So Many Photo Ops...

and so little space to share them! Generally I do my darnedest to keep my posts as short as possible, but seriously, when Spring presents goodies everywhere, they are what they are.

Can we all agree that orange, and its many shades is the best color of them all?

A Creamsicle Dahlia!! They are growing in profusion in front of the East End Market where I went to deliver a print of the peacock you saw a few weeks ago. Oh, be still my beating heart!

There was this too. Irresistible. Was this  the inspiration for lace, I wonder?

While chatting with Matt before he and Tom went to India for a holiday, he told me their bird feeders were loaded with Goldfinch, a bird I'd not yet seen at mine, however, they finally arrived about two days ago, although my photographic evidence is scanty. In other words, not quite ready for prime time! I've included a link above, should you be interested in how beautiful a European Goldfinch are. Do it!

In many parts of the country, seeing a Dogwood in bloom is old hat, however, blooming Dogwoods in Orlando are a rare sight. Fortunately for me, there is one in our friend Mary Lou's front yard that I ogle every time I ride down her street.

Speaking of riding, it is a small wonder that I've never had an accident on my bike as my eyes scan to and fro looking for color, or really, anything outside the norm. While Bruce may call the tiny white flowers, weeds, I see them as color, especially against the contrast of the purple and green.

That would be my unnecessary jacket in my bike basket as the morning warmed up very quickly. I'd just come from visiting Sue who was telling me all about her oldest daughter's upcoming wedding in Utah; an intimate affair in cold weather. Having owned a cabin in Montana for about 15 years, cold weather is appealing to Sue and her family, however, it sounds both beautiful, and scary to me! We always have to survey her garden while I'm there, and of course there is always something that catches my eye.

When last I left you, I was heading over to Winter Park to deliver our tax stuff, which I did, and am thinking positive, for better, or for worse. Having driven by The Coop many, many times, I finally decided to stop there for lunch, and am I ever glad that I did. Talk about fantastic! Now I understand what all the fuss is about.

For the longest time I ate out midday with fear and trepidation due to my stomach problems, however, of late, they seem to be at bay, and I'm taking advantage of that for as long as I can.

On the home front, something gave me the idea to recreate a quilt that I made for Jonathan when he was at FSU. Using the team colors worked fine, but looking at it now, I'm shocked at how poorly it was made by you know who. That said, it did its job, so in the long run, that is what is most important. Laying it out on my bed, I used a bunch of fabric I already had, naturally employing my favorite colors.

Before it came to the above, my sewing table looked a mess as I'd pulled all the possible colors for use. Plus, I actually had to draw it out to wrap my mind around how to accomplish it.

After doing all of the cutting, and making the strip sets, I was still struggling with how to set the blocks on point, however, this is where my handy husband comes into the picture and rescues me. It is coming along nicely, or at least so far.

Thinking this nest in one of our oak trees was for a big bird, I was thinking wrong.

I watched for a while as the squirrel added twigs...oh how I wish I'd found a Cardinal nest, because they have been plentiful in our garden, however, to date no nests exist. Or at least that I've discovered.

It seems as if so much of my errands of late have taken me by Greenwood Cemetery, and the Urban Wetlands located beside it, and as you can imagine, I cannot resist stopping for a little while to see what I can see. The eaglets are nearly ready to leave the nest, however, no shots of that to share yet, if ever, but I did see some other good stuff that I hope you will enjoy seeing vicariously.

In a recent post I mentioned seeing a bunch of turtles shoreside that plopped into the water before I was able to get a shot, however, this time, from afar, they were all sunning themselves on these concrete things, a name for which I cannot come up with.

As I got closer, most of them did what they do, plopped into the water as I got closer. My sister Lisa is a turtle lover; anyone else feel the same?

If I am not mistaken that is a Great Cormorant sharing the space. There has not been a time that I've been at Greenwood when I am alone; the Eagles nest is famous amongst photographers, both local, and maybe not so local, as I met a man with a mega camera and lens from Virginia the other day. He asked me if I'd seen the Wood Ducks, the second person to ask that question, to which I answered in the affirmative. Who knew?

As is often the case in the bird world, the male, also called a Drake, is the colorful one. During my time at the Wetlands park, I heard a very loud bird call, at first thinking it was the shrieking of a hawk. Not so fast Gail...turns out it was a Limpkin, that according to this link, exist on Apple snails and have quite the voice.

The shoreline was littered with snail shells.

Believe you me, there are plenty more photographs where these came from, but I suspect you've had enough. Am I right?

Get this! Bruce asked if I'd heard from the County on our marriage license to which I answered, not yet, they said two weeks, which truth be told, was nearly up. SO, I called the number listed, in very fine print, I might add, and talked with an actual human being who told me that if we walked in they would give it to us on the spot! Nowhere on the website is such an option listed, but by golly, it worked perfectly. Bruce was out and about, and called home to see if I needed anything. Telling him I had just got cleaned up to head over to the courthouse, he offered to go there himself, and he was home within less than hour, with certificate in hand. Good grief! Always call first is my take away from this. He filled out all of the paperwork for the immigration lawyers, and we'll see what happens next.

In the meantime, I'm milking every photographic opportunity for what they are worth during this lovely time of the year. 😀

yours truly,

Gail