April 7: John and Grace

Today we had the great fun of seeing Ron's baby brother John and his delightful wife Grace.

When Joyce sent out the notice last night that updates were available on the blog, an automatic message came back that John and Grace were in Florida! Within minutes Ron was talking to John on the phone and a lunch date was set up for today. It turns out that they were only about 30 miles away and were here for one week only.

We talked non-stop for four hours (with short breaks to swallow our lunch). What great people they are -- it is a joy to know them. We are looking forward to our next visit.

March 27 to April 6: Season's End

We have been attending lots of "end of season" events for the camera clubs and the annual Southwest Florida Camera Club Conference. As you might expect we won more honors.


At the Fort Myers Image of the Year competition Joyce didn't win anything but Ron won an Honorable Mention for his photo of a coyote. This was particularly satisfying because these outside judges that were brought in for Image of the Year liked the photo but it had done poorly in club competition.


This beautiful bird also won an honorable mention for Ron in one of the competitions. At the Naples Image of the Year competition neither one of us won anything. Pooh on them. No one bought our prints at the print sale either although the woman running it at the doctor's clinic said they would have sold many more prints if they could have accepted credit cards. We choose to believe that our prints were desired by credit card holders.


At the regional competition Joyce won three things! In Nature Digital (as opposed to film) she won Second Place for her photo of Half Dome.



In General Digital she won Second Place for Balloon Glow and an Honorable Mention for Mickey and Friends. Joyce received certificates for the wins at the regional competition but she made these "winner cards" for herself anyway. She got the idea at another camera club and likes the way it shows the photo (and makes it easier to remember what won when and where to avoid duplication!).

Ron didn't win anything at the regional competition (pooh on them on his behalf).

Other more mundane events have been occurring, too. The car has been serviced and the doctors have been visited. We've also done fun things like meeting friends. April 5 we tried to take some photos in Ding Darling but the birds all seemed to be on a break. Ron helped a friend with his computer settings and they gave us lunch. It was fun to get to know them more.

March 26: Going Back Home

We stopped at Jungle Garden again in the morning before driving home. It was much cooler in the morning! We also met Karen and Suzie there.

There are a lot of exotic birds at Jungle Gardens, including this little cutie.

Some of the animals on view are there intentionally and are maintained and cared for by the staff. Others just live there on their own, such as the spiders in the trees and some of the birds that just visit.

There is a fountain which generated lovely rainbows. This one was hovering just above the water.

March 24 and 25: George Lepp & Venice Rookery

In addition to the lectures by George Lepp and the many items available to try and buy, there were also "set-ups" to photograph. There were several models we didn't photograph and four injured birds that Joyce snapped pictures of with her little camera.
Here is the scene with the photographers around the birds.

And here is one of the owls.

This crowd of bird-crazed photographers includes our friends Liz in the denin slacks and Suzie in the brown. The weekend was very interesting and we bought a few things from the camera store that sponsors the weekend. It was also fun because there were so many people we know there. Fort Myers Camera Club was well represented with about 18 attendees. Ron, of course, know other people there, too.

After the program closed on Sunday we met a couple of friends at the famous Venice Rookery. Now Joyce was expecting a massive wall of rock with niches full of bird nests. The truth is that it looks more like monkey island at the zoo, taken over by birds. It was just behind some buildings and there is a conveniently located parking lot. There were lots of birds but apparently not as many as prior years.

One bird causing some excitement was the woodpecker nest in an old, dead tree. Here he is pecking away.

This resident is considerably smaller than most.

We watched a lot of birds fly in for the evening, including this egret.

It a good night for silhouette shots, such as these two egrets.

A number of species all bunk in together. Above are two snowy egrets with a ibis in the center.

March 23: Jungle Garden in Sarasota

The main reason we went to Sarasota was to attend a two-day weekend lecture series by George Lepp. For those of you who don't know who he is (and Joyce was one of them), he's a very famous photographer. If you have seen those fabulous photos Cannon uses in their ads for their cameras and printers, you have seen his work.


We drove up on Friday and stopped at Jungle Gardens, Sarasota's version of a zoo. The place smacks of a tourist trap that's gone straight, probably many years ago.




The ducks are considered more exotic here than they are in the Northwest.

The parrots and similar foreign birds are displayed for close examination. You can even pose with one sitting on you if you want to (we didn't want to).



The gardens are very old so the plants are huge. There are a few animals in cages, but the big attraction for us is the birds. Among these the flamingos are very popular.

The snowy egret shares his log with a few turtles in the largest of the ponds.

The white peacock was parading about near the snack bar with his tail spread.

The tail was interesting all by itself.

The pelicans were whacking the water with their wings.

We don't have a photo of the flamingo that goosed Joyce but here's one of a flamingo checking out Ron's armpit. This is apparently flamingo sign language for "hey, buddy, can you spare some of that bird food?"

March 15-16: Construction and Bunche Beach

Before we moved to Cypress Woods, we had been thinking about what to do to improve Ron's computer situation. He was using a desktop with two monitors and a laptop on part of the table and a tv tray. We decided to remove one of the bookshelves and put in a small computer desk.

The computer desk fit between the remaining bookshelf and the fold-up table that came mounted on the wall. Joyce assembled the piece, leaving off the wheels that would have been concealed at the bottom. With very little construction space inside the motorhome, she built herself into the unit when it was on its face and before the back went on. Ron lifted it up so she could wiggle out!

Filled with his equipment and with the laptop on the fold-up table, Ron finds his new workstation very suitable for hours of processing photos.

The next day we met Karen Lund on Bunche Beach before dawn.

Here's Ron and Karen prepping their cameras. Joyce's camera is always prepped!

Karen walked the beach barefoot so that she can wade in the water. Ron and Joyce accomplished the same goal by wearing rubber boots.


One of the cool things we found right away was a couple of young bald eagles who flew out of the trees near the edge of the beach and landed in the water for a little fishing. It was still very early so the light was poor but the sight was wonderful!

This pretty snowy egret was fishing in the tides pools.

This ray was laying (dead) in a tide pool.

There were several types of birds fishing. And they were doing well!

This reddish egret just looked goofy.


But he was a good fisherman. They "dance" for a while and then grab the fish.


The reddish would fly from one tide pool to another.

We would approach the newly chosen tide pool but then the egret would, of course, fly back to the previously chosen tide pool.

March 1 to 15: Lake San Marino

We spent the first half of March not being very photographic. We visited with friends, attended camera club events, and going to doctor appointments. On the 15th we left Lake San Marino, stopped at Family RV for a last appointment, and moved into Cypress Woods RV Resort -- quite plush! This is where our friends Donna Mae and Paul were staying and we are now on their very site which we are renting from their friend.