Stump

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.