Crepe Myrtle and Wind Chime

The top photo is of a crepe myrtle in our back yard that has finally bloomed. For some reason, ours is just now coming into all it's glory while most others around here have passed their main burst of blooms. Pretty though. Lovely Wife took this photo.

The second photo is of a clear blue plastic butterfly with wire wings and bells for feet. He makes the most pleasant tones in breezes strong enough to make the bells in his feet ring. It's hanging in Lovely Wife's crepe myrtle pictured above.

The smaller plant in the lower left of the photo with the pink blossoms is an ixora.

Hidden Treasure

This almost covered sign will lead you to an amazing place. This is on the side of A1A out on the barrier island off the coast from us. Note that I'm standing in a good place to see most of the sign, driving by at 50mph this thing is easy to miss.

If you do happen to see the sign and want to see what Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge is all about, you have to drive several miles down this small, washboard-like dirt/gravel road. Believe me, it will punish your car's suspension system, but keep going anyway.

After you finally reach the Wildlife Refuge's parking area, get out, follow the boardwalk as it slowly gains altitude above the surrounding swampy scrub forest, you reach a viewing pavilion that's about 40 feet (13m or so) above ground and you can see Pelican Island itself, although the Refuge covers many acres of water and swamp that surrounds the actual island called Pelican Island. This is Number One Daughter looking through the viewfinders there so you can see the many birds that live out on the island.

I wrote a post about Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge on my regular blog last year, if you care to read it; there's more pictures there too.

If not, here's the Reader's Digest Condensed Version: Lovely Wife and I got a glimpse of this sign on a drive a few years ago, slammed on the brakes and went down the dirt road pictured above, and discovered this hidden treasure of a place.

Lots of solitude, paths to walk, information on the birds that inhabit the area, and how President Teddy Roosevelt came here and named Pelican Island the United State's first ever National Wildlife Refuge in 1903.

I'm due to go back for a sunset visit. It's been a while.

Black and White #10

That first shot is a scan of a 35mm slide, converted to B&W, and played with in Photoshop Elements 4.0. Train bridge crossing the Ouachita River from Monroe to West Monroe, Louisiana.

The second shot is a straight B&W conversion of a color slide. The train and buildings were in Rockwood, Tennessee where Lovely Wife's grandmother lives.

July 4, 2007 America's Two Hunnert and Somthingth Birthday

That's America's 231st birthday for those of you who aren't fluent in redneck.

How about some flag pictures today, MmmmK?

I was out driving around last summer and looking for things to photograph. I turned around in someone's driveway and when I put the car in reverse and looked up, I saw the carving on this tree. So I shamelessly put the car in Park, got out, walked a few steps closer and took this and a couple of other shots. That's a live palm tree too.




Have a great Fourth of July, wherever you may be!

Meg O'Malley's

I took these this past Saturday when Lovely Wife and I were in Meg O'Malley's in downtown Melbourne, Florida for lunch.

It's supposedly an Irish pub, but everybody I know down here loves to go there to eat.

I'm one of those people who LOVE plain, simple food. I can watch gourmet stuff on TV that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. I'm really simple when it comes to food choices.

Anyway, I had never been to O'Malley's and so we stopped in and had lunch. Quite tasty grub.

I liked the stained glass window of the castle above the front door.

The little carving of the leprechaun under the light was our table's light in the booth where we ate.

I've never been out of the U.S., so I wouldn't know an authentic Irish pub if one ran over me, but they had some rugby championship on the TV above the bar that we could see from our booth. So I guess if they had rugby on TV, it MUST be an authentic Irish pub. Right?

Black and White #9

On Saturday, Lovely Wife and I ran errands, bought furniture, and in general wore ourselves out.

We went to the old downtown Melbourne, Florida area to eat lunch at Meg O'Malley's and this consignment store was across the street and they had all kinds of stuff out on the sidewalks and the insides of the store had every kind of household item that you could think of. Old flour sifters and dishes like our grandparents and great grandparents had; furniture, and also totem poles and this incredible carved piece of wood.

The face was carved into a root system of a small tree that had been pulled up and dried (I guess) and I tried to convert it to black and white and to give it the look and feel of seeing it at night under the light of a bright full moon. It's funny how some photos are black and white in your mind before you even press the shutter button.

The totem poles were all bunched together in the very back corner of the store, and although the color version looks really good too, I liked this high contrast black and white version a bit better.

Get Your Veggies Here!

Lovely Wife and I bought some fresh tomatoes ('maters in redneck Louisiana speak), and a watermelon to have for our hamburgers and desert on July 4th coming up this Wednesday.

I took a couple of pics of these amazing peppers the lady had for sale too.

I had actually left my camera in our car and when we were picking out the tomatoes, I turned around and saw these peppers in the shade and the deep colors were amazing.

I left Lovely Wife to pick out tomatoes and the watermelon while I pursued the photographic side of buying fresh vegetables.

I have to admit, that I've been doing the photo blog long enough now that my second thought after "I've GOT to go grab my camera" was "These colorful peppers will look great against the black background of my blog."

Now I'm looking for things that will look good on the blog.