Summer Delicacy

The mango trees in South Florida are filled with sweet, plump, juicy mangos. I've heard when the mango trees are especially generous we have an active hurricane season...I guess we'll see.

Waves and Sun

I love the sunsets at Bowmans Beach on Sanibel Island so I take photos there often. This is from one of our vists there. I really liked how the waves lined up to carry your eye right to what's left of the sun.

Weird Morning Sky

At work this morning way before the sun but the cloud cover was heavy so I didn't expect to see anything worth capturing. On my way past the windows I saw the rays through the clouds so headed out to the balcony to catch a few shots.

Strange thing is, this next one is what the sky looked like just a little to the south...almost looks like two completely different skys...

Go and check out more Skywatch images at the Skywatch Site!

Thunderstorm Rolling In

The rainy season has begun! An average day starts out with alot of sun...the earth warms and mixes with the humidity and develops into huge threatening afternoon thunderstorms...totally love this time of year! So this afternoon, sitting at work and I step over to the windows and spot this huge black cloud blanketing the sky. I grabbed my camera and got this first one from the 7th floor balcony.

Then headed to the 15th floor terrace, which also faces east, but it had already started pouring and blowing so I couldn't get far out the door without getting drenched :o(

So I headed to the other little terrace that faces west and the rain was so heavy that it completely blotted out the horizon...you can just barely make out the Biltmore Hotel which is a Coral Gables landmark.

Before and After

I'm a sucker for a dramatic sky but I use an automatic camera with very limited settings so I have to caveat this posting by saying that I increased the contrast to compensate for what I would think a filter would do for me. So I'm posting the adjusted photo and the original...I like the original, but the revised version makes me happier :o)

Before...

and after!

Today's Walk in Coral Gables

This guy was just sitting in the grass along the edge of the Biltmore Golf Course. I was walking on the road and noticed a lady with her little son playing close to the canal...then I noticed him! I took my camera out quickly and caught this shot of him. A few minutes later, I noticed something moving toward him and low and behold, there was another Iguana! I didn't even see the other one. Super cool...I love to see Iguanas!

On the corner of Granada and Bird Road is a church and the grounds have a bund of these beautiful oak trees filled with ferns...awesome! I love how these look, they're just beautiful!

A closer look at the ferns and texture of the tree.

I think this is a banyon tree (actually the trunk). These are all over Coral Gables and Coconut Grove. The canopies are HUGE and the trees are absolutely facinating! There were a bunch of squirrels running all over this tree, but they were too quick for me to catch them in the picture.

Northern Sky During Thursday's Sunset

These show how the N, NE and NW sky looked during Thursday's sunset. We've had a nasty low hanging over the Gulf of Mexico for the last week so we've been getting some bands of thunderstorms and heavy cloud cover this week...so the sky's been very interesting.

Yesterday's Sunset

Yesterday I posted the poinciana tree, so I saved the sunset for tonight...good thing...it rained most of today so I didn't checkout the sunset tonight. I really like how the sky changes as the sun sets so I posted the progression as I saw it. Tomorrow I will post how the sky to the north looked...often it's so different depending on which direction your looking and I really like the contrast.

Poinciana in Full Bloom

This beautiful tree is along my way to work, close to my neighborhood. I hadn't noticed it before, but today there it was sitting in a vacant lot in all it's glory...I did a U turn and got these photos. Enjoy!

Father & Daughter Moment

This was taken a few weeks ago when I was on the Sanibel Causeway watching the sunset. A little family was watching alongside us and the kids were playing in along the shore right in front of me so they ended up in a few of my photos. I caught this sweet moment between the youngest daughter and her Daddy. That evening there were a few jet streams across the sky, you can see one of them in this shot...almost looks like a shooting star :o)

Ft Myers Sunset

Went out one night to take out the garbage...met this beautiful sight so I ran back in the house, got my camera and stood in the back of the truck to get high enough to capture the sun.

Glistening Gulf

This was taken through the tinted window of a car as we drove over the Sanibel Island causeway. I really liked the way the water was glistening :o)

Sunset At Bowmans Beach - April 09 #3

Sharing the Sunset

Beach Daisy

The Shore

We were sitting on the shore along the causeway to Sanibel Island...the sinking sun was glistening on the waves and this family with two little girls settled in next to us. I was mezmerized by the waves and the light...it was beautiful. I captured a little of the shore and one little girls discovery :o)

Nightsky from Bridge to Bowman's Beach

Thunderstorm & Smoke

Traveling across the Everglades yesterday evening...there were a few brush fires and a huge storm brewing...so the sky was really funky. The amazing thing is that to the south the sky was beautiful and full of white fluffy clouds. I wish there was some why I could have captured both in the same photo...it was really cool to see! Oh by the way...forgive the composition because I was taking these through my car window while moving :o(

Sanibel Sunset

Tonight we sat along the causeway to Sanibel to watch the sunset. I was an almost cloudless sky so it was a really different sunset than I am used to when I come here. It was beautiful though :o)

Full Moon

I headed out to the store tonight and was rewarded with a big, beautiful red moon hanging low in the sky. I found a spot without alot of lights and tried to get some shots. It took me a little too long to get the right settings so I missed the really spectacular color, but this is just as nice...enjoy :o)

Today's Everglades Sky

The sky was blue with cottony billowing clouds...then I started to notice the clouds getting heavy and dark (top photo) then as I neared the end on the West side of the state their was another brush fire with a huge smudge of smoke across the sky. I apologize for the poor quality and composition...but I took these with my cell phone driving 70 miles an hour...better to watch the road than worry about how my pics were going to turn out :o)

Vittoriano in Rome

The Vittoriano is a monument in memory of Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of Italy. It was created after his death, started in 1885 and opened in 1911. It's HUGE...not sure if that comes across in the photos. It sits on a main thorofare in Rome. While in Rome a few years ago, we traveled alot by taxi (yikes!) and it seemed everytime we got in the car, we ended up in front of the Vittoriano. Hey look...we're back :o)