The true harvest of my life is intangible...

Autumn. We don't get much of it in Florida. But, none the less, you can still feel it in the air.

There are small signs. The proliferation of monarch butterflies making their journey to their promised land. My river birch beside our front porch...the leaves are starting to dry and become golden. The squirrel party every afternoon as they gather acorns dropping from our oak tree in the front yard.

All signs of autumn.

"The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Henry David Thoreau

Market Morning

I wanted to talk with one of the vendors at the market about flowers. So I took my camera and did a short walk. It was wonderful. The market has grown so much this year. I'm so happy to see that.

"I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal I cannot be comprehended except by my permission..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Nikki Giovanni

Maiden voyage

This morning I finally felt well enough to take my old-new Phat Cycle. As an early Mother's Day present, Nikki gave my bike a makeover. A new seat, grips, chain, basket, painted handlebars, and a general touch up. I finally am over the plague from last week and got to take it out for a spin!!!

The best thing about riding a bike? The slowness of it. Everything is revealed to you as you peddle by. Leaves. Flowers. Porches. Birds.

And the very best thing? The sweet, heavy scent of all the blooming spring flowers that fill the air. It was unbelievable!! Every turn had a new sweetness.

"Maybe it was true, and being a girl could be about interest rates and skinny jeans, riding bikes and wearing pink. Not about any one thing, but everything."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Sarah Dessen, Along for the Ride

Spring at my house...

Spring. The perfume in the air is heady. And intoxicating. I love walking through my yard and looking at all the freshness everywhere. These were all taken today, in my yard. Lucky me.

"Do little pink fairies sing and dance in your world, Peabody?"  "Sometimes, when it's very quiet and no one else can see."
¸.•*´¨`♥ J.D. Robb, Promises in Death

Some of this & that...

Going through Lightroom...and found some pictures that I haven't posted for some reason. So here they are. In no particular order.

"It's like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven't seen in a long time."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Haruki Murakami

Seaside Community Yardsale 2011 - 2

"... padding along a trail where other walkers had broken ground before me. And then I found an extraordinary bouquet."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Mary Rose O'Reilley, The Barn at the End of the World: The Apprenticeship of a Quaker, Buddhist Shepherd

It is our choices that show us what we truly are...

A few random shots from a couple of different markets. One in Pensacola, the other in Seaside.

"It is our choices, Harry, that show us what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
¸.•*´¨`♥ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Melancholy Micro

Feeling a bit on the melancholy side. So I put on my micro lens and set out. To my yard. Did it get rid of the melancholy? Well, I forgot about it for a bit. Here are the pictures.

"When that slow-motion, silent explosion of love takes place in me..."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Vladimir Nabokov

Flowers from my yard

Yes. It's true. All of these flowers bloomed in my yard this summer. At one time or another. It was a riot of color.

" small visitors to the garden hopped and splashed and made the most of the day that was becoming fair and sunny."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Juliet Marillier (Heart's Blood)

VACA 2011...Part 1

We took a little vacation before D has to go back to school. This is his week between classes, so we went to Grayton Beach. I'm going to post the pictures that I took...as I took them. So it will be planned randomness. A photo journal of our vacation in a timeline. Exciting!

Grayton Beach is, in the scheme of things, relatively close to us. Perfect. Not a long drive. And beautiful. Also close to Seaside. It all works in our favor.

First stop was en route to our lodgings. It was a little area by the road with a beautiful view of an inlet. We had always wanted to stop. This time we did.

I adore the 3 beach umbrellas on this sign

Palafox Market...2

Sometimes the flowers are beyond description. Glowing with color.

So. Take a stroll with me and enjoy the market.

"The sunflower is mine, in a way."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Vincent van Gogh

Palafox Market...1

This little farmers market is really blossoming! Each time I go there are more people, more booths. More fun. Obviously, from my first photo, some of them were taken on Mother's Day. I so loved the little chair with all the pink flowers.

This and That

Every once in a while I have to just post the odds & ends. Pictures from here and there. This and that. The first three are flowers and plants from our yard.

"Come fairies take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame"
¸.•*´¨`♥ William Butler Yeats

Bits and pieces of Pensacola

"...I have another life to look forward to--a life joyous with light and flowers and heavenly song."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Helen Keller

Pensacola's farmers market

Farmers markets in Pensacola. Sweet places to be.

"The great drawback in new books is that they prevent our reading the old ones."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Joseph Joubert

Around our neighborhood

"Come fairies take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame"
¸.•*´¨`♥ William Butler Yeats

Seaside Community Yardsale...Seaside

This is all about the scenery...the landscape...the architecture of the area.

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Laozi

Seaside Community Yardsale...the items

There were so many pretty items and things to see.

"It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea"
¸.•*´¨`♥ Edgar Allan Poe

Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so.

A morning stroll through Aragon, a beautiful neighborhood in Pensacola.

"Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Lemony Snicket (The Blank Book)

And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost.

The Bay Bridge Fishing Pier is something I pass almost everyday. At least everyday I go to work. It runs parallel to the Three Mile Bridge that spans Pensacola Bay.

October 1960 the Three Mile Bridge replaced the old two lane bridge to the East. That two lane bridge became the Bay Bridge Fishing Pier. Much of it was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The northern end was rebuilt as a fishing pier and opened this year, 2010.

Which leads me to my first images. The pier is home to several beautiful cats. I see them lounging on the sunny rocks at the base of the pier during winter. During the summer, they seek the shade of the pier.

On this day I started walking up the pier and looked down to see this lovely cat napping. I was able to get a couple of pictures, but the following image woke him up when he heard the click of my shutter, and he ran off.

"And when I sleep, let me dream all the time so that not one little piece of living is ever lost."
¸.•*´¨`♥ Betty Smith (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn)