Kickin' Around South Florida

I had a great time jaunting around South Florida this week with Phoebe. We packed a ton of stuff into a week that left us both exhausted and ready for some non-travel time. I love when friends come to visit as I get to take them to all my favorite places and experience new ones along the way. This time, Phoebe and I went to Key West, my first time there since moving to Florida nearly 15 years ago. It was bigger than I expected and really crowded. Still, there was tons to see and do and of course, a few Key Lime Pies to try!
I wish I had time to process all my pictures and share them but there are just too many and the Superbowl is today! So, here are just a few of my favorite images from my week with Phoebe, all taken with the iPhone (my DSLR images will have to wait until I have time to process them) and starting with our weekend jaunt to Sanibel:

 Golden Path

 Keep Off

 Little Shell Collector

 Pippi Longstocking goes Fishing

Sand Dollar

Beach Tree

I logged 5 new birds on our visit to Sanibel and I wasn't even birding! We were staying at Seaside Inn and there on the beach were a flock of seabirds. In this one flock I got a Sanderling, Sandwich Tern, Forester Tern and Black Skimmer. The next morning, I went out to capture the sunrise and got a Great Black-backed Gull. I took Phoebe to all my favorite places, The Island Cow, the Bubble Room, Captiva, Ding Darling, my favorite antique store and even the lighthouse. We even did some shelling and found some awesome treasures which included pieces of coral, unique shells and even a sand dollar! My favorite moments were watching the flock of seabirds take off and a little interaction I had with a crab. Sanibel is always magical and I can't wait to be back there in March with both Lita (for more birding) and Luke who will be down for a visit.

Birds of Sanibel

Crabby Encounter

After a weekend in Sanibel, we had a nature-filled day at Butterfly World and Green Cay Wetlands:

 Black with a Hint of Yellow

 Rope Bridge

 Stop and Smell the Roses

The Wetlands

Now, it was time to take a road trip to Key West, stopping on various Keys along the way. We ate lunch in Key Largo, walked the small strip of beach on Marathon and spotted a Key Deer on No Name Key. We spent the first afternoon in Key West on Mallory Square and I watched the Cat Man perform with his amazing kitties while waiting for the sunset which was accompanied by ships, birds, biplanes and an F-16 flyby.  The next day we enjoyed breakfast at the famous Blue Heaven before walking all over old town until our legs and feet were screaming at us to end the day. The best part for me were all the cats we met at Hemingway's house and all the chickens running around town. Before heading out our last morning, we visited the Audubon House and did a little shopping. It was a wonderful getaway to a colorful and fun area of Florida. On the way back we stopped and walked the old seven mile bridge on Pigeon Key and had lunch on Islamorada.

Sunset on Key West

 Rooster & Cat

 Discards

Strong Jaw

 Starfish Cottage

 Colors of Key West

A Little Country

Sailin' Away

Where the Stories Happen

Our last day together was spent enjoying a yummy lunch on Marco Island before exploring a bit of the Everglades near Fakahatchee Stand where we saw the smallest post office in the USA, a huge gator sunbathing on a rock, a nesting bald eagle and a snake skeleton which greeted us before we started on a trail that made us a bit uneasy, what with gators, Burmese pythons and skunk apes on the loose. ;-)

 Ochopee Post Office, the smallest in the USA

 Boardwalk at Fakahatchee

Snake Skeleton

I managed to keep on shooting sunrises for a fifth week, adding in two from Key West, as well as two sunsets. The sunrises are getting earlier so as long as I naturally wake up before the sun is up, I'll continue to capture them. ;-)

Sunrises & Sunsets, Week 5

This week will be devoted to getting my "pay-it-forward" packages out as well as working on my next assignment for Carla Sonheim's Year of the Giraffe class. This month is all about mixed media. I'm so excited with this assignment. I will share my pieces here on my blog when they are finished!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! See you soon!

A Morning at Loxahatchee

I had a few hours in the morning this week to get out and photograph some wildlife. I met my friend Andrew at Loxahatchee Wildlife Reserve. His goal was to see a Pileated Woodpecker. Mine was to just see something new that I could tick off my Life List, which after today's visit stands at 55 species. I'm sure I've seen more in my lifetime but I just started this Life List and I only added those birds I knew I had images of and knew where and when I took the picture. So, it's like starting over. But, Florida is a great place to begin and during the visit yesterday to Loxahatchee I saw 12 species of birds and added two new ones to my life list! Plus I took pics of butterflies and grasshoppers...can't forget about the insects (although I would dearly love to forget about the Deer Flies and Mosquitoes that were biting the heck out of me!). I don't really have a proper lens for shooting birds at a distance so some of the quality of the pics I'm sharing today aren't up to par with my usual shooting but I wanted to share the experience with you all anyways. And, I wish I had packed my macro as there were so many wild butterflies. Next time! So, sit back and enjoy some images from Loxahatchee Wildlife Reserve:

 Female Pileated Woodpecker. We actually saw two on one tree which is rare indeed!

 Limpkin, looking for snails

 Loxahatchee Wildflowers

 Lovin' Lubbers

Blade Runner

Green Heron on Alert

Peacock on Pickerel Weed

 Pearl Crescent

 Red Admiral

 Sharing Space

Snail Kite

Sunning Dragon

Sweet Tricolor

Isn't nature just grand? Hot, humid and bug filled summers still can't stop me from enjoying the beauty of mother nature!

Getaway to Vero Beach

This week I had a little getaway to Vero Beach to meet up with my friends Loran, Misty and Denise. Misty, Loran and I have traveled to London together before. Misty, Denise, and I spent time shooting together in Savannah with our other friend and fellow photographer, Phoebe. It's been way to long since I had seen them. Especially since Loran and I only live three hours from each other! Misty is on her second round of battling breast cancer but despite that, she always manages to keep everyone laughing and smiling and it was so wonderful to spend some quality time with her as well as Loran and Denise. I even got to meet another friend of theirs, a little cutie patootie photographer named George as well as Denise's son, nephew, mom and sisters. It was only for two days and one night but we made the most of it with food, drinks, conversation, a bit of shopping and for Misty and I, we even got up to shoot the sunrise together (We only got up because our room was on the beach,lol). Here are a few pics from the getaway, some taken with the iPhone 4s and others with my Nikon:

Today is Denise's Birthday! Happy Birthday Denise!

Taken while having Dinner at Mulligans on July 5th, 2012

The Four of us at the Ocean Grill. They have yummy mojitos and delicious desserts!

They also serve up one of Loran's favorite drinks: The Painkiller:

Cool cup too!

Blue Chairs at Mulligans

Before Misty joined me to shoot the sun rising, I had the whole beach, ocean and sky to myself:

Vero Beach Sunrise

 July 6th, 2012

Pool Deck Chairs

The Surf Hotel, Vero Beach

The Blue Umbrella

I discovered a time lapse app on my phone. I must have downloaded it a long time ago. We had fun with it, although we couldn't figure out how to make it go slower or how to get sound. Did figure out the speed situation after I got home and could see the teeny, tiny controls with my readers on. Sound, well, still working on that!

Damn Misty! You are fast! :)

Fast Beach Walkers! If you blink you'll miss the bird flying by!

Loran relaxing on the porch of a cute store we stumbled upon.

Misty surrounded by the bokeh lights and emitting her own beautiful light through those pretty eyes.

It was such a short trip but totally worth every second. It made me miss them all that much more. Hopefully, it won't be that long before we are all able to share some time together again. And dear readers, whatever your beliefs, please send prayers, healing lights of white and warming thoughts of love to Misty as she fights her fight against breast cancer. And I hope you all get to have a wonderful weekend with those you love. xo

Fun With Friends!

Me and Gina at Butterfly World

Howdy my dear readers!
Long time gone, I know. I had a busy couple of weeks which included my friend Gina coming down for a week of fun, food and laughter as well as a patio renovation taking place. I've had little time for art, although I did manage to create something for Lita for her birthday but other than that it's been all about taking Gina to some of my favorite places in Florida. So, come join us as I take you through our little adventure and check out my day with Lita at the end of the post...
*Shot mostly with the iPhone, although there are a few gems taken with my Nikon.

Mojito Time at The Outback!

We went shopping at the Sawgrass Mills Mall where we had a great lunch at Cheesecake Factory and spent WAY too much time in Burlington Coat Factory.

Gina, Glam Gator of the Glades

I took Gina to my favorite peaceful respite, Butterfly World:

Gina, ready to become one with the butterflies.

A Moment's Pause

Tweety Bird

 Pineapple

 Pretty Parrot

On one of the few days without rain, Gina and I headed to my favorite Florida destination, Sanibel Island. Our first stop was a morning spent on Bowman Beach for a little sun, surf and shelling:

Bowman Beach

 Lovin' the shells, surf and sand!

 Beachy Girl

Gina on Bowman Beach

 Gina heads off to gather some shells

Ah, this is the life!

 Lunch at Island Cow!

Sanibel Lighthouse

We had just one other great day of weather and we took advantage of that and headed to the Everglades:

Swamped

 Southeastern Lubber Grasshopper

Mosquito Crossing

 This guy was huge. We saw him take a big, deep breath which he exhaled slowly. We stared at him in awe for quite a while before moving on. It was a thrill to see one this big.

 In the Muck

Swamp Grass

Lunch at the Swamp Cafe

Gina and I love to shop so we hit up H&M in Palm Beach and had lunch at Brio:

Brio Tuscan Grille, Palm Beach Gardens

We even had a fabulous sunset to share with Gina during her stay:

Sunset colors captured with the iPhone 4s

The day after Gina left, our patio and pool renovation started which meant I would be spending a lot of time out of the house and away from the noise:

What a mess! They left piles of sand on the deck which Sookie thinks should be used as a litter box, so needless to say the cats have been forced to stay inside and have been driving me a bit mad!

Thank goodness Lita had some time to get together for a birthday day of shopping! More fun than sitting around listening to construction noise and viewing the mess out my windows!

Lita with the painting I made for her for her birthday. It's of her favorite butterfly and done in watercolor. It was the only art I've been able to create these past few weeks. She loved it! Here is a closer view of the painted butterfly:

Malachite in Watercolor

Of course we did some shopping in Barnes & Noble but then also headed to the Boca Town Center Mall to get some inspiration while shopping our favorite store Anthropologie:

 Artful Reflections

Of course, we found a mirror for a duo selfie! This one in Macy's:

Shopping Selfies!

All in all, it was a fun couple of weeks spent with friends and next up is another busy week that is going to include Sports Fanatic Bunco, a retro shoot with Leanne, a concert, movie and just maybe, a Heat/Thunder playoff game! Summer is all about having fun and enjoying life! I hop you all are gearing up for some summer fun too!