The Old and the Restless

On their way to a cruise of the (hopefully warm) Caribbean, Nick and Julie came to stay with us for a few days. On such cold days as we have been having, the manatee come into Blue Springs to avoid hypothermia. Here is a mother with scars on her back and her calf.  At Winter Park we went for the traditional boat ride of the three lakes. It was sunny but quite chilly in the wind. Although Julie was wrapped up, she was remained chilled for a long time after we returned to New Smyrna.  The next day we went to Merritt Island where we had a good view of the rocket launch at Cape Canaveral. The rocket is in the upper right of the picture. Below the smoke from the launch is visible. Sentinel vultures in a tree and... ... an ugly one on the ground. A cold egret hunched up to keep warm. Anhinga in the grass. There were a lot of alligators trying to get some sun to warm themselves. And here we are... Sandra, Nick, Julie and Paul, hands in pockets to keep warm. Th...

After Thomas returned home, Sandra began to try to use her new camera for bird pictures (rather than people pictures) - trying different locations and settings. She is now up to chapter 5 (of 10) in how to use her new camera and she tries to get out every day to experiment with the settings as she reads her way through the camera manual. First, we went to the new bird watching park to try to get birds in flight. Spotting the ospreys through the viewfinder was hard at first because the field of vision is so small. So, I spotted them soaring and told Sandra where they were so she could focus in on them using "sports mode" high speed setting to stop them in flight. Amazingly, both these pictures of ospreys are so in focus that the yellow eyes can be seen clearly. She also took many pictures of pelicans searching for schools of fish. Last Tuesday morning, Sandra went back to the bird park to have a guided tour. Here are a tri-colored heron and an egret side by side ne...

The day Megan, Michael and Thomas left, the wind shifted to the south east bringing warm weather ... ... and blowing "schools" of jelly fish into the inlet. It was warm and sunny enough for a 39 km ride up the beach and along the river. However, the following afternoon, the skies turned threatening as a cold front moved in causing many tornadic supercells (rotating storm cells up to 40,000 feet high that can spawn tornados). Tornadic activity commenced before 4 PM at Flagler Beach and reached New Smyrna Beach just after 5 PM - note how the skies darken looking to the north from Castle Reef. The local TV stations switched to "tornado coverage" and plotted the storms as they progressed street by street. This storm came through just south of New Smyrna Beach airport and swept out to sea over Smyrna Dunes Park with only minor wind damage. A number of residents at Castle Reef came out on the walkway to take photos of the passing storm. [The tornado war...

Mad dogs and Englishmen out in the noon day sun? No! A typical Canadian "snow bird" determined to swim in the 50 F (10 C) Atlantic Ocean before his vacation ends! Strong of body, if weak of mind, these Canadians. After a very quick dunk in the cold winter ocean, Michael races to shore. It was bracing! Megan and Thomas walk to the newly renovated Indian River Lagoon Preserve Park ... ... to reach the Indian River Lagoon. Vacation's over! While Michael and Megan load the car, Grandpa entertains Thomas on the bedroom floor (just one of a dozen or so pictures taken by Grandma of belly laughs by Thomas as Grandpa goes "whoooo" to him - but, in the interests of space, only one is shown).  

Needless to say, the "work" part of breakfast with Thomas involves Megan. Sandra was not ready with the camera in time to take a picture of Megan feeding Thomas. The "fun" part involves the rest of the family (Dad, Grandpa and Grandma). Since Grandma was on camera duty, she did not manage to get into any pictures. Just after breakfast, Thomas sits contentedly in Michael's arms. Oh, oh! Thomas is getting agitated. Sophie to the rescue to keep him occupied. Thomas can spot a pair of eyes from a great distance. He just locks on them and follows them around the room. Notice Thomas' eyes locked on Grandpa's eyes. Grandpa has found that, when he makes a high noise with circular lips, Thomas laughs. The good humour continues even when Thomas sees another pair of eyes. Oops! Just the slightest down turn in his lips, indicates Thomas is quickly moving from laughing to crying. Once the crying starts, it's "all hands on de...

It has been really cold in Florida. In addition, because of repairs to the clubhouse, the wireless network works only sporadically inside. Outside on the balcony it can be too bright to see the screen. Above is a solution.

On a very cold windy day (between 39F and 42F),  we went with Glen and Norma to Merritt Island to photograph the birds. Glen wanted to try out his new Nikon lens that he got for Christmas. We thought the birds would not be moving much because of the cold. Instead, when we got out of the car, many spooked quickly and flew away. Big alligators were out in the sun, not moving, trying to get warm. We saw over a dozen big gators between 8 and 12 feet long out sunning. At the Welcome Centre, an armadillo was rooting around. Because it kept moving around my feet, it was hard to get the entire body in focus. The rings on its back are sharp while the eyes and tail are not quite. This tricolored heron felt he was far enough away in the bushes to not be noticed Great Blue Heron Anhinga spreading its wings to dry in the sun next to a great blue heron. Tricoloured heron amid mangrove roots. This heron is huddling on a broken palm with its neck tucked in. Snowy...