photos and descriptions of what makes our world a pleasure
emphasis on Florida and the Tampa Bay area but also far beyond

NATURE

Thai Orchids at St. Petersburg International Folk Fair 2009

November 6, 2009
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Click on any picture in this post for larger image. SPIFFS (www.spiffs.org/), the St. Petersburg International Folk Fair Society, is one of the beloved institutions of St. Pete. I’m honored to be their official photographer this year while their regular photographer is in the hospital. This year, the fair has been moved from the spring [...]

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Pumpkins & Palm Trees

October 31, 2009
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Celebrating autumn and winter holidays down here in the semi-tropics is always a little unconvincing because the temperatures are still in the upper 80s to mid-90s. But, many here are transplants–temporary or permanent–from climates that have actual seasons so we bring our traditions with us. We even relish the dissonance of seeing a carved pumpkin [...]

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Lake Vista Park

July 18, 2009
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In the Inkwatu Lassing Park post, I gave the following statistics: There are more than 2,300 acres of parks within the city limits of St. Petersburg, Florida. There’s an astounding list of all these parks (complete with addresses) at the parks page on the St. Petersburg city site. I count 126 named city parks dedicated [...]

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Crape Myrtle

June 27, 2009
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  Crape Myrtles…few things speak “southern living” more than crape myrtles to my eye. Well…gardenias and magnolias, do, of course! But, we’ll get to them in a later post. Right now, the streets of St. Pete are a riot of magenta, pink, and white with these trees almost everywhere. Because the shape of a crape [...]

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Orchid Tree, Jacaranda, Royal Poinciana, and Tamarind

May 27, 2009
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crown of orchid tree Orchid Tree There was a good discussion, early this spring, in the comments for More flowering trees. Bloggers appreciate comments. They are part of what makes the blogging experience a pleasure. The discussion in this case revolved around some flowering trees here in St. Pete, trees that I found beautiful but [...]

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the waning Moon passes Venus

April 25, 2009

THE WANING MOON PASSES VENUS OVER TAMPA BAY   The picture above doesn’t capture the optical illusion that we humans witnessed early this past Wednesday morning. The Moon and Venus appeared to be at least 10 times larger than they really were and Venus was so bright it had pointy spokes like a child’s drawing [...]

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More flowering trees

April 11, 2009

click here for larger image That’s a picture of “just” a bougainvillea. (How could anything so magnificent be “just” anything?) I say, “just,” though because they’re such a common plant here. They’re blooming right now and they’re breathtakingly gorgeous. Flowering trees and bushes in bloom are a sure sign it’s spring. Recently, there was an [...]

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Remembering where we are

March 28, 2009

click here for larger image There are times when the sound of the gulls echoes just right; when the humidity, temperature, and strength of the breeze is just right; or when perhaps you see some little visual reminder; and, you remember just where you are, living on a peninsula between a huge bay and an [...]

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Spring!

March 21, 2009

click here for larger image Spring officially began yesterday at 7:44am. But those of us with allergies, especially oak allergies, already knew it was here. My apologies for the brevity of this morning’s post, but my army of antihistamines, decongestants, cough syrups, eye drops, expectorants, and analgesics has been totally overwhelmed by this year’s high [...]

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Feeding the Ducks

March 18, 2009

(Note: all the pictures in this post link to larger images in Flickr;just click on the images you see here.) Recently, I had the opportunity to visit a city park in Atlanta with my son and feed the bevy of ducks that live there. At the time, I didn’t know that it’s not good to [...]

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In Our Nature

March 7, 2009
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click here for larger image MINIATURE BOUQUET Once, while visiting San Francisco, a friend who was also there visiting, picked me up to go out to dinner. He was very excited and handed me a self-help book. He’d bought a copy for himself and a copy for me as a gift. This was not a [...]

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Sunken Gardens

February 18, 2009
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(Note: all the individual pictures in this post link to larger images in Flickr; just click on the smaller images you see here.) CHILEAN FLAMINGOS A BOTANICAL EXPERIENCE That’s the “tag line” for the St. Petersburg Sunken Gardens. It’s well chosen. The afternoon I first visited the St. Petersburg Sunken gardens, was following a particularly [...]

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The Year of the Ox

February 14, 2009
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(Note: all the individual pictures in this post link to larger images in Flickr; just click on the smaller images you see here.) “Chinese New Year” was this past January 26th. It falls on a different day every year in our calendar system (the Gregorian calendar) because the “Chinese New Year” is based on the [...]

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