Manatees and more manatees

It's odd sometimes how something wonderful is the result of something frustrating. Case in point: our adventure earlier today.

You see, the county libraries here all have free internet usage plus access to a printer (just 10 cents/page), handy for printing Michaels coupons when you're on vacation. But today was an exercise in frustration. First, I tried the local library. No luck, a 15 minute wait for a terminal. So the captain headed off to another branch, on our way to lunch. Once again no luck, a 10 minute wait. I was very hungry (and frustrated) at this point so we just headed off to a favourite local joint, Sun on the Beach (I had chocolate-orange crepes and yes, they were yummy). Sun on the Beach is in Satellite Beach, where the captain grew up. "Let's try the local library, since we're here," he said. So we did, having to head a few blocks off our planned route to Bed Bath & Beyond in Melbourne. Success!

Coupons in hand, the captain turned left from the library, instead of turning right and heading back to the main road. As we drove by a gully, we saw several people staring into the water. We looked into the water too, gasped, and turned the car around. Manatees. Manatees, as far as the eye could see. Dozens of 'em. I've seen them before, but never, ever like this. We were meant to drive down that road.

I lost count at 53 and know I missed several. It was amazing. The water is shallow and therefore very warm, so they've been congregating there due to the chilly weather. (Chilly for the locals, that is; the captain and I have no complaints about blue skies, bright sunshine and temperatures in the low to mid-60s Fahrenheit.)

Not only was it awesome to see these incredible creatures in such great numbers but also to see them at such close range. You also see the gashes and wounds they've received due to being cut by boat propellers. They're slow swimmers and some boats just whiz by too fast and they can't get out of the way in time.

We stayed by that gully for more than 20 minutes and I took more than 100 photos. I'm so thankful the first two library branches were busy and we ended up in the Satellite Beach branch. Sometimes, things just fall into place when you least expect it.

As we drove home

Yesterday we went into Orlando for some, um, retail therapy. The captain's credit cards may have permanent scorch marks; I was burnin' them up! Today we returned to the area with the sole purpose of photography. Between the two outings, I managed to capture 670 photos.
That's a lot of imagery to mull over.

Driving home this evening, I couldn't help but notice the sunset. We pulled off the road and I went down to stand by the river. Of all those 670 shots, this has to be one of my favourites.

Adventures

Meet Ranger. He's a pit bull, 9-1/2 months old. His owner, whose name I did not ask, is a homeless U.S. Army veteran, living in the woods. "What is she up to now?" you might ask yourself. "How did she meet a homeless vet?" The story starts last year.

The captain and I did a lot of driving around last February, exploring the entire county and beyond. One day we came across what I thought was an abandoned tavern; I hopped out of the car and took lots of photographs. Only after I had snapped my pictures did I realize the place was not closed up but was open for business. I shared a photo in my "Five Whole Weeks" blog post last February. If you have a look at that post, you'll see what the place looked like then.

Fast forward to today. It was a beautiful, warm sunny day -- too glorious to stay inside. The perfect day for a Sunday drive. We decided to head north a bit and, in the process, headed up U.S. 1 right by that old bar. Last year I thought the place was abandoned but was mistaken; this year, it's completely boarded up. I couldn't resist; I needed new pictures. So into the parking lot we went and out I hopped, once again. I grabbed a photo of the wonderful old rusty sign:

and then I heard the sound of a barking dog. Then I saw the dog; a pit bull dashing out of the neighbouring woods and headed straight for me.

This likely gives you pause for thought. Such is the danger, sometimes, of what I do. I actually am a bit of a chicken and have bypassed several photo opportunities for fear someone will come after me with a shotgun. Or, hmmmmm, a pit bull.

But here's the thing. Maybe it's stupid and naive of me, but I am not afraid of dogs. I am cautious, but not fearful. And so I did what came naturally to me: I called out to the advancing dog, "Hello puppy puppy puppy." Hot on the heels of the dog was his owner, yelling at him to stop. But when I called to the dog, his bum started to wiggle and I knew there was no danger.

I let the pup sniff my hand and his owner told me the dog, Ranger, meant me no harm. At this point I was scratching the dog's head so I knew I had a new friend. I learned the man was a homeless veteran, living in the local woods and keeping an eye on the old tavern for the owner. Engaging the man in conversation, I learned the old bar was built in 1957 and was quite the place in its time; the current owner, the grandson of the man who built the place, has put it up for sale.

I took a few photos of Ranger (with his owner's permission) as well as capturing a few images of the boarded up tavern.

The whole incident left me quite uneasy. There are apparently hundreds of homeless veterans in this area, mostly living in the numerous wooded areas, like this man. I am really uncomfortable with that; these men and women served their country and frankly, whatever their problems, they deserve better. I am terrible at guessing people's ages but the captain put the man as older than us and quite likely a Vietnam war vet. I thought about giving him some money but didn't want to offend him; it was a dilemma and is something still on my mind. There is a local group collecting blankets and toiletry items for the homeless war vets in the area -- I saw a collection bin in our favourite local diner just the other day -- and I definitely will contribute to that. It may not be my country but I just can't walk away and do nothing.

Lunch with a rat, dinner with a mouse

The captain and I had an exhausting, fun-filled day at Walt Disney World yesterday, spending almost 12 hours at Epcot. We enjoyed lunch at Le Chefs de France, while we went all-American with dinner at The Garden Grill.

If you are a Disney fan you will recognize both Chef Remy (from Ratatouille) and, of course, the big cheese himself, Mickey Mouse. By the end of the evening I had a sore back but no sore feet, thanks to my Easy Spirit shoes (the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn).

Our biggest surprise at Epcot was visiting all the countries in the World Showcase and seeing no recognition of the Olympics whatsoever. To be honest, though, there isn't much excitement or even interest in the Winter Games down here.

OWOH...winners!

What a wild ride! I had never participated in One World One Heart until this year and didn't really know what to expect. Perhaps 50 or so people would pop by? I never dreamed I'd get 249 comments! Wow! Thanks for visiting, everyone!

And now, on to the good news...the winners! I used the random number generator and it decided to choose these five lucky folks:

Connie at Studio 64 Chicago
Just Me at just-me
Joanna at The Fifty Factor
Lynda at Retasroses Vintage
Stanza Rae at The Good, The Bad, and The Gotta Have

CONGRATULATIONS! I have emailed each winner and they have until the end of the week to contact me; if they do not, I will unfortunately have to choose another winner. I will also have a digital goodie to email every commenter who provided their email address. If you left a comment, please look for that in your in-box in the next day or so!

Thanks again for visiting my blog and a huge THANK YOU to Lisa Swifka for creating and organizing One World One Heart!

Valentines that make you go hmmmmmm

I was browsing around Flickr the other day and found some vintage valentines available for downloading. Some of them are just a little more......out there......than I remember. I've cleaned these three up a bit and saved them as PNG files (so they have a transparent background) and offer them up here for you. Click on each one to see it full-sized. Download and share with your loved ones. If you dare!

Let's go for a drive

This is what we do: The captain drives. I take photographs.

Sometimes the car is moving slow, sometimes fast. Country road or highway, it makes no difference to me. I have a quick trigger finger when it comes to the shutter. Focus and shoot. Click, click. I look around when we are stopped at a light; sometimes we pull into a parking lot when something catches my eye (the hot dog sign, below, for example). And we just might stop for a moment, right on the road, if nobody's behind us.

We started off today by the side of the road, by the river, waiting for a rocket launch that never happened. Too windy. I took a few photos of the river through the front windshield while we waited. After the launch was scrubbed, we headed to a local diner for eggs and country fried steak and grits (well, that's what I had) and then just decided to drive around, to see what we could see. I wasn't in the mood for nature trails and back roads so we stuck to the streets. Come on along with us.

I really must remember to put my window all the way down.

This is what we do. We drive. We look. We see.

As seen by me

You might think this picture doesn't look like much, but this blazing ball of fire in the night sky represents one of the most exciting things I've ever seen. I took this photo just after 4 a.m. this morning, as the Space Shuttle Endeavour blasted off into space, headed for the International Space Station. The captain and I just stepped out onto our balcony and watched as the night sky lit up, heard the roar, and marvelled at the sight of the shuttle as it rose up, finally disappearing into the darkness.

I was going to set the camera up on the tripod and try to go manual, with the hopes of getting some knockout photos, but the truth is that I am not at my best at 4 o'clock in the morning -- fiddling with a tripod and choosing appropriate aperture and shutter speed settings is simply beyond my middle-of-the-night capabilities. So I played it safe. All I really wanted was a photographic reminder of an extraordinary event, and I'm so thankful that I achieved just that.

And here are some other photos of what's recently caught my eye. No fancy photoshopping here, just some of what I've seen through my lens over the past few days.

from our balcony, gazing out at the ocean

again from our balcony, spotting a dolphin -- which, I might add, is one of the hardest things to photograph; you see a fin break the water's surface, but quickly it disappears and where it will resurface is a guessing game; I often pick a spot, zoom in, and hope for the best

yet again from our balcony, a gathering of gulls

today, driving through a local wetlands

yes, an alligator -- also spotted today in the wetlands area

My Picasso period was today

Hah! I bet you're expecting some gorgeous Florida photograph. You know, palm trees...ocean waves...sunny skies...something like that. Well, surprise!

Don't worry, it's okay to laugh out loud and roll your eyes. I am.

You see, I have been taking an online course on using my Wacom graphic tablet and this afternoon and evening I made myself use the pen for just about everything. And you know what? The more I used it, the more comfortable it became. I even managed to scribble out that doodle you see above. I know, I know ... it's pretty darn goofy. But I never could have pulled that off with a mouse.

There will be photographs soon, promise. And I'll try not to share any more kooky artwork!

It's February!

Happy February! The captain and I are now comfy-cozy and settled in for the month -- even the grey skies and rain showers today can't dampen our happiness. And to chase away that grey, here's a cheery calendar page I created this afternoon, using a photo I took several days ago in Savannah's Bonaventure Cemetery.

Make it your wallpaper, print it out and stick it on your fridge, whatever you wish. Just click on the image and you'll be whisked away to its page on Flickr, where you'll see the "all sizes" button. Choose your size and download ... I hope it brightens your day!