13th Anniversary (IV)

Day 3:

You can barely see (and boy are they hard to shoot!) the dolphins here. It took a couple days to get any pics of them since they don't pop up out of the water too much. They were active like the pelicans every morning in bad light.

This closer-up is the best I got:

Great Blue Heron:

And again with the GBH:

And the pre-dinner view, once again:

We had salmon with leeks. No pictures. I'll be sure to fix that next time we do anything like this. I did post some pics of salmon with leeks in the past if you're interested.

13th Anniversary (III)

Day 2.

Pelicans seem to really love being active in the morning when the light's not too great:

The Wife and I have been paying attention to the sky here in Florida, and we just have to say that I don't think we've seen anything like it anywhere else:

Why, yes, this is a self-portrait. It was not taken by myself, however, but by the lovely Wife:

The not-as-stellar-as last-night's sunset, but still nice:

I think that last one was taken by the Wife. She was trying for that "lava" effect where the sun seems to melt into the sky before it quite reaches the horizon.

We retired to a grilled meal of Nathan's hot dogs, Johnsonville Brats, and pork tenderloin. Unfortunately, I failed to photograph dinner. Again.

13th Anniversary (II)

Day 1.

At the seawall, almost immediately upon arrival:

I know it looks rickety, but I was quite surprised at it's stability.

Not the best light, but I like shooting pelicans:

The requisite self-portrait:

Nearing dinner time, day 1:

We had ribeyes, asparagus, and potato leek soup:) I failed to photograph the meal :(

13th Anniversary (I)

A few pics related to the house we rented last weekend at Manasota Key.

A friendly 'gator:

The house, a view from the seawall:

The view from the bedroom:

The blogger, winemaker in the making:

At the Freimuth's winery, learning the trade:

(with Margot Freimuth)

Germany. Here, perhaps?

while searching the archives...

I came across these pictures.

Mid to late '70s, I suppose, but maybe my mom can help with the date- she's there in the pictures with my toddler self.

And yes, that is (was) Stonehenge.

Oh, yeah- My dad's in the top right picture, but you can hardly see him for his Stonehenge-colored coat.

Ha-Ha!

You thought I forgot about the xmas vacation photos! You thought you were going to get away without seeing them! I know everyone loves to see everyone else's vacation pics, so here you go:

We'll start in Indiana. We went a little out of the way to stop by the cemetary where Misty's dad was buried. When in cemetaries, I'm always struck by the way we choose to treat the fact of death and remember those who have died.

John's Butcher Shoppee was our preferred meat-monger shop back in St. Louis. Make note of the barren trees and grey skies.

We took the kids, at Aunt Jeanne's suggestion, to a rather well to do home. Their whole yard was lit up, including the tennis courts, and they had paths marked by lights on the ground on which the general public could walk to view the whole thing. In my opinion, this one stood out the most. Also, my batteries ran out halfway through, so it's also the best picture I got.

Though you really can't tell from the picture, this is another graveyard. I took this photo while standing by my dad's grave.

Kevin took this one as we crossed into Florida. You've got to love those green trees & blue skies!

If that wasn't slapped together arbitrarily enough for you, just wait for the next installment of our trip pics :)