Contents

Rearview Mirror - Summary of the past week
Headlights - Our schedule as to where we will be heading

(Note: click on any photo for a larger image/slideshow)

Rearview Mirror

Home for the Week
No travel this week--I was busy with work, but had the pleasure of spending time with Janny and the Pups and good friends and neighbors. Lots of walks, biking, golf cart adventures, and one boat ride (early in the week).

Cloudy and Cold
Although the week started pleasantly chilly and sunny, as the days progressed the weather turned into cloudy and cold. Winter jackets were unloosed from their closet shackles and the dust was blown off our little-used furnace blowers. It was time to hunker down on the island!

Pelicans
Critters are pretty savvy, and the movement of our birds aligned with the movement of the weather--they got slower as the thermostat went lower. However, I was able to capture a little activity. Here is a shot of white pelicans in formation and a pic of a brown pelican getting ready to land.





Curbside Makeover
Jan was asked by a good friend to donate a piece of artwork for an auction to raise money for the Harry-Anna Trust Fund. http://www.floridaelks.org/whoweare.aspx

This fund provides the critical financial backing for all the wonderful projects sponsored by the Florida State Elks Association, including children therapy services and youth camp, among many others. Great cause. Jan gladly concurred with the request and with a little searching found an old shelf she had rescued at the curb along with some other knick-knacks discarded by others. You know the old saying, “One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure.” Janny takes pleasure in making that happen. Below is the end result. Check out her other art at http://www.janalexanderart.com.



Good Morning Sunrise
While writing away one silent morning in my top-floor den, Jan broke the solitude hollering up, “Alex--look at the sunrise! I’m glad I obeyed her command, putting up the shade, opening the window, and setting up my tripod as the skies quickly shifted over 10 minutes, starting out as a teasing violet, morphing into pleasing pink, and then easing into to a bold orange that shouted, “Wake up”! Here is an out-of-the-camera shot taken from my window that only hints at the impressiveness of the actual sight. What a marvelous way to ratchet up the day.



Boardwalk Pups
From my perspective, it is never a good day or a good blog without pups! And as is our case when home, the Kids are with us 95% of the time. Here is a shot of Mitzy and one of Jerry coming down the dock to see what I’m up to.





Fixer-Upper
Strolling back from a morning photo walk through the neighborhoods, I stopped and studied this vacant house. The abandoned mower gave me a feeling of incompleteness: Will the owner ever come back and finish the job? I added a NIR color treatment to this image to give it this stark, infra-red look. What do you think?



Python Sighting
Early in the week we received an e-mail alerting its readers that a Burmese Python had been found a few streets from our home. Sadly, this is not too surprising because over the years a lot of “losers” have let loose exotic pets in Florida, especially in the Everglades. Here is the picture (not sure whom to credit) of this ominous looking fellow taken right before he/she was released upon the lot where we keep BERT our motorhome! Needless to say, it was the talk of the area--depending on the day or the mood of Pine Islanders, one could see citizens stalking around with shotguns or wielding razor-sharpened machetes.



Any Excuse Will Do
Pine Islander’s actively look for any excuse to hold a party and this was a good one. Within 24 hours of the sighting, we received an invite to a “Python and Coyote” party (yes, there had been a recent coyote sighting here as well). Saturday night, Guylynne and Wayne hosted this event in their reptile-adorned home. Wonderful people and wonderful event.

Headlights

MAA ’12 tentative departure date is set! We are pleased to announce that Motoring Across America 2012 is already in the planning stages and our tentative date of departure is April 13. More to come…

See you next week after my trip to Chicago and Atlanta.

Tags: Wildlife photography, pet photography, Pine Island