First Florida Foray of the Season
December 23, 2018
On December 8, shortly after arriving in Sarasota for the winter, I took my first trip to South Lido Park this season. This is perhaps my favorite park in the county, largely because it contains a variety of ecosystems. The bonus is that it’s only about 15 minutes from home. On my first visit of the season there I always search with apprehension to see if a little stump I’ve named R2D2 is still standing. Every year, I think it has disappeared, only to realize it’s only further down the path. And so it went this year. R2D2 (in the first four photos) seems more colorful than it has been in the past, but that may be my imagination. The fifth photo is probably the first of others you’ll see over the next couple of months showing a dead sabal palm leaf, which I find more graceful in senescence than on the tree. The sixth photograph is another perennial favorite: backlit leaves of the seagrape bush. The last photograph shows my photographing friend Lynda and me.
Romancing Reality 
Beautiful shot, Linda, especially the fourth from the top (May the forth be with you?). Sorry to get all Star Warsey on you. Have a great Holiday, Linda.
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December 23, 2018 at 6:05 PM
You can get Star Warsey on me anytime, Ken. You have a great holiday, too, and may the forth be with you.
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December 23, 2018 at 8:14 PM
The Sabal palm steals the show for me, it is so graceful. I like the way you simply show it as it is, no enhancements, and that is enough. (Though when you look carefully it’s clear that the light was quite beautiful at that moment, and you composed the frame very carefully). A Fifth Avenue hair salon could not do better than the strands of that old palm frond. I like the variety of colors in the Sea grape photo, too, and of course I love the photo of the LindaLynda shadow. I have to admit, in part because I remember being in a place with a little stream and fine sand just like that , not far from where you were, and it’s such a good memory. Looking forward to another few months of living vicariously….
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December 24, 2018 at 8:51 PM
Thanks, Lynn. I should tell you that although the last photo looks like it’s of a small stream, really it’s Gulf water entering a small lagoon, sliding between beach and mangrove stand. The distance between the beach and the mangroves gets smaller every year.
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December 25, 2018 at 5:12 PM
I think the spot it reminds me of is a similar place at Bunche Beach Preserve, where a little creek feeds a big mangrove swamp from a bay – San Carlo Bay on the map – it’s sandy on one side, mangroves on the other – in any case, how I’d love to curl my toes into that sand.
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December 28, 2018 at 1:28 PM
Hey Linda,
nice shots and a great selfie ! Wish you a good start in 2019, all the best, Jürgen
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December 31, 2018 at 10:58 AM
Thank you, Jürgen. It’s that start that we need the little push for, isn’t it. Wishing you the best in 2019, too.
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December 31, 2018 at 11:51 AM