Car Show

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Last Saturday it was kayak races, this Saturday our nearby river park was host to a car show. The 51st Gaslight Parade Antique Car Show is a yearly tradition as owners of antique cars, custom cars and hot rods descend on our area for the annual Thanksgiving Weekend blow-out. There are parades, car shows, swap plus sell meets and plenty of informal gatherings which draw a cross generational crowd of car fans to show off their idea of 'the good old days.'

The picture above shows only a small amount of the cars on display at Fortunato Park on the Halifax. The stake-bed truck is a 1925 Ford. The oldest car in the photo is a 1911 Ford.

Time to eat

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - So, where did you eatThanksgiving Dinner?? You can't beat the atmosphere of a sunny day on the river and one of our local (relatively close by to OB) eateries. Of course, if you go to a place which serves fish 364 days a year and they say that the turkey dinner was specially cooked....order fish. We didn't but still enjoyed our time there.

Now, it you happen to be an osprey then crunching on a fresh caught sheepshead is as good as it gets. For the backstory on the bird and the fish click on the link to Lydia's blog for the info and more osprey pics.

Now the 'Cats' are racing

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Wednesday must have been catamaran day on the Halifax River. They were all heading south for the winter. The two 'cats' above led the 'cat' and the 'stubbie' below. The 'stubbie' (below below) was named "Fabulous 39" and was out of Annapolis, MD. Since neither Lydia or I fish, boat watching and seabird shooting, along with a cute swamp bunny or two, takes up a lot of our time.

Slow times

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - You know things are slow when you start posting 'cute' pics like the swamp bunny above. The Snowy Egret (below) spent plenty of time posing while the wind ruffled his/her feathers.

Speedy Happenings

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Here's how some folks spent their morning on the Saturday before Turkey Day...competing in the Pilgrim Paddle, a kayak race on the Halifax River. The stats at the 9am start: 60-degrees air temp with the water about the same and headed directly into a 15mph headwind.

Competition is in the air where we live as the history marker below attests to. This marker and three others are located at the Ormond Beach approach where the racers first entered onto the sand. The competition on the sands of Ormond and Daytona beach spawned another famous entity - - Daytona International Speedway, known as The World Center of Racing.
There are times when packing up and heading out with our SLRs is a bit much. These pics were taken with a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS. I resisted the point-and-shoot for a long time, but the quality of the photos (8 megapixels) and the ease of having something small to stick in your pocket finally got to me. Lydia's Canon PowerShot S500 (5 megapixels) served her well for the past four summers and, when it finally broke down, she got the SD1100 IS as a replacement. I soon followed suit.

Endeavour, away

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The space shuttle Endeavour blasted off from Cape Canaveral tonight. The trajectory of the flight path takes it (or at least it looks like it) right past our home in OB. Better yet, we have a park with a walkway out into the Halifax River just a block away where the angle for shuttle launch photos is pretty good. Lots of folks came out to, literally, cheer the Endeavour on.

Herons on gray day

ORMOND BEACH, FL - -It was overcast and pretty gray when we went out for our daily bird scouting walk. We spotted these two herons near private docks on our way to the riverside park nearby.

This Great Blue Heron posed in his best one-legged, punk rocker mode (above) and a more "I'm king of the hill/dock" (below).
The Blue Heron (below) was surprised by the waves from a passing boat's wake.

Fall colors

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - Hibiscus and marigolds brighten up our area this fall.

Back to MINWR

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - The question wasn't "if" but "when" we would make back to Merritt Island National Wildlife Reserve. Trip one of our 2008-09 winter sojourn from OB was today...early today, like we were at Haulover Canal at 6:45am in time for sunrise. The clouds cooperated and so did a trio of dolphins seen in the middle of the pic.
I'm not sure if the water was really that cold, but the Great Egret (above, with black feet) and the Snowy Egret (below, with yellow feet) appear to afraid of getting wet. Actually, the Great is landing gracefully and the Snowy is taking off after dipping into the water from his perch on a nearby limb.

Quick Trip

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - I took a quick trip to Poughkeepsie, NY, this week to visit family and encountered some interesting things up there in the Northeast....like the 'devil squirrel,' above
A moose and a windmill.
Some folks who were very exhausted from watching election night coverage.
And some very colorful leaves on this Japanese Maple??

I've got my eye on you!

ORMOND BEACH, FL - - This majestic fellow has been hanging out in his 'special' vantage spot for a couple of years.