Photo-A-Day Challenge

A Week of Unusual

The homefront and a road trip

This week was unusual for two reasons — I didn’t work and I took a short road trip.

Other than the 5 days I was hospitalized and one other day for health issues, I haven’t had any time off work this year. A vacation was greatly needed. Florida is the USA hotspot for Covid cases. Taking a real vacation wasn’t wise, so I made do with a photography road trip with my friend Gina.

And, here is my not-working week in photos.

Our neighborhood has two walking trails — the shorter one (above) that’s on the west side and a longer one on the east side. This one leads from a street near our townhome circle into a large neighborhood of single-family homes. If you take the first street to the right, it eventually curves around and comes back out on the main boulevard that passes our townhome. We call that walk “big loopsy”. It’s one of my favorite walks to take with our dog Syau. Almost two miles.

The beginning of our week was cloudy thanks to Tropical Storm Fred which grazed the west coast of Florida and made landfall in the Panhandle. We received some minor bands of rain but no significant winds. Tropical Storm Grace, which originally looked to be headed straight for us, veered far to the west, impacting Mexico and Texas, rather than Florida. And, then, Henri formed but he’s targeting the northeast.

Sorry for the bad photo but I think you can see that it’s a brown anole lizard with a dragonfly in his mouth. He’s atop the privacy fence that surrounds our small front patio area. I actually heard the chomp of his jaw when he nabbed his lunch.

I have a client who lives in a golf course community, which is also a sandhill crane sanctuary. I’m always delighted when I see cranes on my way to his house. Note: he was the only client I worked for this week — only two hours and mostly stress-free.

On Wednesday, my friend Gina and I took a 50-mile road trip east to Green Cove Springs. Below are pieces I wrote about our little trip:

After weeks of daily rain, we were blessed with plenty of sunshine and cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. The above photo is of the St. John’s River where Springs Park is. The river is fed by a natural spring that also supplies water for the city’s public swimming pool.

The spring water bubbles up from the aquifer at the rate of 1,346 gallons per minute and has a constant temperature of 77 F, which feels cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The water flows into the municipal swimming pool, then splashes down over rocks, forming a “run” that empties into the St. John’s River.

Thursday morning, the ducklings that I wrote about last week swam by but resisted my calls inviting them to come ashore for corn. This photo only shows 10 ducklings but there are two lagging behind that didn’t get into the shot. I was so relieved to know that all dozen were still alive!

The longest walking trail in our neighborhood goes 2 miles from one major street to another. The southern half of the trail is bordered by protected wetlands on the west side. In the center, you can see a swamp. During dry months, it’s not much more than a big, algae-covered puddle but this summer, after so much rain, it’s the size of a small lake and large enough that the water is draining, forming a stream that goes through a pipe under the trail. Interestingly, the swamp is a scary green color, but the water draining from it is clear.

Found this butterfly on our sidewalk. He was wobbly and disoriented. I coaxed him unto my phone and moved him to a shaded bush in my garden. I hope he survived.

© Dennett 2021

A little more than a year ago, I started the Photo-a-Day Challenge to help combat the virus blues. I take photos every day and choose one (maybe, two) to represent the day. Then, add a one-or-two-word descriptor and maybe, some narrative. A simple way to observe and preserve.

Want to join the fun? It’s all about noticing and appreciating your environment and sharing it with us, as these photographers and story-tellers have:

Erika Burkhalter / Eileen Vorbach Collins / Anne Bonfert / Sasha Meyer / Tracy Aston/ Lisa Bolin / Juan O. Aguilera / David Wade Chambers / June Nguyen / Mia Verita / Susan Alison / LensAfield / Barbara Radisavljevic / Diana Lotti / Barbara Dalton / Kim Zuch / K. Barrett / Sandra Barrett / Shruthi Sundaram

(If you participated in the Photo-A-Day Challenge and your name isn’t listed above, please let me know.)

Please follow the Snapshot rules:

Lead with a photo/title and subtitle follow No more than 10 photos per post No more than 750 words per post Yes, we know that the photos are yours but you still have to state that they’re your work

And, have fun!