So, as I explain on another page (see the tabs above and check the one entitled “Reading 2012″), I’m trying to read more.  On the Reading 2012 page, I mention a reading challenge. Our little group was given a list and we are to find a book that meets the criteria given in that list. We’re to be as original as we can. This is a bit more difficult that it first appears! The criteria:

* a book with a direction in the title (example: up, down, left, right, north, south, east, west)

* a book with a wild animal in the title (no house pets or farm animals – must be wild or in a zoo animals)

* a book with an extended family member in the title (example: grandparents, cousins, aunt, uncle)

* a book with a weather condition or event in the title (example: ice, rain, hurricane, tornado)

* a book with a profession in the title (example: doctor, lawyer, Indian chief)

* a book with a medical condition or illness in the title (example: menopause, cancer, vocal cord polyp)

I’m currently reading the “direction” book. I have the “weather” book, the “extended family member” book, and the “profession” book.  When I have time, I plan to head to our small local library and browse the shelves for the “wild animal” book and the “medical condition or illness” book.  I found one for each of these, but they’re both for purchase and not for check-out, and one is an ebook…and I don’t own an e-reader.

Fortunately, since we’ve been swapping around so many books among ourselves and our “TBR” (to be read) stacks are growing, we have a year to find, read, and report these challenge books.

That’s what I’ve been doing. 

How about you?

It wasn’t intentional. I really didn’t mean to let this blog fall by the wayside. Real Life gets in the way sometimes.  

Much has happened in the past several months, but I’m not going to bore anyone by trying to catch up. We’ve traveled several times (business, family, reunion, wedding, friends, and one reeeeally long family trip during the Christmas holidays. Let’s just say I’m glad to be home and I’m happy it’s all behind me now, although I do miss my family.

Santa was especially nice to me. I’ve been practicing with my new camera, but I’ve got much to learn. None of my photos have been outstanding enough to post here…yet.  I am amazed at the differences between my little point-and-shoot vs. the new DSLR. Much, much, much to learn.

My Christmas tree was a nice subject for practice, too. 

As is our tradition, we spend every New Year’s Eve with old friends. Our drive there and back again takes us across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, south of St. Petersburg, FL. We stopped for a break on the north end of the bridge, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. The sunset was spectacular. I only had my old camera with me, but the photos were still great.

So, that’s it for now. I’ll try to stay caught up a bit better, but these days, I have my nose in a book more often than not. 

Ta-Ta For Now

Over time, things happened and changed, and Carolanne found herself planning a wedding and a relocation to the US. She married her Prince Charming in June of 2010 and was warmly welcomed into his family. Life was good.  Was.

Early this morning, I received an email from Carolanne that her beloved husband had passed away suddenly and completely unexpectedly during the night. I am broken-hearted, but I can’t begin to imagine the depths of her broken-heartedness.

Several of my blogging friends may remember Carolanne from her blogging days. She wrote “C Outside the Box” up until late 2009, when her life began to take this dramatic change of course.  Now more changes are in her near future, but right now, she needs prayers for strength to get through the next several days…weeks…months…years.

May God give you comfort and peace, Carolanne.

I used both my cell phone and my camera to take some pictures, and will be posting a few of the similar ones together – sort of to compare the difference between the two. Feel free to make any comments if you’d like, but it’s not necessary. It’s really just so I can see them together.

The sky had just a few high, wispy clouds and the sun was glaringly bright.

Camera shot above and cell phone below…

The wind was blowing a bit and the tide was coming in. We watched the waves roll some of the rocks onto the beach and noticed that the shells along the waterline were getting thicker, too.  Honeymoon Island runs fairly close to Sanibel Island for shell-picking. The rangers here explained that even shells have seasons, and you’ll find something different with each visit.

The island is very natural, with lots of shore plants such as sea oats, scrub palmetto, sea grape, and so on. There’s a lagoon behind me, which will be visible in some of the photos.

Lots of birds were around, including the osprey, above.

Honeymoon Island is an island, accessible by causeway from Dunedin, Florida. South of Honeymoon Island is Caladesi Island, accessible only by ferry (from Honeymoon) or by private boat. That is Clearwater in the distance. You can also reach Caladesi by foot from the north end of Clearwater Beach, but that entails a very long walk, and can only be accomplished at low tide.  Did I mention that it’s a long walk? It’s very long. 

There’s the osprey again. There were also several types of gulls, herons, egrets, and cranes on the island. Pelicans could be seen riding the waves.

Looking behind us to the east, we could see storm clouds building. We did keep an eye on them.

There’s a glimpse of part of the lagoon. The storm clouds stretched for a long way.

Ahhh. Back to the water. The wind and the incoming tide were really kicking up the waves.

You can tell that the sun is getting lower in the sky by the rosy tint here.  Just sit back and enjoy the view as the sun sets in the west and colors the storm clouds behind us in the east.

The picture above and the one below were both taken on my cell phone. The sun was so bright that even though I tried to keep from getting the sun in the photo, sometimes I just couldn’t avoid it.

Believe it or not, I actually took a total of 451 photos! Doc took a few on his cell phone and also took quite a few on his camera. I haven’t seen those yet. It was no simple task digging through that many pictures to find the most “blog-worthy” few. 

I love the way the sand and surf reflect the sun.

Time to look back to check on those storm clouds.

Nice, huh?  The one below is from the cell phone. I remembered to include the lagoon in this one.

The next three pictures are from my cell phone.

I’d been watching that sailboat all afternoon as it very slowly moved away from the Clearwater coastline. The lower the sun sank, the faster the sailboat seemed to move to the west. 

At this point, we began packing up the chairs and gathered our things together to walk back to the parking area. Before leaving, I walked back to the lagoon to watch the lightning playing in the storm clouds. The lightning was fun to watch, but the glow from the setting sun made them stunning.

I put away my camera after that picture and began taking the rest with  my cell phone.

I’ve been told the ideal time to capture a sunset is actually five minutes after the sun sinks below the horizon. I believe it.

See the sailboat?

At this point, we were standing next to the parking area, unwilling to leave. I pulled out my camera again to finish taking photos of the sunset.

Wow.

What a perfect ending to a very nice day. I wanted to stay until the sailboat left the horizon and the colors faded from the sky, but we knew it would get dark quickly.

Sigh.

We learn something new every day, don’t we? 

Pileus Cloud on Moderate Cumulus by Qvector

Warning: Lots of pictures.

The sprinklers are on the golf course fairway behind our house.

As we watched the clouds move and change, we noticed the little “caps” that began to appear on the upper peaks.

Oh…caught a plane in this one.

The sun was just about to set.

We didn’t get any rain out of these storms. They continued on their north-easterly march away from us.

The big pine tree behind our house is big…and ugly…and loaded with Spanish moss. About the only thing this particular tree is good for is the Spanish moss that hangs from every branch.

It’s also good for growing ferns and interesting bark. In case you’re wondering about the lichen, this is the north side of the tree.

One early morning, as I was walking beside the chapel before the service, I looked up at the steeple…and absolutely loved what I saw.

I did have a little help with the picture; I used the vignette setting on my cell phone.

The last picture was taken on a clear morning, again, before the early service, of the old bell tower visible above and beyond the chapel.  It’s just another picture I like.

And it’s a good picture to wrap up this little series.

Happy Anniversary, Doc.

I’ve never been able to get a decent picture of the full moon, mostly because I’ve never bothered using a tripod. I didn’t for this picture, either; I just got lucky.

Another day, after taking Doc to work (if it seems like I take him to work a lot, it’s because we share one vehicle and, some days, I just can’t stay home!) in the rain, I just took this picture. I like the way it auto-focused on the raindrops on the window rather than anything beyond. 

The next two pictures were taken the following day, a couple of minutes apart, at sunset.  The first one faces east.

This second one faces west.

Sigh. I love sunsets. And sunrises. Gosh, I just love watching the sky in general. Sometimes, the sky looks pretty dramatic, like in this last picture.

We did get a nice storm out of this.

I have one more set of photos from my cell phone to share…later.