTH HERE.
I HEREBY AGREE TO THE LIABILITY CLAUSE AND TO ABIDE BY ALL THE RULES AND STIPULATIONS SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT.
_________________________, ________
SIGNATURE DATE CHECK# AND AMOUNT ___________________
OR YOU MAY USE
VISA OR MASTERCARD: Number ________________________________
Expiration date: _____________ Name a it Appears on Card___________________________________
ZipCode ____________________ CVC ___________
Sign if Using Visa or MasterCard ________________________________________
ART AFFAIR GALLERY
30 E. FIRST STREET
SANFORD FL 32771
407-466-6365
————————————————————————————————————————————-
the rest will be some shots of flowers I have taken:
Yes, finally caught a bass! It’s been a long time, he was a nice size too. I threw him back and continued fishing with Ringo and Adam joined us. We caught a few shiners and fed the heron and Ringo got one too. As we fished we noticed that three ducks flew in the heron’s pine tree. They were whistling ducks!
Here’s some pics. 
These are very interesting ducks and they were whistling away for about an hour, loved hearing their songs. They flew away toward the north and left the herons in the tree. The herons still wait for the parents to feed them. 
The large male came down and waited as we fished. And then one of the babies came down and did a funny dance in front of the parent.
then flew away. The mallard pair was hanging around too, and the female flew into the duck box as it has a few times. We wondered if it is either nesting of thinking of nesting inside as they have been here everyday for a couple weeks. 
Also the woodpeckers have babies in their knot of the dead stump and I saw a crow stick his head in the hole and try and grab a baby out! (He missed.)
The rain helped bring more green and flowers. My yard is still all weeds, but that’s fine with me, this way I get to see the bees and bugs that would normally be absent without the flowering weeds, here’s some pics:
how perfect is nature in it’s design! 
And here’s a face to say goodbye. 
Happy Easter – the day here in Sanford Florida has been grand. The temp. in the 80’s, the wind has been blowing gently from the east.
This morning started out with a veiled fog, but I only got the last of it and the photos did not do it justice.
The baby herons were complaining and one was waving his wings in great protest. 
I have found that as soon as the mother heron leaves the area of the nest, they get quiet. The babies are getting more curious about their wings. The mother usually goes off to groom on a tree close by.
Yesterday I strolled the marina, again as in past few months, nothing in the water and few birds. I did see the usual ducks, pigeons and seagulls and one very entertaining grackle that sang beautifully for me. 
Here’s a few of the ‘regulars’. 
We also had a great birthday yesterday for
Adam and the cake Andrea bought was just a talking point for the “surprise crowd’ that saw it up close.
The party lasted into the wee hours of this morning, I finally dozed off at 4am. – that’s how I missed the sunrise by an hour. But I didn’t miss the beauty of the flowers giving off beauty and that’s what I will leave you with.
oh, look at the spider that looked like a decorated Easter egg. 
And there was a beetle inside an azalea flower. 
Had to include a grackle. And Ringo too, fishing is awful – Ringo is even bored with it. The female heron comes down and waits and watches and stays as long as we will just waiting for something to make that bobber jump. No such luck. 
love Florida!
Thought I’d change it up for Monday, (almost Tuesday) and give my blog peeps some flowers. Actually it was my neighbor who inspired me by bringing home all kinds of flowers to plant in her yard. I had to take photos of the beauties she had put into planters and in the ground. And looking at them through a macro lens made them even more beautiful. I even caught a small fly lurking on one. So instead of chatting about my day, maybe this will color yours like it did mine…
have to add a bit of wildlife at the end, the hawk is just as beautiful as the flowers…
Like a nut, I decided to fish. I put on two longsleeved shirts, (over a t-shirt) and then donned a sweatshirt and then an oversized bigger sweatshirt. After all, it is only in the 50’s here, low 50’s at fishing hour and ever minute as the sun wanes, a degree drops. Okay, that might be laughable to someone in Minnesota who feels like 50 degrees is like 80, but to me, it feels like ice fishing minus the ice.
I spotted some vultures enjoying the wind currents. 
Look, a harlequin vulture.
The fishing sucked, but I kept hearing a noise and looked up. I recognized the sound, a baby heron telling it’s Mom it was hungry. I tried to see if I could catch any baby wings, but all I could see was the Mom bending over to feed it. Do you see anything?
I could not see anything, but it was one noisy baby. It only sounded like one. Will have to wait till it gets a bit bigger before I see any physical evidence.
After about fifteen minutes I gave up fishing for nothing and explored my neighbor Kim’s camelias, there were tons of buds and a few blooms, the flowers were quite pretty, here’s a sampling.
All afternoon I had grackles, blackbirds, cardinals and the steady crowd. Yesterday I had robins come by, but they were tough to get a good photo of, they are really “flighty”!
I walked toward them and forget it, they flew away fast. Here’s some of the regulars who are better at cooperating,
Gather your nuts carefully and have a great Friday….
Went to my camera group tonight in Debary at the Gateway and we keep gaining members and knowledge, benefiting from those who are more experienced and will share their smarts. Also they give links for different support of the photography craft and for storage.
We talked about monthly photography competitions and using simple guidelines for knowing what to do about things like taking photos of “correct” horizons, sunsets and basic rules of dividing photos into thirds for good composition. I can listen, but then “Abbe-brain” kicks in and it is all about making pictures that satisfy my own taste. Larry, a member, said he is finding it hard to stop when working on a photo, there are so many options it’s over stimulating. All I can say, Larry is right, how do you know when to stop? And I only know limited photo manipulation – I don’t even work with layers. So let me take one wilting red passion flower photo that I took this afternoon and show you what I have done:
there are many more.
And then ‘one’ moves on to next subject: 
and soon life has drifted to the exosphere and time melts into the essence of ossuary color and sits mesmerized and blank as the fingers jab the tool buttons, then quick fix, then un-do and re-do, black and white, polar, this filter, then another and another – then you wonder, what the hell is all this waste for? Would someone buy any of these? Is any one of the pictures a winner? And what is the definition of a winner? And how do you pick it? Then the next dilemma, the thoughts about setting up a website and testing oneself to see if any of my “manipulations” could make me some extra cash, say enough to pay for some paper to print them on and some Symphony candy bars or even cat food — or is it all worth the time to even play with photos? That’s the stage you look at the clock and realize you were in the “Dada” zone and apterous for 3 hours and the house could have burned down around you and you would have never noticed until the cat with mule looking ears cleaning herself in the desk drawer next to you went up in flames but never burned as Emily Dickinson’s ghost keeps repeating, “much madness is divinest sense” while John Lennon sings about “the holes being rather small, they had to count them all and now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall”,
and the computer was melting as you try to save the hard drive and keep all your photos in the ‘save-as’ file and then the computer freezes and you have not saved a thing and it is all in vain so you get up and look in the bathroom mirror and realize you are five years older than when you began, and and and, oh never mind, I think you get it, I actually think I get it, I am over thinking again, time to log off and try reading for a while. Guess I will join Ringo who is sound asleep on top of the electric blanket, he has not moved in 4 hours, I think the electricity has numbed him as he dreams of ungulates and daggers for nails and the taste of freshly caught bream, the young, tender ones. That blanket is the catalyst for my best dreams, it is a poetry book waiting to happen, “Tales From Beneath the Electric Blanket”. Ringo has his own version, 
I am taking photos of him to use in the book, whenever I care to publish it, but that is another project, one more thing to fixate on, to pause and think about doing… Jeeze, it’s Hell being an artist, or it’s just Hell being crazy…(but it’s fun)
Those are turtle eggs, freshly laid. They came by the way of their mother turtle this morning around 8am. I had gone out to take some photos of the crappy day. We had a good rain and it was so dark. The cranes came in for breakfast,
and I had walked to the lake to take some photos of the ‘band of brothers’ who were frolicking in the water. 
It was truly a day to be a duck! It was drizzling a bit after a hard rain. I started walking back toward the house when I saw a turtle making her way from the house to the lake. She was quite slow in fact, probably because she is a reptile and it was cold and she was tired from laying those eggs.
She ignored the cranes attempt to peck her, and could not even get the energy to run past me to get to the lake, usually the turtles will crank on the speed when they see humans near them. I’m sure she was exhausted and cold. I walked back to where she had come from and could see where she had buried the eggs, I gently extracted five eggs that were not buried too deep. The raccoons would have easily gotten to them or the cold coming tonight would have killed them. I have raised successfully a number of snake eggs, and did have luck with one clutch of turtle eggs a couple summers ago. 
They were the size of quarters, but it was always summer when we incubated the eggs so the heat naturally kept them warm enough to grow into full term turtles and snakes that broke open their shells and were ready for the world. The turtles looked just like the ones we kept as kids in those little clear plastic turtle bowls we had in the 50’s before they scared us all with the “salmonella” stories.
The eggs I took I have placed within a small plastic fish tank that has a night light incorporated into the top of the tank. I also placed a thermometer inside and the temp is almost 80 degrees with a tiny 7 watt bulb — that’s perfect, so maybe on February 19th, there could be 5 little baby turtles hatching. I must keep them moist without being too wet, and heated without getting hardboiled. This should work perfectly:
Will keep you posted. They say you can’t “candle” them like duck eggs. We never did get one fertilized duck egg.
It was just a dreadful morning, I ran to Michaels and as I looked for a frame, it began pouring. I had to wait for it to settle down a bit before going back to the car. As I drove from the parking lot in the pouring rain, I noticed two vultures up on a light post waiting out the burst of water. They looked rather stunned. Notice that it was so dark, the lights were on at 11am.
Even driving through the neighborhood looked blurred — 
Now comes the cold, and tonight, you can feel the temperature drop! Ringo is inside on my bed, he hates the cold too.
My little brother is here and we took Adam and got all bloated eating Chinese at Lee’s Palace then topped it off with ice box cake, Judd’s favorite made of pure whipping cream and Nabisco chocolate wafers.
I finished framing and should be ready to drop off work on Sunday, will let you know if there is a reception and what the dates are for the Gateway Members Exhibit.
Those are the pics, though I think they are only using two per person. The next pics below are some I took this am.
And that’s it for tonight, stay warm, have a fun weekend…. 
A cold front approaches. It’s another gray day, everything looks bland. 
The cranes came , did a rain dance. We are in need of moisture. The heron was MIA in her nest for 4 hours, maybe she was fishing. 
The nest is filling out slowly.
She did come back in early afternoon. A pair of ibis came foraging for food.
and a pied-billed grebe came by and dove under the water when he saw me. 
They are funny looking.
I tried my hand at macro, but wind was blowing and the focus was almost impossible. But did get a few pics in to show. So here’s a few…
Someone told me that those are some sort of beetles mating and not lady bugs.
Ringo the heron and I fished, but the wind was whipping and the drizzling rain was getting cold and miserable, so I had to come in. 
The heron was in her nest and it was waving in the wind. Ringo came to the back door and decided to come in and dry off.
Right now Frankie is in my lap and my legs have lost all circulation, 
ugh, I must get up and move. Oh, I was looking at my match holder and realized I must get a chimney sweep to clean out the fireplace. 
For now, that’s it, and I’m sending a rose to Tabbie to let her know I am thinking about her and hope she is feeling better.
And here’s a video from Tampa, a bit shaky, but hope you enjoy anyway…
You can’t give this stuff away – 
everyone around me is bloated, gassy, and tired of leftovers. How lucky we are when we think of those around us so less fortunate. Tomorrow, on to new food!
The day before Thanksgiving was still a subtle gray, the front went through and all the rain promised was a farce. We got very little over here. Thanksgiving morning looked like a black and white photograph, the color drained from the landscape and sky, the lake the mirror reflecting the void of color 
Finally the sun broke through and we went away to eat our dinner.
Came back late and went to bed with a belly full! Our host and hostess, my nephew and niece did an outstanding job of keeping us loaded. Plus we all enjoy seeing Irving the tortoise.
He’s so full of contrasting lines and testure. He also follows you like a dog and his favorite food is hibiscus flowers. He weighs about 175lbs now. 
He has many birthdays to go. He’s still just passing puberty and is a horny little devil, he has a flower pot he loves to hump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrW59oLXmY0&feature=player_embedded (cut and paste to see yourself) 
Irving is in love with this hardshell!
Black Friday came and went, I did not shop, nor did I go anywhere Saturday, it was relaxing not to be spending money. That will go by the wayside soon enough. My daughter said to wait for black Monday, great buys on the internet.
Nature itself goes on, and these are shots I took today. The weather is very cold, low 60’s today, in 40’s the past nights, that is so cold Ringo slept next to me! In fact, he usually will ring the bell attached to the inside front door handle around 4:30am to go out, when I opened the door to let him out, he felt the cold and turned and went back to bed. Also, the herons, male and female have both been coming to the lake as I fish, tonight, they were touching beaks and making noises that seems like the mating rituals are taking place. They are nesting nearby, I suppose maybe babies will be coming near New Years????
The band of brothers were the first thing I saw outside this morning, they are still actively patrolling the lake. But an hour later, a pair of mallards came to relax. 
An anhinga was next door getting ready to fly off and when he saw me, that was exactly what he did.
the spider lily was blooming. 
A baby moorhen was running away from me too.
but not the wren, he was calm.
The lily pad looked interesting, like a non conformist among the conservatives. The day flew by and it was too cold for me to fish, but I took a few pictures before the sun went down. The moon was soft and muted. 
Have a wonderful night…
It’s officially holiday season! The turkey was pardoned, and today is
“pre-thanksgiving- manic-rush-tostartcookcookcooking-wash-freshsheets-dusting-blowoff porch-and pretenditalwayslooksthisclean” day. Even though we are going to my nephews for turkey day, there will still be hungry hordes here looking for food all weekend.
Last night I fished as is usual, with the cast of usual suspects, both male and female herons flew over. The male left, the female stays with me and got rewarded with 2 fish. They have not made a nest in their usual tree, or I have not noticed any activity up there in days. instead they came from the north east, wonder where they are nesting? 
(male)
female — The turtles were obnoxious as usual. 
There are three big soft shells and numerous small cooter types. The night was cloudy – they said we would have a good rain today and we have had some nice showers. The water meter yesterday was
at 2.98 and falling fast, a foot below the summer peak of 4.17. Will read it tomorrow am to see if the rain gave it a boost. we have to have more before winter makes it fall much more.
The sky was full of clouds and crows flying off. 
The fishing was not great, but it’s always fun to absorb that quiet time. The cranes had been by and were grooming as usual. 
and I tried my hand at macro photography which takes a lot of patience, no wind, good light, a tripod and knowledge of aperture which I am learning
I tried frankie and Ringo 
Ringo did not cooperate. Then I tried flowers and tiny spiders 
.
This morning is totally gray and rainy, had to make pancakes for Adam, I have found that Hungry Jack wholewheat blueberry complete is AMAZING, you only need water, but I cheated and added Sugar cookie eggnog, (mybad!) 
and of course, top it off with light whipping cream to counter act the egg nog. I had to top off the whipping cream after eating my pancake – 
YUM!
So better get cooking, have things to get done…now go, get outta here, quit reading, that’s it….
Ringo dreams he is a B. Kliban cat http://www.eatmousies.com/
2:37am, no rest here.
Earlier tonight I caught a softshell turtle and had to unhook it, they have quite interesting undersides, 
but it looked more like some kind of weird alien than a turtle from that angle. The markings are quite unique really, could this be a girl and maybe the boys have blue rectangles? Don’t worry she or he was fine after they got de-hooked. They scurried back to the water. I HATE catching turtles!
It was actually quite hot and stagnant and I was hoping to get a shot of the rocket launch, but they scrubbed it again.
In the morning I took a few flower pics, 
The crepe myrtles are gorgeous. And forgot what this plant is, but loved the red flowers on it also. 
The moon was even still out at 8am: 
The crow was in the tree singing a morning song
And I had a nice lunch with friends. Came home and worked on more photos. Oh the days go so fast, summer half over – maybe El Nino will save us from the big storms this year! I don’t know, anymore around Florida all we hear about is people getting struck by lightning. I do have to watch more carefully when I am at the lake as the storms roll in,
The clouds roll in so fast and the lightning is really getting way too familiar with humans. But the storms are actually so wonderful to listen to, especially to hear the rain on the roof at night. But not tonight, it is just a quiet one, so quiet, I might have to sneak off and go to bed, good…morning again…
Today the news said it would be 94 and feel like 104 degrees, that was no lie. It is hot and the sun seems like a deep fryer and it’s only June! The flowers are beautiful after a great thunderstorm last night. They were closed yesterday,
but today they were full bloomed and smelled so wonderfully rosey! The roses had small bits of purple on them. All around the yard, flowers looked happy. I do water them a bit in the morning and in the evening if there is no rain, otherwise they would fry under that hard light and heat. 
The sandhill cranes sat under the camphor tree for a long time taking in the shade. The father was really panting a lot as was my old cat Frankie. I actually think she might have been experiencing heat prostration as she looked way too lethargic on the porch and I could see her heart beating rather wildly. I brought her in and put her on the cool counter and she drank a lot of water. I was kind of worried her heart might give out, but after a while, she did perk up. So remember to keep lots of fresh water out there. I keep it, but poor Frankie looked like she was almost too tired to drink so watch your older animals. 
The cranes stayed a long time down by the lake. The baby was first to buckle and sit down. then when the parents finally sat down, he got up and went over to give his father a hard time. He would jab his father in the rear and then touch beaks. 
Finally they all relaxed and then finally flew off. The Moorhen is also a pretty smart, she built her nest up high on the side so as to shade her from the sun as she nested.
Tonight I tried fishing, but only got greedy turtles trying to find bread. One is so bold as to come up and take it out of my tackle box, so I keep it up on a plastic chair now as not only the turtles, but the ants swarm inside the plastic bags once they sense food. 
Ringo looks at the turtle with amusement, but does not bother them. Fishing sucked, maybe it’s too hot. If there was no breeze off the lake tonight, I would not have thrown out a line. No use standing down there sweating profusely and ending up like Frankie prostrate on the ground, no one would notice me!
Finally Ringo and I gave up and walked back to the house. I picked some small rose buds to put in a shot glass.
Ringo and I were glad to come inside and absorb that nice cool air. No thunderstorms tonight. All is quiet around here. I came in to blog, Ringo passed out and then was treated to a massage from my son. We all have our ways of dealing with the heat, that’s for sure! 
It stormed most of the night! So far we are up almost ten inches. The funny thing is, at a point where there was no rain this morning, I went out to garden a bit and pick up downed tree limbs because you get stir crazy after three days of incarceration. So I transplanted a few canna lilies and the ground about five inches down is dry as dry can be! It’s just as sandy as if no rain has ever fallen. It is another day of rain and what can I say, same old same old, but at least it is helping with our drought! The only visitors have been the ducks and regular birds.
Okay — so how does one get through the days of liquid peril that assault us? Comfort food of course. 
The best is the new Haagen Dazs ice cream “Five”!!!! OMG it’s amazing and it has fruit in it so I am counting that as a fruit suppliment in my daily diet as I count the nuts in the Payday. The cookies count as needed carbs of course. And it does give comfort when the weather is blaring all day long with lightning, thunder and storms all around us and the repeated warnings. It’s all one can do to make it through the day besides petting cats… 
Hello all,
Have been visiting in Tampa since Wednesday and could not get access to working on photos so I am back home
and will be making up for lost time. (Have a few pics on http://offshoot2.wordpress.com )
First, Happy Un-Mothers Day all you mothers – Hope yours was as great as mine. I got so many goodies like 
and of course what would the day be without eating and I mean pigging out on something I would not buy for myself like this, 
As you can see I made a small dent in it earlier, but about 1/3rd is gone by now. ”
Last night I dined with my son Aaron, the Broker Price Opinion “King” of Tampa, we laugh about that title his friends have given him, but he hustles doing ‘BPO’s for banks. I spent a lot of time driving around with him to look at all kinds of homes that banks are owning these days. There are many dwellings in all types of conditions. It’s very sad really to see so many houses going into foreclosure. Houses are just stagnating on the market over there. Even his townhome has lost about $40,000 in value since he bought it 5 years ago brand new. Many of the same units are now abandoned to foreclosure. We bought a ‘flip’ house two years ago and were very lucky that our hard work paid off and we were able to sell it fast, had it just been a few months later, we might still be sitting on that house! It is a sad time in the real estate business unless you have big bucks and can pay cash for a bargain — then this IS the time to buy something distressed. But it is creepy profitting on someone’s hardship.
Today I came home to more fun surprises, more wonderful flowers from my younger son and also from Leila. Tomorrow my son Adam and I will have dinner and a movie because he was at work on Mothers Day. My daughter gives me fun things all the time. Today she took me to lunch when I got back home from Tampa and brought that cake and these great earrings, 
She also made a donation to A New Beginnings Pet Rescue, a gift that keeps on giving. I was also given a fun bag of goodies for fishing that I will have to try my luck on tonight! 
I am sure spoiled! I have a lot to be thankful for – I wouldn’t trade these kids for anything…and no, they are not for sale either! Also, as I was leaving to come back to Orlando, I heard a familiar sound and looked out the front door, 
A family of sandhill cranes took off just before I left. I think they followed me back to Orlando. In the coming days I should be showing off photos from the sights in Tampa…
I would say if Sonja’s garden were to be a song, it would be written by Joni Mitchell. We are Joni’s Ladies of the Canyon, I am Trina, she is Annie. First you go there and you are greeted by her sweet dogs. Oscar is my favorite and he hates having his photo taken, but I tricked him.
She has cats here and there and lots and lots of citrus which she gives to you “for free”. She has now grown her own garden with all sorts of “vine and leaf are filagree” ; peas, green beans, cukes, squash and it all looks lovely and orderly like someone who knows that they are doing. 
The plants seem like soldiers standing at attention, guarding their terrain. I wonder if Sonja goes out at night and sings them a lullaby? They are truly pampered plants like her animals. And because of it, they have so much to give back. She brought over wonderful snap peas and dip, ummm, they were fresh and organic and I, the not a bigtime vegetable eater, loved them! Sonja is trying to practice what she preaches about buying local produce and being a “locavore”. She wrote a terrific article in the Sanford Herald about needing to get more local farms working and getting fresh fruits and vegetables to our own local markets. We went to the produce docks one day and on the docks where pallets of food waiting to be loaded to be shipped off. We saw nothing except peanuts from the USA! The pineapples were from Costa Rica as were the bananas, the green peppers — Hondurus and on and on. We were both disappointed that our Florida soil isn’t used much for other things besides citrus and developers.
The backyard at Sonja’s is so inspiring, besides the luscious squash, 
there’s zuccini
and wonderful lumbering trees just as calm as Sonja. She has sentimental plantings around yard and her home is just as luminous as she is. She brings me “apples and cheeses”, we chat about life and writing, and she is one of the brightest people you’ll ever meet. Even when she is away, (which was a lot last year) and…. she is not like me who goes to Tampa and feels that was a huge feat! No, she ventures down the Amazon, has hot cocoa in Switzerland, and loves climbing the hills in Greece. And she is always considerate of others and always spoils me with little things she brings back. The best was the chocolate from Switzerland, hint hint. I am so lucky to have such a friend who puts up with me, and I am smarter just by being around her and learning so many things. There is always something fun going on in Sonja’s sharing garden.
Abbe's world of wildlife 